Long-standing value chain models are being transformed by new entrants who restructure the way value is delivered to the customer. Digital and other technological innovations help new entrants eliminate or shift stages in the design, manufacture, commercialization, distribution, and support of products to create and capture new value. The large amounts of capital and infrastructure required for longer and more complex value chains are no longer required when significant stages are eliminated or shifted to different participants in such a way that the economics are dramatically changed. Incumbents with longer value chains provide ample targets for new entrants to reconceive how, when, and by whom value is created and delivered.
HAGEL, J. et al. (2015): Shorten the Value Chain. Transforming the Stages of Value Delivery . In: Center for the Edge’s Patterns of Disruption series: