Chapter 10: The Growth of VCS Thinking

Box 10.1: Chapter 10 at a Glance

In this chapter, we review how value creating system (VCS) thinking is steadily growing and replacing the obsolete value chain thinking. Although the early optimism of Normann and Ramírez (1994) has taken some time to be realised, obstacles are now being overcome. We can understand the delays by analysing why the older system could persist. First, the value chain idea is still useful in many situations. Also, the new forms of business practice have come to widespread importance only quite recently. Even now, most managers have been trained on the old tools and do not easily abandon them. However, with the realities of our current business environments, it is now time to change thinking, from structure to process, and from chains to systems. With this book, we hope to help that happen.