Unlocking Value; Macro value shift

There are days or moments when what you value shifts dramatically. Perhaps more specifically the priority of value shifts. Today our first child, a son was born, and the possible became the actual.

Welcome Mackenzie. Our lives and our value will never be the same.

I submitted my PhD on 01.12.11: Now to family....

In the race to submit my PhD or become a father, the PhD won by six weeks. We are due to have our first child on 14.01.12.

My supervisor asked me to write journal articles now. The Academy of Management papers are due 10 Jan, and the 2012 theme is The Informal Economy. The Informal Economy is that part of the economy which is not taxed, not legal, not controlled by the Government, and not included in GDP.

I am thinking about how value might be relevant, and how my new job at the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) might be relevant. ANDS is a Dept of Innovation (Aust) project to encourage researchers to share, find and reuse each others' data. ANDS works with all the Australian Universities, and public sector agencies to encourage data management, data sharing and reuse. Current ANDS funding (about $70 million) is up to June 2013. Our database of shared data collections is at about 40,000.

I am thinking about a paper called: ANDS, Innovation and Value: an Informal analysis.
The idea being that value captures much that is not in GDP, and that ANDS is building value through knowledge and relationship creation, both of which are part of the Informal Economy. The Informal Economy is not just illegal, black market, and third world commerce. The Informal Economy is innovating without promise of revenue, volunteering for social rather than financial benefit, unpaid family work such as parenting, caring and other volunteering. The informal economy that I am interested in is not an illegal black economy but a virtuous black, white or rainbow value economy.

Thus I argue that:
1. we all (or nearly all) participate in the informal value-creating volunteering economy
2. $ are not the only goal of the informal economy, but also value creation.
3. Value drives activity where there are no $ drivers. For instance, artists, musicians, family work, non-profit associations, volunteers and other unpaid work.
4. The informal economy is not all about $, law and tax. It's about value.

Where does value fit in innovation?

Figure 1 shows the black box of value in the context of innovation theory. Value sits between the innovators creation of an innovation, and the process of diffusion of innovation. I argue consumer value acts as a hurdle to diffusion (see Section 6.3, Proposition 1).

Proposition 1. Value drives consumer action. Consumers adopt new technology when they see value.

Figure 1: What is consumer value? This thesis opens the black box of consumer value.

Complex Value Model

I have produced a complex value model, indicating all the grounded concepts developed in the thesis. The thesis emphasises a more simple value model in the text.

The simple model abstracts from the complex model, reducing the number of dimensions considered. Value meanings are reduced to a single element, rather than 12 meanings, and Value practices are reduced to a social and physical split. The Telco and Social Value Conversations are combined into Social Practices.

The Simple model emphasises Value at the centre of innovation, and emotion at the centre of value. As always, comments welcome.

Defining Value

Tim Cook rallies the troops as Steve Jobs steps down as Apple CEO, just as Apple passes Exxon (XOM) as the most valuable company in the world (again). Tim says,

Team:

I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.

Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.

Tim

From: http://mashable.com/2011/08/25/tim-cook-apple-emai/

The underlined passage is about as close to defining value as we are going to get.

Value is "what delights customer and makes employees proud of what they do".

Strategyn gets value

See recent presentation from Strategyn's Tony Ulwick, as cited in Christensen's The Innovator's Solution. For Value Consulting on these issues, contact me at www.thejoie.com.

Ulwick suggests:

- not listening to the voice of the customer
- customers have 50 to 150 needs per task they are performing. I call these value elements.
- his approach increases new product development success from 17% to 86%. Sign up here to see the research.

See his slides from his recent April webcast below. See his blog post here.

Silence the Voice of the Customer (VOC)

View more presentations from Strategyn.

Who is doing Value Management?

Three Value Managers came to my attention today:

1. Following the Port Phillip Council : Have your Say page, lead me to Bang the Table, a private group building community engagement websites. Partly driven by Dr Crispin Butteriss PhD New England (Stakeholder engagement in public policy 1997 - 2003)

2. Bang the Table had created an interest group on Linked In (Online Community Engagement), which lead to NCDD.org (no not the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, but) National Centre for Dialogue and Deliberation, established 2002, and now in 39 countries.


3. Lastly, the Victorian Churchill Club described one of their recent sessions (28 April) as Member Value Management. Collingwood membership manager described Value management processes. See a couple of quotes on the ValueMgmt twitter feed for details.

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On a separate note, some Telstra / broadband problem / solution notes:


BAG 2002 Report: Broadband Advisory Group Report to Govt broadband Goals and Vision:
(see also background info at: Intro to FTTH)

Australia should adopt the following national vision for broadband:
"Australia will be a world leader in the availability and effective use of broadband, to deliver enhanced outcomes in health, education, commerce and government and to capture the economic and social benefits of broadband connectivity."

Goals (Section 3)
"2. Australia should adopt the following national goals for broadband:
(a) Broadband should be available to all Australians at fair and reasonable prices."

Encouraging Take-up
"17. The Government, in cooperation with state and territory governments and industry stakeholders, should develop and provide detailed information to key sectors about the benefits of broadband applications, such as educational opportunities, improved health care, business process improvement, productivity gains and better government services."

So far, so good. What's the problem?


The problem comes from Paul Fletcher's (2009) book Wired Brown Land which suggests:

"Telstra was able to suppress the take-up of broadband in Australia for many years…. Telstra said that Australia's low broadband penetration was a symptom of an over-regulated industry.... In fact, Australia's low broadband take-up had a much simpler explanation. Telstra kept prices sky high. Once they fell, take-up rocketed." Fletcher 2009, p.227

Are Telstra doing Value Management? Well yes and no. Telstra were protecting their $8B annual landline revenue. SO Telstra were protecting their SHV (shareholder value), but unfortunately it came at the price of consumer/customer revenue, through delay, and higher prices. This thesis argues consumers adopt new technology when consumers see value, but high prices will delay adoption. Telstra provides evidence of this.