Business values perspective

ACHIEVING BUSINESS VALUE THE INVESTMENT COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF INCLUDING ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS IN VALUATIONS... 

The value chain is a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage. The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build value. They culminate in the total value delivered by an organization. To analyse the specific activities through which a firm can create a competitive advantage, it is useful to model the firm as a chain of value-creating activities. A value network is a business analysis perspective that describes social and technical resources within and between businesses (Porter 1985). 

Friedman (1962 133) brings the shareholder value perspective to the point by saying, "there is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it engages in open and free competition, without deception and fraud."... 

Many firms tend to staff their technical service efforts with personnel that have experience solely in the particular business involved. It is often of value to consider individuals having experience in related industries, both to provide a different set of skills and to provide a different perspective than that of in-house experts. This is particularly important in the specialty chemicals arena, where formulations experience is generally of paramount importance. This variety of knowledge is often largely experiential, as much of the treatment and behaviors of formulations in the chemical industry are empirical or experience-based rather than quantitatively understood. It is therefore extremely difficult to train personnel ia dealing with the often nebulous aspects of formulations technology. 

Commodity vs. specialty is not only related to product properties from a company-internal perspective but also to the business associated with this product. The management of commodities is less focused on product complexity as in the case of specialties, e.g. related to product variants, packaging and small volumes. It is more related to manage large volumes and values as well as prices. Consequently, the differentiation of commodities and specialties impacts the management of the value chain significantly. 

The amount of resin to pack in a column, column geometry, flow rates, pressure, column hardware, and wetted materials of construction should all be evaluated in development. Chromatography columns must be properly packed prior to validating the purification process. From a business perspective there should be some criteria other than purification of the product by which the quality of the packed column can be assessed prior to applying the feedstream, which by this time in the process is quite expensive. Height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) and asymmetry determinations can be used to evaluate the quality of column packing, but may have limited value for some types of packed columns... 

For specialty chemicals production networks, the planning and controlling process has to combine the site perspective and the value chain perspective. Most specialty chemicals companies have a division/business unit organization and operate sites shared by several divisions. While each division can cover the value chain perspective individually, for example by integrating the above-mentioned indicators into controlling processes, the site perspective requires cross-divisional coordination to avoid suboptimal solutions. Different options ranging from centralized to decentralized setups exist to do so (cf. Hayes and Wheelwright 1984, pp. 120-125). 

C. B. Cobb and W. Hunter, Measuring What Matters The Value Creation Indices for the Energy, Utility, and Chemical Industries, in Perspectives on Business Innovation Special... 

Solution Dyed Nylon (now a product of Invista, which DuPont sold to Koch Industries in 2004). Historically, DuPont s nylon customers purchased raw product and dyed it themselves. More recently, DuPont has offered these customers nylon that is dyed to their specifications in the manufacturing process. This has a number of benefits to the customer including the steadfastness and consistency of the colors. For the environment, this process means more of the overall dying process happens in a centralized location with high environmental controls. From the DuPont business perspective, this adds more value to their customers and raises the cost of switching to another material supplier. 

E. Mankin and P. Chakrabarti, Valuing Adaptabihty Financial Markers for Managing Volatility, Perspectives on Business Innovation, Cap Gemini Ernst Young Center for Business Innovation, November 9, 2002. 

While the book portends to introduce transformative concepts, capable of broadening the technological base of the pharmaceutical industry, we are acutely aware that a sobering note is in order. Wrapping designs are physically sound and seem to withstand the test of academic scrutiny and, yet, ultimately, only clinical trials can fully assess their therapeutic value and safety. In this regard, and from a practical perspective, current business models in the pharmaceutical R D may not be sufficiently resilient to accommodate this type of core innovation. 

Besides learning about yourself, you will practice business skills that you will need to use throughout your career, such as gaining visibility, networking, persuading, and building rapport with different types of people. The more you learn about how others think, their unique perspectives, and what they value, the more well rounded you become as a person. These opportunities for increased self-awareness and business skills translate to vital life lessons that you will rely on whether at work, with your family, or in your community. 

Know thyself. It is critical, once and for all, as individuals and business owners, that we rid ourselves of the belief that an amount of money reflects our self-worth or value as a human being. If you are starting a business from this premise, your foundation will always be shaky and you will nm the risk of losing perspective during negotiations and losing opportunities because you lack the ability to be truly objective. 

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