A Baker's Dozen principles to guide value network strategies:
1. The natural pattern for creating value
through collaboration is a network pattern. Exchanges of knowledge
and ideas open the innovation pathways for creating new kinds of value.
2. The emergent purpose of a network is
revealed through the pattern of roles and exchanges within the network.
Sometimes the "espoused" purpose of a network is at odds with what it really
produces.
3. You cannot administer a network - you can
only serve it through the roles you play. Network strategies fail
when people try to run a network like a hierarchy.
4. People - not processes - are the active
agents. Only people can make decisions and initiate actions, in
organizations, and in networks.
5. Every business process has a hidden
network pattern of human interactions. Traditional work design
approaches ignore the critical human interactions that build relationships and
make the processes work.
6. Sustainability of a network depends on how
highly people perceive the value of participating. People "vote with
their feet" and abandon networks where they feel they do not receive value.
7. The primary mechanism for creating social
and economic good is the network. Yet, our traditional units of
analysis for production are the firm, the industry, or the nation-state.
8. The molecular level of value creation is
the exchange. Value is not limited to financial value - any exchange
of goods or value puts us solidly in the realm of economics.
9. Every interaction in a network is an
opportunity to create value or build relationship. Network
interactions have intangible value even when financial transactions are not
involved.
10. All value is subjective and contextual -
even financial value. Value is an emergent property of social
systems.
11. The dynamics of value in a
network are dependent upon network effects. One cannot determine the
value of the network by simply adding up all the roles and their outputs.
12. The success of an enterprise depends on how
efficiently it can convert one form of value to another. As
individuals and firms we must be able to convert our material and intangible
assets into more negotiable forms of value.
13. Patterns of human interactions and
intangibles are leading indicators for success. Network patterns can
show work processes at risk and show how companies build strategic capability
for the future.
