One of the most significant categories considered when evaluating logistics processes is value added. Concepts of value added known from the subject literature explain its essence and also provide a basis for substantive discussions. Due to their multidimensionality, multifaceted nature, and the lack of specific metrics, these theories are of little use to managers in the process of planning, decision-making, and other logistics process management procedures. Characterizing the morphology and identifying the structure of the logistics process category is an essential stage of their implementation and significantly determines the final results of execution, which is the creation and realization of value added for market participants.
Logistics processes should be treated here as a repetitive, precisely defined sequence of actions, having a clearly defined beginning and end, determined by the flows of materials and information, covering basic and supporting activities that create value from the customer’s point of view and from the enterprise’s point of view. This flow of goods and information through transformation implies the creation of value for all market participants, connecting the sphere of production with the sphere of consumption. It includes not only those processes that create value added as a result of the flow of goods, but also those responsible for its creation as a result of the flow of information.
The change in the role and importance of the logistics process category noticeable in recent years, as well as research into its impact on the results obtained by an enterprise, find particular reference to the issues of creating and realizing value added, including—above all—value added for the customer and value added for the enterprise. By defining value added as the customer’s willingness to pay a certain amount for what a given enterprise provides, we can analyze it as the sum of costs incurred in connection with the production of a specific product, or as the price that the buyer is willing to pay for a given good. Without value for end users, there can be no talk of value for the enterprise—value for the enterprise is directly linked to value for the customer.
Referring to the described interpretation and the scheme, one should analyze the stream of cash transferred in exchange for received goods, as well as the stream of products that constitute value for the buyer. Value added can therefore be defined here as the difference between sales revenue of a product and the costs of its production, or as the surplus of benefits received by buyers, which express the willingness to pay for the product, over the costs. If we perceive the created and realized value as the buyer’s willingness to pay, this corresponds to the value of the product that they themselves assign to it. From the enterprise’s point of view, considering customer value and the activities in logistics processes that create this value makes sense when the mentioned categories are treated as revenue drivers. This is because, as the value chain concept indicates, the key goal of every enterprise is to maximize value for the owners, not for the customer.
The subject of the article is a method of analyzing the costs of value creation in logistics processes based on the value chain, popularized by M. E. Porter. According to his concept, every enterprise is on one hand a link in a value system, and on the other, it creates its own value chain, called internal.
The article comes from the journal “Logistyka” 6/2009.