Networks and Value Network Analysis

A software company needs to gain an understanding of how to improve its product development and delivery processes.

 A nonprofit organization wants to assess how well it provides and coordinates services with other institutions in the area.

Every organization exists to provide something of value to a client or customer. Whether the products and services are valued by the customer, and whether the organization creates this value efficiently and effectively, are different matters.

Value network analysis, developed by Verna Allee in the 1990s, shows how an ecosystem, industry, organization, department, or process produces value. It shows the flow of transactions—both tangible and intangible—through roles in the system and to customers. The analysis is drafted in a participative workshop and then supplemented through interviews, surveys, and mathematical analysis of the value network.

Clients learn:

  • How work actually gets done
  • The kind of value the organization is really creating
  • How efficiently the organization converts resources into value for the customer
  • Where there are failure points in the value creation process
  • How customers perceive the value received from the organization

Specifically, Value Network Analysis looks at performance indicators such as asset management, brand management, role contribution, and ease of asset conversion into value.

Value Network Analysis is best for complex organizations in which collaboration, relationships, and knowledge-sharing are necessary. While it is well suited for assessing individual contributions, most find it to be more valuable when it focuses on internal systems and complex ecosystems.

What Clients Get from a Value Network Analysis

  • Value Network Maps: PowerPoint-based network maps that allow for easy “what if” analysis
  • Analytics: Statistics about network health and effectiveness, such as speed, resilience, agility, stability, channel management, and asset management
  • Formal Report: Text report explaining findings and recommendation

For more information, see our AHA Value Network Mapping Article in Nonprofit Quarterly based on work with the Austin Healthy Adolescent Initiative.

Contact us to find out more about conducting a value network analysis in your company.

Didn’t find what you were looking for here? Check out our organizational network resources.

Is your strategy stuck in the 20th century?

Image of "Is Your Strategy Stuck in 20th Century"

Sign up to receive the two-document Strategic Resilience set and join our low volume list.

We’ll never share your information with anyone. Period.

* - required