Value Network
The organization operates in a network of various actors exchanging goods and services on the one hand, and cash on the other hand.
A usual situation, considering the main actors in a Value Network and their usual product transaction streams, may look like this:
If we only consider the transaction counterparts of the organization, and put aside the transactions between those actors in which the organization has no interest, the situation, in the point of view of the organization, would be the following:
Note that by delivering value to the same targets as the organization's, some actors may also in the same way provide value to the organization itself. This is the case for "complementors", with whom there may or may not be a contractual transaction (situation of "positive externality" in this last case). Ex: Apple for iPhone apps developers, or a movie theater for a parking manager.
When taking into account cash transactions, and the different transaction patterns between the actors and the organization, we can draw a more relevant picture of the actual business game the organization is playing in the Value Network:
This Value Network perspective shows the Process Quadrant, as well as the different Transaction Loops (presented in Processes & Transactions).
The distinction between the different groups of actors is detailed in the Business System: Value Targets and Value Sources.
