The Values Chain: An inquiry into how we create and capture value when we innovate

In the long-term, 4 cents, or a 0.03 percent share of the proceeds from the final product, is not going to be sufficient value in order to justify the risks, timelines and labor in agricultural innovation. Invariably, low returns must lead to innovations not pursued or corners cut.

Who gets the money? The returns for innovation, that is.

We assign the determining role of value to the power of markets, a belief that “price and performance” dictates the distribution of the rewards, but we have rarely if ever reviewed these assumptions in a rigorous way.

Is it really so? Are there other forces at work? We may well find that our very oldest industries: nutrition, wellness, crops and the technology to disrupt these, give us the markets and clues we might explore in an enquiry onto values and value.

As a starting point, you’ve probably heard of the idea of a value chain, which connects companies and their customers and their customers all the way to the end user. To put it simply, we might add an S, and move from a value chain to a Values Chain.

The reason to move in this direction is not to be more fuzzy and friendly, a form of corporate Kumbaya by which we, er, signal to our customers that “We Care About Values. Yay!” Rather, we might better make this journey because markets are changing, times are changing, and moving from a value chain to a values chain is the best way to capture value for our innovations and accelerate returns to our shareholders and stakeholders.

Let’s explore that.