The Big Picture…

If beneficiaries need help in making progress with some aspect of their life, who is it that can help them? It is the enterprises – individuals, firms, multinational conglomerates, non-profits, entrepreneurs, start-ups etc. And these all have one thing in common. They are instances of a:

value co-creation enabling system that is intensely beneficiary focussed and constantly updating its value proposition(s) in order to remain viable and sustainable

This definition is an evolution of McKinsey’s Lanning & Michaels’ paper – A Business is a Value Delivery System – combined with Druker’s insight on the purpose of firms, and adjusting for a service-dominant logic view.

And that constant updating comes about through Innovation – which nicely evolves into the act of creating a new value proposition that offers to help beneficiary make progress better than they currently can.

Similar thinking can be applied to departments within an enterprise: their beneficiary is the enterprise. And similarly, the departments need to keep their value propositions updated (innovate)). Additionally, Lush & note that departments group micro-competencies together (perhaps defining the boundaries of the department and firms).

Important is that the enterprise remains viable and sustainable. Does it need to make a profit? It is a consideration but theoretically not required.