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Começo por registar um conjunto de citações. A primeira de Marx de 1865:
"A commodity has a value, because it is a crystallization of social labour. The greatness of its value, or its relative value, depends upon the greater or less amount of that social substance contained in it; that is to say, on the relative mass of labour necessary for its production. The relative values of commodities are, therefore, determined by the respective quantities or amounts of labour, worked up, realized, fixed in them. The correlative quantities of commodities which can be produced in the same time of labour are equal."Isto está impregnado na sociedade como uma verdade axiomática que serve de suporte a toda uma geração de políticas.
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Outra citação, num sentido diferente é:
"Value is ... nothing inherent in goods, no property of them. Value is a judgment economizing men make about the importance of the goods at their disposal for the maintenance of their lives and well-being. Hence value does not exist outside the consciousness of men .... [T]he value of goods.. is entirely subjective in nature." (Ebenstein)Outra citação:
"The value of goods arises from their relationship to our needs, and is not inherent in the goods themselves .... Objectification of the value of which is entirely subjective in nature, has nevertheless contributed very greatly to confusion about the basic principles of our science .... The importance that goods have for us and which we call value is merely imputed." (Menger 1873)Outra citação:
"By the late nineteenth century, however, economists had given up on the notion that it is primarily labour which determines the value of goods .... This new understanding marked a revolution in the development of economics. It is also a sobering reminder of how long it can take for even highly intelligent people to get rid of a misconception whose fallacy then seems obvious in retrospect. It is not costs which create value; it is value which causes purchasers to be willing to repay the costs incurred in the production of what they want." (Sowell 2004)Este último sublinhado devia fazer parte das leituras diárias de qualquer economista...
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E terminamos com uma famosa questão levantada por Drucker em 1973:
"The final question needed in order to come to grips with business purpose and business mission is: 'What is value to the customer?' It may be the most important question. Yet it is the one least often asked. One reason is that managers are quite sure that they know the answer. Value is what they, in their business, define as quality. But this is almost always the wrong definition. The customer never buys a product. By definition the customer buys the satisfaction of a want. He buys value."E, para terminar esta primeira parte, uma questão que todas as empresas deviam fazer e sobre a qual deviam reflectir:
"since price is determined by value - and now that we have explored in detail the subject theory of value, we have a better undestanding of this concept - shouldn't someone within the company be in charge of comprehending, communicating and capturing value? Al businesses talk about value, and all agree it is essential to create, and constantly add to, but who is in charge of it?Quem é que está encarregado, na sua empresa, de compreender, comunicar e capturar valor?
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No customer buys costs. efforts or activities, yet many businesses continue to price on a cost-plus basis. The customer wants to see the baby, not hear about the labour pains."
