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Companies, whether providing products or services, operate in an ecosystem that has multiple stakeholders—customers, investors, employees, their organization, and external partners, including suppliers and environmental advocates. For sustained success, all stakeholders, not just customers and shareholders (investors), must feel they receive fair value. We call this the Value Balance. When one or more of the stakeholders is not satisfied with the value they receive, the ecosystem of the product or service will break down. The importance of this dynamic balance is evident not only in product or service ecosystems today, but throughout modern industrial history, starting with the Industrial Revolution. The value balance has always been necessary for sustained and responsible technological innovation.

Value-creation is the process of developing new innovations. We discuss two of the first value-creation steps: identification of an important unmet opportunity and the development of a compelling value proposition. Important opportunities are potentially large and fast growing. They have a “white space” that allows a competitive advantage because there is currently little competition. The value proposition is the first deliverable of the value-creation process. It is composed of four main ingredients: the customer and market need (N), the approach for the offering and business model (A), the benefits per costs of the offering (B), and the competition (C). After the value proposition is developed, the additional steps required are summarized. Every enterprise function must have a value proposition. When value-propositions are understood and used throughout an enterprise, managers, teams, and organizations become customer focused and more efficient and effective at creating high-value innovations.