e3value user guide
An actor is an entity that is responsible for its survival and well-being. This means that it is perceived by itself and its environment as economically independent. More specifically,
Most actors are legal or biological persons. However, a profit-and-loss-responsible business unit is an actor too — it is responsible for its survival and well-being— but it is not a legally independent entity.
In reality, actors have relationships with each other that help them survive and thrive. Companies form alliances and they may have ownership relations. Non-profits have cooperation relationships. Individual consumers are part of a network of all kinds of social relations. And all actors have competitive relationships with other actors. Of this vastly complex network of relationships, e3value represents only type: that of economic transactions. This is a simplification and abstraction that makes it possible to understand one aspect, that of economic transactions, of the complex of networks that we are all part of.
In an economically viable network, all actors can survive. In a healthy network, they all thrive. E3value is designed to analyze economic viability and health of a network in the long run.
Actors are represented in e3value by rectangles, as illustrated in figure 2.1. The name of an actor expresses its role in a value network (Traveler, Railway company) or it is a proper name (Deutsche Bahn).