Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor, coined the term ‘value chain’ in the 1980’s. The concept and term took off. The value chain is one of the must-know business concepts for all Brand U’s. Every organization performs a sequence of activities to produce a product or offer a service. These activities add value to customers who continue purchasing the company’s products and services. These value-adding activities provide income to satisfy shareholders, provide Brand U employment, and ensure the company continues to be viable.
Why is this important to Brand U’s? Well, many Brand U’s work on special project teams either as employees or as contractors. We need to know the rules of these project teams and what our roles are in these teams. Core employees (see the Handy/Hutchins model of work) own the core processes. They represent the institutional memory and look out for the organization’s best interests. Special project teams composed of Brand U’s support the core. These Brand U project teams focus on specific tasks that support the core process. It’s critical all Brand U’s know their customer’s core competencies so they can provide value-adding products and services that support them.