*4.2. Suitability Assessment of the Value Chain Approach to Developing a Green Organization Benchmark*

Value is the result of the customer's continuous assessment of the organization, i.e., the customer creates and determines value through simultaneous and determines it in concurrent, repeated consumption experiences, and defines value as the subjective meaning of the repeated and accumulated consumption experiences [67,68]. According to [69], a business model essentially is the logic of value creation and the structure that implements it, as well as the operational environment of value creation logic. The scientific literature presents a variety of value chain concepts (see Table 6).

It should be noted that the value created by different organizations varies depending on the specifics of the organization's activities. For example, the steps of the chain of social value creation are the stages through which social value can be created by solving social problems, and the chain of social value creation partly provides a way of linking economic activity to the social mission [69]. Meanwhile, the added value created by for-profit organizations is oriented toward the result.


**Table 6.** Diversity of value chain concepts.

Source: compiled by the authors.

There are different opinions on value chain analysis in the scientific literature. Ref. [75] proposed to examine the value chain by distinguishing between core and supporting activities. The core activities include inbound logistics activities, production, outbound logistics activities, marketing and purchasing, and service while supporting activities include corporate structure, human resources, technology development, and purchasing. According to [71], the value chain includes product development, different stages of production, raw material extraction, semi-finished products, component manufacturing and assembly, distribution, marketing, and even waste recycling. McKinsey & Company consultants propose to examine value creation through six different distinct but related groups of actions: technical progress, product design, production, marketing, distribution, and services, and specific actions are carried out in each of these groups [76,77]. Ref. [78] offer three perspectives for examining value creation:


The work of Ref. [79] emphasizes such models of product value creation for the consumer as the theory of economic profit, the consumer value model of the product development process, the risk value method, and the design structure matrix. It can be concluded that the value creation chain can be examined from different aspects, so the choice of indicators depends on the purpose of the evaluation. The analysis of the organization's performance evaluation using the value chain approach resulted in an assessment of the suitability of this approach according to the defined attributes (see Table 7).

The suitability analysis of this approach to developing a green organization benchmark identified a fundamental disadvantage; namely, the authors' opinions on the classification of green supply chain components in the context of the green value chain differ. While some authors consider the green supply chain as part of the green value chain, other authors distinguish certain elements of the green supply chain as separate components of the green value chain [80–82]. It can be said that there is no unified opinion on the definition of the value chain and the elements attributable to it, which increases the risk of inaccuracies when creating a green organization benchmark based on the value chain approach.


**Table 7.** Suitability assessment of the value chain approach according to identified attributes.

Source: compiled by the authors.
