It may be that my theory of the value proposition and its exchange sum is rooted in the work of Pascal. In 1670, Pascal postulated the concept of “expected value”. In essence, Pascal said that where there are a number of actions with the possibility of more than one outcome, it is cogent to index the outcomes, determine their values, and then examine the probabilities resulting from each.
Pascal then suggested multiplying these two factors to determine their expected value. The notion of expected value, particularly as it relates to choices, is closely connected, at least at a psychological level, with the predictive behavior of my notion of the exchange sum.
The question, “What is a Value Proposition?” is answered by another question, “Why should I select X over Y? In a business context, this question is contextualized as, “If I am your ideal customer, why should I buy from you rather than your competitors?” And the answer, in its simplest form is only this: because Pv > Pc. I have expanded on this answer with the following heuristic: BPY=Pc[Cl+Cr](VF[Ap+Ex]>CF[Rc+Ef])
I suspect that the concept entailing this essential calculation predates Pascal, but Pascal offers an interesting starting point for further reflection.
