{"id":227339,"date":"2023-07-10T10:47:12","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T13:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/impaktconsult.com\/value-and-knowledge-chain-in-small-businesses\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T12:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:01:23","slug":"value-and-knowledge-chain-in-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/impaktconsult.com\/en\/value-and-knowledge-chain-in-small-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Value and knowledge chain in small businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]The term<\/span> “value chain”<\/b> was coined by Michael Porter in 1985, in his book “Competitive Advantage”. For the Harvard Business School professor, the value chain is the entire set of activities performed by an organization that involves relationships with different actors (e.g., suppliers, outsourcers, workers, investors, R&D, clients, consumers, partners) to deliver value in the form of products or services. <\/span> The evolution in value chain relationships reveals that companies started the<\/span> outsourcing <\/b>movement of activities that had no direct impact on the final product (known as support or non-essential activities) and, later, of activities directly related to the business’s production process. Thus, what we see today is a <\/span>new configuration of business models<\/b>: the outsourced value chain.<\/b><\/p>\n

Increasing efficiency with the value chain<\/h2>\n

In practice, what is verified is a value chain formed by a central executing company <\/span>\u2014<\/span> the one responsible for the entire network (contractor)<\/span> \u2014<\/span> and outsourced companies (contracted). These contracted third parties are responsible for activities that have a direct impact on the contractor’s final product or delivered service, as a result of their production and technology techniques, allowing the central company to deliver increasingly more value to clients through the outsourcer’s specialization. <\/span> <\/span> Studies reveal that the <\/span>Business Process Outsourcing – BPO market<\/i><\/b> (Terceiriza\u00e7\u00e3o de Processos de Neg\u00f3cios, in Portuguese) has been growing worldwide and gaining more and more strength in Brazil in recent years. Research by <\/span>Technavio, <\/a><\/span>published in 2021, points out that the global BPO market could grow by US$ 40.16 billion by 2025.<\/span> In the industrial sector, for example, production cost reduction, time savings, increased service quality, and the use of new technologies are the main factors driving this market’s growth, according to a publication by the <\/span>National Confederation of Industry<\/a><\/span> \u2013 CNI (2017). In addition to these benefits, this new model contributes to open innovation in collaboration with key partners in the business value chain. This allows for both the expansion of organizational capacity and the improvement of processes, products, and services, as well as the connection and generation of opportunities throughout the entrepreneurial ecosystem. <\/span> Speaking specifically of small Brazilian businesses, according to research by <\/span>Sebrae<\/span><\/a> (2023), 21% of this profile of companies that closed in 2020 had poor company management as one of the main determining factors for the termination of activities. Considering this mortality rate, the outsourced value chain has been <\/span>a recommended strategy<\/span><\/a> to help these enterprises consolidate financially.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowledge and learning in the value chain<\/b><\/h2>\n

However, if on the one hand BPO is understood as one of the management strategies to overcome this survival challenge, allowing the central company to transfer the execution of one or several activities to third parties, thus taking advantage of their specialized knowledge base, on the other hand, it is clear that this business model can bring knowledge-related risks for the central company in the value chain.<\/span> Through experiences in client projects, Impakt Consultoria highlights some risks:<\/span><\/p>\n