There basically are two means at your disposal to add value to a product or a service. The first is to build features into the product that distinguishes it from your competitors' products. The second is to make available to your customer information that enhances his/her ability to make better decisions while conducting business. Thus, the equation:

Added value² = added product features + information enrichment

Most executives are quite knowledgeable as to how their manufacturing process adds value to their product, but few of them know how information can add value to their customers. They understand that the whole organization depends on information but they don't understand the flow of information through the organization and how that information could be made available to customers in ways that would add value and enhance customer relationships. In order to overcome this difficulty, one must understand the flow patterns which route information through the business model together with the interconnectivity of these patterns. One can then use the Internet's capabilities to generate a significant number of Internet applications to provide additional value to customer. These capabilities will be identified in a later chapter .

Added Value	--->	physical activities/features
Added Value	--->	new information
Added Value2	--->	physical attributes	+	enrichment information	=	premium prices

As Business Week recently observed in an article about the future impact of the Internet:

"The Internet has the potential to revolutionize the way information and value flow through a business. The biggest profits will go to those that manage Information, not physical assets."