Trend: New forms of value creation

A trend indicates a direction of change in values and needs which is driven by forces and manifests itself already in various ways within certain groups in society.

New forms of value creation highlight shifts from creating value selling goods, to selling services, as well as new forms of production processes (like 3D printing, Industry 4.0/5.0).  Also new forms of collaboration/competition with partners and competitors in value chains and value networks, as well as co-creation and co-production with customers is rising.  

If businesses are to contribute to sustainable development, their business models must be rooted in a view of value creation as a contribution to sustainable development, engaging all stakeholders in a respectful and ethically sound manner. This allows the businesses to understand and integrate their interests to develop sustainable value propositions to customers and all other stakeholders. 

As part of ‘The Great Reset’ needed to support the transition to a fairer, more a sustainable world, companies have a responsibility, and a rare opportunity, to rethink their organizational and workplace structures and to invest in their workforces as core drivers of long-term resilience and future success. The development of local production systems takes a ‘people-centered approach’ and can reduce the negative environmental impacts associated with transportation over long distances. 

As businesses have come under pressure to tackle societal and environmental issues, they have increasingly created sustainable supply chain teams or departments to carry out this work. Examples of technology used in the application of sustainability in supply chains include automation and robotics, tracing and mapping technologies, and transportation innovations such as electrical vehicles. Certain technologies will play an accelerating role in supply chain sustainability adoption, information transfer, and progress tracking. However, creating a successful circular supply chain is not a journey that companies should make alone. 

This Trend is part of the Megatrend Changing nature of work

Manifestations

Developments happening in certain groups in society that indicate examples of change related to the trend.

Customers are involved in product design and production

Patterns such as “Eco-design”, “Closing –the-loop”, or “Social mission” can make expert knowledge understandable and useful for laymen, essentially making business model design processes more democratic and inclusive, resulting in shared narratives and activities for a sustainability transition. 

Signals of change: ESCP

Production is more local and decentralised

Sophisticated short supply chains– such as internet orders and home delivery (e.g. organic foods in Denmark is the second most extended national distribution network after the post office) matter for sustainability because they can contribute to the mitigation of a variety of sustainability challenges. [FAO, 2020] 

Signals of change: FAO

Multi-actor production networks are collaborative and dynamic

Creating a successful circular supply chain is not a journey that companies should make alone. It is thus necessary to seek out new partnerships to achieve this goal. 

Signals of change: MITSupplyChain

Interesting questions

What might this trend imply, what should we be aware of, what could we study in more depth? Some ideas:

• xx