1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to expanding markets for products and services by making resource placement decisions in an objective manner, and deals more particularly with techniques for comparing one or more locations to a set of criteria that are directed toward identifying market strengths and weaknesses of the location(s) as part of an overall value chain.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many countries or localities represent an untapped or an emerging market for the sale and adoption of information technology (“IT”). Often, these same countries are simultaneously experiencing a high growth rate in the availability of skills supportive of IT. Connections between a company's business and marketing strategy (and its related decisions) and its resource placement strategy (and its related decisions) may be revealed by examining and understanding the value chain in which the company participates.
A value chain is defined as a sequence or network of transactions and mutually-beneficial relationships occurring between companies in the delivery of value to an end customer. Value chains have also been referred to as supply chains and value nets. Economists as far back as Adam Smith have described in great detail how value chains work, especially with regard to how such chains allow for and encourage specialization of business roles, and how they also drive more responsive business systems over time.
As an example, consider a simple value chain that corresponds to a hardware supply chain, wherein a wholesale hardware manufacturer supplies a hardware product directly to a retailer who in turn sells it to an end customer. The hardware manufacturer receives value from the retailer because the retailer enables the manufacturer's products to reach the marketplace; this link in the value chain provided by the retailer supports and sustains further orders for the products provided by the manufacturer, thereby causing an increase not only in the manufacturer's revenue but also in the revenue of the retailer. The retailer receives value from the hardware manufacturer in terms of obtaining products that will meet needs of customers in this marketplace. The end customer receives value from the retailer, who provides the customer with an opportunity to buy the needed product, and in turn, the retailer receives value from the customer from the sale of the products. Other benefits may also result, such as increased market presence or brand awareness, and so forth. Symbiotic relationships thus exist between entities in the value chain.
More complicated value chains, which may be recursive in some cases, are seen in the IT field. FIG. 1 illustrates representative entities in a sample IT-related value chain. A plurality of components 110 may be required in this particular chain, for example, and these components may be adapted for use with a plurality of operating systems 120. In the more general case, a number of entities (see, for example, reference number 130 in FIG. 1) may be involved in creating one or more IT solutions 140, which may be marketed through one or more distribution channels 150.
With these simple examples, it should be clear how companies become part of a value chain and also how they become dependent on both the upstream and downstream vitality and growth of other links in the chain. No company in a mature and free market is likely to own the entire chain of value. In fact, economists use the complexity of a value chain as one indicator of a market's (and a country's) economic maturity. It therefore follows that a company's ability to expand its market presence by delivering value to emerging and immature markets is influenced and limited by its ability to develop a rich and differentiated value net within these emerging markets.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide techniques that leverage a value chain analysis approach for determining optimal resource placement, particularly in emerging IT markets.