How can you assess and improve your value chain to enhance your competitive advantage?

I believe the best way to optimize the value chain is by: - Actually understanding your customer needs and challenges. - Define a goal to resolve your customer problem. - Develop a strategy to cover that need and challenges. - Within your strategy, involve every stakeholder in your chain of value and explain each one of them their task to perform, if they need training or give training. Create aligment. - Implement your tactics to achieve your strategy goals. - Develop control methods and produce data. -Monitor your customer and ask for feed back. - Repeat step 1 in a never ending continuous improvement cycle.

The benefits I am experiencing is the way it pinpoints areas of ineffectiveness where I can correct them. It allows me to understand the links and responsibilities between different aspects of my business. I can now optimize efficiency while lowering expenses. It creates a cost advantage over competitors. ◇

I believe in Porter's model as starting point. 40 years later with all the challenges we are living such as several competitors, new technologies, new challenges in the supply chain both inbound and outbounf and finally new ways of work we need also adjustment and redefine value. Today I believe the ultimate result of your value chain is reflected in your NPS result. A good reading of your NPS is a good way also to understand where you can implement optimization within your value creation process as a whole. We are living ina very different world and the lineal models are ok for some business but for others it may be better to have a multi line model to understand the Value.

Your value chain never is going to be perfect just because you are working with humans and humans will never be satisfied it is a law so improvement is always necesary. I will always focus in cost reduction, products features, user ordering and a bunch of branding with product development. Offer everything and let your customer be the designer he will tell you what to do.

I believe the key for sucess is customer satisfaction if I can make my customer reach their own goals I will become my customer partner and if my customer meet his own goals my customer competition will look for me and finally if you are capable to reach that point your sales will increase, your profits will be fine and your market share is going to grow. So measure your customers satisfaction and reduce your operation cost, remove not value creation activities. Be a solution not a problem.

I agree you need to monitor but also understand your own opportunities within the chain and welcome change to compete. Example, understanding employees are a value add, then place effort improving their skills, showcasing their value and reward them for their efforts. They in turn are better in their roles and will improve the outcome of your business as they are part of the growth and success. Change how you look at the most important asset in your business, employees.

Yes I will protect my brand and invest in product development and also I would invest in branding but I will spend more of my time and resources working on my customer's experience and customer business development to avoid costly errors.