The advent of the Big Data era turns more of the value chain into strategic advantages

The competition among enterprises is related to the competition of the entire value chain. In a large number of enterprises, "value activities", in fact, not every link can create value, and the competitiveness of enterprises basically come from the key part of the value chain, the competitive edge, and the advent of the Big Data era, so that enterprises The opportunity to turn big data analytics into turning more of the value chain into a company's strategic advantage.

9 basic aspects of the value chain is still the focus of business

Value chain theory is Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter put forward in 1985. Porter argues that "every business is a collection of activities that take place in the design, production, distribution, distribution, and support of its products, all of which can be identified by a value chain." Value creation is achieved through A series of activities, these activities can be divided into two types of basic activities and supporting activities, the basic activities include internal logistics, production operations, external logistics, marketing and sales, services, etc .; and auxiliary activities, including procurement, technology development, human resources Management and enterprise infrastructure. These different but interrelated production and business activities constitute a dynamic process of creating value, namely the value chain.

The value chain is ubiquitous in the economic activities. There is an industry value chain between the enterprises and the enterprises that are related to the upstream and downstream. The connection among the business units in the enterprise constitutes the value chain of the enterprises. There are also the various business units within the enterprise Value chain link. Every value activity in the value chain can have an impact on how much value an organization can ultimately achieve.

Porter's theory of "value chain" reveals that the competition between enterprises and enterprises is not only the competition of a certain link but the competition of the entire value chain. The overall competitiveness of the entire value chain determines the competitiveness of enterprises. In Porter's words: "Consumers' minds are made up of a series of concrete physical and technical activities and profits within a series of enterprises. When you compete with other enterprises, you actually are competing with many internal activities instead of Competition for an activity. "

After 20 years of development, Porter's value chain theory still plays an important role. Enterprises competing in the currently globally-integrated economic environment need a comprehensive understanding of competitiveness factors such as market, customers, products, laws and regulations, competitors, suppliers, and employees , And Porter value chain involves nine links basically match.

How does big data change the value chain?

With the advent and widespread adoption of big data, businesses around the world are looking for new ways to compete and win. They are constantly transforming to take full advantage of the vast amount of information that improves decision-making and performance across the enterprise. A handful of leading companies have made them better at making decisions on "points of influence" in a timely manner by providing information, skills and tools to employees, including executives and marketing and shop floor workers.

From the value chain point of view, the advent of the era of big data, so that enterprises have the opportunity through big data analysis more links in the value chain into a strategic advantage.

Take the case of big data broadcast by CCTV on the news network in April this year as an example: a small clothing enterprise can send products directly from the factory to customers all over the world through big data platform, and make sales in foreign markets more than last year Increased by 70%, but the transaction cost is only one-tenth of the past. This shows that the enterprise through the big data platform to make their own original "market" this part of a qualitative change: in the past to sell goods abroad, to go through the domestic exporters, foreign importers, wholesalers, shopping malls, and ultimately to reach the hands of users, And now you can reach the user.

Another typical case is Kraft Foods: It captured 479,000 discussions on Vegemite's new products in 1.05 billion blogs, forums, and discussion boards using IBM Big Data and Analytics, and conducted in-depth analysis , The final product efficiently completed the upgrade. The case shows that big data platforms enable companies to become more competitive in research and development.

The Fiat car company is also through big data and analysis, predict in advance who will buy a specific type of Fiat. It increased targeted customers' response rates by 15% to 20% with IBM Big Data solutions, increased customer loyalty by 7%, and 54% chose Fiat for the second car purchase. The case shows that the enterprise has had a qualitative change in customer service through big data platforms.

Big data undeniably means for many people many things: it is no longer confined to technology. Nowadays, big data has become a business priority because it can have a profound impact on business in a time of global economic integration. In addition to providing solutions to the long-standing business challenges, big data has also inspired many new ways to transform processes, organizations, the industry as a whole, and even society itself. And from the perspective of the value chain is: the advent of the era of big data, so that enterprises have the opportunity through big data analysis more links in the value chain into a strategic advantage.