Business Chief US+CAN Magazine June 2018 | Page 66

THE CONCEPT OF a value chain was first introduced to the public consciousness by American business strategist and economic theorist Michael Porter more than 30 years ago in his best-selling book Competitive Advantage : Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance .

Porter was talking about these ideas as early as the late 1970s , so the concept has existed for a long time , but the way that companies create and exploit maximum value has changed immeasurably in the intervening three or four decades . This is largely given the huge societal changes and the exponential acceleration and increased prevalence of technology in our daily lives .

Veteran Harvard academic Porter showed he hasn ’ t missed a beat either when he appeared at the World Business Forum in New York City last year . Porter spoke about how smarter , connected products are changing the market landscape by increasing ability to monitor , control and optimize systems .

This still ties in with his original

PORTER ’ S GENERIC VALUE CHAIN

Support Activities

Firm Infrastructure

Human Resource Management

Technology

Procurement

PRIMARY ACTIVITIES

66 June 2018