E-Business: Lectures for Final Exam
Lecture 1: Developing a multi actor value web
Take home message
A value web consists also of:
• Market segments, consisting of similar actors who assign economic value to value objects
in the same way
• Value activities, which are commercial viable activities performed by an actor or by a
market segment
• Partnerships, groups of actors who jointly satisfy a complex need
Additional construction rules apply for:
• These concepts, and
• Due to the multi-actor setting (rather than elementary value webs)
A trace is a path through a value web, starting at a consumer need, and ending at a boundary
element
What is a multi-actor value web? A value web consisting of more than two actors
Building blocks for value webs
1. Value transfers
With multi actor value webs, it becomes possible to have one (or more) customer, and multiple suppliers.
A value transfer may then be used to represent that a customer can select a specific supplier for needs-
satisfaction.
2. Value transactions
Are value transactions really needed? A value
transaction contains value transfers that all should
happen or none at all.
Also, in multi actor value webs, value transfers can
represent that a single supplier sells products to
more than one customer.
A value transaction has a property fraction. This
fraction is used to model the percentage of transfers done
with the one actor, and the percentage done with the
other actor. To calculate the percentage for a transaction, the fraction of that transaction is divided by the
sum of all fractions of transactions connected to a particular value interface. There is no explicit
visualization for value transactions. Value transactions are represented by enumerating the transfers
contained by the transaction.
, 3. Market segments
A number of actors assign economic value to
objects equally and thus from a modeling
perspective can be dealt with as one
• Actors in a segment are usually
implicit
• As an actor, a market segment has
value interfaces
• Example: Traveler
• Visualization:
4. Value activities
• A value activity is a task performed by an actor (or market segment) that potentially
results in a positive net cash flow (in case the
actor is an enterprise), or that potentially
contributes to an increase of economic utility
in its own right.
• On the long term, enterprises require a
positive net cash flow, meaning that the
amount of incoming money should be greater
than the amount of outgoing money. This is
the only way to remain economically
independent.
• Design question: Who does what?
• Value activity ≠ operational activity
• As actors and market segments, a value
activity has value interfaces
• A value activity has one or more value
interfaces, just like actors and market
segments. A value interface belongs to exactly zero or one value activity. A value activity
is performed by precisely one actor or market segment. Finally, multiple value activities
can be performed by an actor.
• Example: transporting, catering, traveling
• Visualization:
5. Partnership
A partnership groups already existing value interfaces of actors or market segments into one
interface, to model a joint offering
• Needed to satisfy a complex consumer need
• A partnership is an actor. An elementary actor is also an actor. This means that all
properties and relations identified for actors, will also hold for partnerships and
elementary actors. A partnership consists of minimal two value interfaces of other actors.
We need at least two interfaces to be able to group meaningfully.
• Not: ownership!
• Example: A railway company (train trip) and a caterer (food) form a partnership
, Constructing value webs
Finding More Value Objects: ‘Causally Related’ Objects
Find additional value objects/value ports by asking for each value object offered by actor,
which other value objects are needed to produce that value object.
1. Value Interface: To Group or not to Group?
If an actor obtains object o1 and uses this object to create object o2, then the objects o1 and o2
cannot be part of a same interface. Actors execute value activities to create value object(s) and to
do so, these activities may require other value object(s). In other words, an activity adds value to
a required object(s) by doing a transformation and/or com- position, and the result is a new value
object(s), that is of higher value than the used value object(s) for input(s). This is explicitly
represented by putting such value objects into separate value interfaces.
2. Value transfer: who sells to whom?
Value transfers represent a change in valuable rights, such as a change in ownership
In cases with many actors, it is sometimes difficult to decide which value transfers occur between
which actors. For instance, there are many situations that require a ‘supplier’, offering some
product, and a ‘logistics provider’, ensuring that the product is transported to the ‘customer’.
Possibilities for modeling such a situation are shown in figure 5.12 (a) and (b). Which one to
choose? To answer this question, it is important to keep in mind the meaning of a value transfer:
Value transfers represent a change in valuable rights, such as ownership, and not a change in
possession only. Actors can only be related by means of value transfers if the transfer represents
a change in a valuable right. In normal cases, this right refers to the ownership right or the right
to enjoy a service outcome. Transferring only the possession of a value object, without owning it
or having some other valuable right is not sufficient for value transfers.
Lecture 1: Developing a multi actor value web
Take home message
A value web consists also of:
• Market segments, consisting of similar actors who assign economic value to value objects
in the same way
• Value activities, which are commercial viable activities performed by an actor or by a
market segment
• Partnerships, groups of actors who jointly satisfy a complex need
Additional construction rules apply for:
• These concepts, and
• Due to the multi-actor setting (rather than elementary value webs)
A trace is a path through a value web, starting at a consumer need, and ending at a boundary
element
What is a multi-actor value web? A value web consisting of more than two actors
Building blocks for value webs
1. Value transfers
With multi actor value webs, it becomes possible to have one (or more) customer, and multiple suppliers.
A value transfer may then be used to represent that a customer can select a specific supplier for needs-
satisfaction.
2. Value transactions
Are value transactions really needed? A value
transaction contains value transfers that all should
happen or none at all.
Also, in multi actor value webs, value transfers can
represent that a single supplier sells products to
more than one customer.
A value transaction has a property fraction. This
fraction is used to model the percentage of transfers done
with the one actor, and the percentage done with the
other actor. To calculate the percentage for a transaction, the fraction of that transaction is divided by the
sum of all fractions of transactions connected to a particular value interface. There is no explicit
visualization for value transactions. Value transactions are represented by enumerating the transfers
contained by the transaction.
, 3. Market segments
A number of actors assign economic value to
objects equally and thus from a modeling
perspective can be dealt with as one
• Actors in a segment are usually
implicit
• As an actor, a market segment has
value interfaces
• Example: Traveler
• Visualization:
4. Value activities
• A value activity is a task performed by an actor (or market segment) that potentially
results in a positive net cash flow (in case the
actor is an enterprise), or that potentially
contributes to an increase of economic utility
in its own right.
• On the long term, enterprises require a
positive net cash flow, meaning that the
amount of incoming money should be greater
than the amount of outgoing money. This is
the only way to remain economically
independent.
• Design question: Who does what?
• Value activity ≠ operational activity
• As actors and market segments, a value
activity has value interfaces
• A value activity has one or more value
interfaces, just like actors and market
segments. A value interface belongs to exactly zero or one value activity. A value activity
is performed by precisely one actor or market segment. Finally, multiple value activities
can be performed by an actor.
• Example: transporting, catering, traveling
• Visualization:
5. Partnership
A partnership groups already existing value interfaces of actors or market segments into one
interface, to model a joint offering
• Needed to satisfy a complex consumer need
• A partnership is an actor. An elementary actor is also an actor. This means that all
properties and relations identified for actors, will also hold for partnerships and
elementary actors. A partnership consists of minimal two value interfaces of other actors.
We need at least two interfaces to be able to group meaningfully.
• Not: ownership!
• Example: A railway company (train trip) and a caterer (food) form a partnership
, Constructing value webs
Finding More Value Objects: ‘Causally Related’ Objects
Find additional value objects/value ports by asking for each value object offered by actor,
which other value objects are needed to produce that value object.
1. Value Interface: To Group or not to Group?
If an actor obtains object o1 and uses this object to create object o2, then the objects o1 and o2
cannot be part of a same interface. Actors execute value activities to create value object(s) and to
do so, these activities may require other value object(s). In other words, an activity adds value to
a required object(s) by doing a transformation and/or com- position, and the result is a new value
object(s), that is of higher value than the used value object(s) for input(s). This is explicitly
represented by putting such value objects into separate value interfaces.
2. Value transfer: who sells to whom?
Value transfers represent a change in valuable rights, such as a change in ownership
In cases with many actors, it is sometimes difficult to decide which value transfers occur between
which actors. For instance, there are many situations that require a ‘supplier’, offering some
product, and a ‘logistics provider’, ensuring that the product is transported to the ‘customer’.
Possibilities for modeling such a situation are shown in figure 5.12 (a) and (b). Which one to
choose? To answer this question, it is important to keep in mind the meaning of a value transfer:
Value transfers represent a change in valuable rights, such as ownership, and not a change in
possession only. Actors can only be related by means of value transfers if the transfer represents
a change in a valuable right. In normal cases, this right refers to the ownership right or the right
to enjoy a service outcome. Transferring only the possession of a value object, without owning it
or having some other valuable right is not sufficient for value transfers.
