Offerings provide value to the environment of a business organization. The organization fulfills its purpose and mission in its environment with its offerings, thus they are associated with the function aspect of the business. From the perspective of the environment, the offering is why the environment permits the organization to exist -- because of the function it fulfills to the benefit of the environment -- because of the value proposition of the offering.
Offering types --
Offerings, or economic offerings, can be classified as five types with increasing value and distinctive buyers: (Pine, 1999)
- commodities - the seller is a trader; the buyer is a market
- goods - the seller is a manufacturer; the buyer is a customer
- services - the seller is a provider; the buyer is a client
- experiences - the seller is a stager; the buyer is a guest
- transformations - the seller is an elicitor; the buyer is an aspirant
For more information on the nature and classification of offerings see
The Experience Economy (Pine & Gilmore, 1999) and
Strategic Horizons.
