GB570 Unit 2 Value Chain Map Example

Course	GB570 Managing the Value Chain
Unit	Unit 2
Paper type	Value chain map
Length	About 1,130 words, 7 pages double-spaced
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Purdue University Global
Program	MBA
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for GB570 Unit 2

Seven Stages, One Bottle: A Unit 2 Value Chain Map of Single-Origin Olive Oil from the Alentejo to Chicago

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

GB570: Managing the Value Chain

Unit 2 Value Chain Map

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The company, its suppliers and every figure are composite and illustrative; the frameworks and sources cited are real.

What this part is doingOpening on the three largest shares tells the reader at once that the map is about who keeps the money, not only who does the work.

How to Read the Map

The map reads in two directions. Left to right, it follows the oil as it physically moves, from olive groves near Serpa in southern Portugal to a grocery shelf in suburban Chicago. Top to bottom, inside each stage box, it follows the money: the price at which goods leave the stage, the amount the stage captures out of the shopper's $17.99, and a short note on what that stage does. Porter (1985) called the full set of linked firms a value system and kept the term value chain for the activities inside one firm; this map draws the system and then opens the focal firm's box in more detail.

Every figure is stated per 500 ml bottle, which holds about 0.458 kilograms of oil. Industry prices for bulk oil are quoted per kilogram, so the conversion appears once in each box where a per-kilogram figure was the starting point.

The Seven Stages

Stage 1, growers. About 640 smallholders, members of a cooperative near Serpa, pick olives from mid-October to early December. Roughly 2.7 kilograms of olives yield one bottle's worth of oil. Olives leave the grove at $1.95 per bottle equivalent, and the growers capture all $1.95.

Stage 2, olive mill. A two-phase mill crushes the fruit, mixes the paste at a controlled temperature and separates the oil in a decanter. Oil leaves the mill at $2.55 a bottle, about $5.57 a kilogram, so the mill captures $0.60. The mill's speed and temperature control decide whether the oil qualifies as extra virgin, which makes this small slice the most consequential one on the map.

Stage 3, bulk exporter. A Lisbon exporter buys from eleven mills, stores oil in steel tanks under nitrogen, filters it, sends samples for chemical and sensory testing and ships it in lined containers. Oil leaves the exporter at $3.10 a bottle, about $6.77 a kilogram free on board, and the exporter captures $0.55.

Stage 4, ocean freight and import. The crossing to Newark, rail to Chicago, insurance, customs brokerage and duty together add $0.30, so oil lands at Alder Quay's dock at $3.40 a bottle.

Stage 5, Alder Quay. The focal firm bottles, labels and markets the oil and sells it to distributors at $9.80 a bottle, capturing $6.40. This is the only box where primary and support activities are written out in full, because it is the only firm whose internal activities can be observed.

Stage 6, regional distributor. A Joliet distributor warehouses cases, delivers to stores, invoices and runs shelf checks. It sells to grocers at $11.30 and captures $1.50.

Stage 7, grocery chain. The chain shelves the bottle at $17.99 and captures $6.69, the largest single slice.

The two stages that decide what the oil tastes like, the grove and the mill, keep $2.55 of $17.99 between them.

Porter's Activities Inside Alder Quay

Beneath the Alder Quay box, the map lists the firm's activities in the two rows Porter (1985) described. Primary activities: inbound logistics (receiving containers and pumping oil into holding tanks), operations (filtering again, bottling under nitrogen and labeling), outbound logistics (palletizing and shipping to distributors), marketing and sales (the harvest-dated label, grocery buyer relationships and in-store tastings) and service (a complaint line and replacement of damaged bottles). Support activities: procurement (the annual contract with the Lisbon exporter), technology development (the blend specification and tasting panel), human resource management and firm infrastructure.

For the other six firms, the map shows only the two activities that matter most to the bottle: harvest timing and pruning for growers, crushing speed and temperature for the mill, storage and testing for the exporter, transit time for freight, warehousing and delivery for the distributor, and shelf placement and price for the grocer.

What this part is doingWriting out every activity for the focal firm only, and saying why, shows the writer knows the limits of outside evidence.

How Each Figure Was Found

Each figure on the map carries one of three grades, and the grade appears in small type inside the box.

Reported. The figure comes from a published price or a document the firm holds. Alder Quay's wholesale price of $9.80, the distributor's selling price of $11.30 and the shelf price of $17.99 are reported, since all three appear on invoices or price lists. The exporter's price of $6.77 a kilogram is reported from the supply contract.

Derived. The figure is calculated from reported figures. Each stage's captured amount is derived by subtraction, and the freight and duty figure is derived from freight invoices divided by bottles per container.

Estimated. The figure rests on outside studies or assumptions. The grower price of $1.95 and the mill's $0.60 are estimates, because Alder Quay never sees the transaction between growers and mills. The estimate starts from olive prices reported for southern Portugal in the most recent harvest, an oil yield of about 17 percent by weight, and a milling charge typical for cooperative mills, and it is shown with a range of $1.70 to $2.20 for growers and $0.45 to $0.75 for the mill.

Where the Evidence Thins

The map is strongest from Alder Quay's dock forward and weakest before the exporter. Two estimates carry most of the uncertainty. The first is the grower share. Olive prices in Iberia swing sharply from one harvest to the next with rainfall and heat, and a drought year can raise them by half or more, so a single-year estimate can mislead. A better figure would come from the cooperative's own payment records, which Alder Quay could request as a condition of its next contract. Kaplinsky and Morris (2001) advise value chain researchers to report farm-level figures as ranges tied to a dated season for exactly this reason, and the map follows that advice.

The second weak figure is the grocery chain's cost of selling the bottle. The chain's $6.69 is reported, but how much of it is profit is not, and the Unit 3 margin analysis will need an estimate drawn from published grocery operating margins. Gereffi et al. (2005) note that the governance of a chain often depends on who holds information, and this map shows Alder Quay holding good information downstream and very little upstream.

What the Map Sets Up

The map points the next units at one question. The stages that create the qualities a shopper pays for, early harvest and careful milling, keep the least, and the stages that hold and present the bottle keep the most. Unit 3 will ask which stage holds the profit, not just the price, and what protects that profit from being competed away.

What this part is doingEnding on the question the next unit will answer shows the map is a working tool, not a finished picture.

References

Gereffi, G., Humphrey, J., & Sturgeon, T. (2005). The governance of global value chains. Review of International Political Economy, 12(1), 78-104. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290500049805

Kaplinsky, R., & Morris, M. (2001). A handbook for value chain research. International Development Research Centre.

Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. Free Press.

The Purdue Global GB570 Unit 2 instructions

The GB570 mapping assignment asks you to draw the chain behind one product as a sequence of firms, each labeled with the price at which goods leave it and the amount it captures. Convert every figure to one unit, such as per bottle or per kilogram, and say which unit you chose. Under the focal firm, lay out Porter's primary and support activities in full; for the other firms, note the activities that matter most. Explain the origin of each number and how much weight it can bear, because many numbers along a chain are estimates. Then comment on where the evidence is weakest and what would strengthen it. Close by stating which stage the next analysis should examine. Expect a diagram page plus three or four pages of notes and sources in APA 7.

Inside the GB570 Unit 2 example

The paper opens by explaining that the map reads two ways, left to right for oil and top to bottom for money. Seven stage entries follow, each with its price, its captured amount and a short note on what the firm does, so the mill's sixty cents appears beside the decision it controls. The highlighted sentence observes that grove and mill together keep $2.55 of $17.99. A section lists Porter's activities inside Alder Quay, from receiving containers to the tasting panel. Figures are then graded: invoices make the wholesale and shelf prices reported, subtraction makes captured amounts derived, and grower and mill shares are estimated with ranges. Two weak estimates, grower pay and grocery profit, are discussed with Kaplinsky and Morris and Gereffi and colleagues.

Reading the GB570 Unit 2 grading rubric

In this GB570 map, points follow the evidence as much as the drawing. A chain that names every firm and uses one consistent unit lets the instructor add the shares and confirm they reach the retail price. Separate treatment of the focal firm's activities, with Porter's two rows written out, shows command of the course framework. A clear statement of where each number came from earns credit that a neat diagram alone cannot, and confidence grades or ranges for estimates show judgment. Commentary on the weakest figures, with a concrete way to improve each, is often where strong and average maps part. A closing link to the next unit's question shows the map has a purpose. References in APA 7 and readable labels complete the rubric.

GB570 Unit 2 help from the desk

Maps for GB570 often show stages with no prices, which turns an economic diagram into a flowchart. Some writers mix units, quoting a farm price per kilogram beside a shelf price per bottle, so the shares never add up. Another frequent problem is presenting estimates as facts; an instructor who asks where the growers' share came from expects an answer on the page. Porter's activities are sometimes listed for every firm in the chain, which looks thorough but claims knowledge no outsider has. Leaving out the commentary on weak evidence wastes the section where judgment shows. Pick one unit, label every figure with its source and grade, open only the focal firm in detail and say plainly what you could not find. A free custom map for your own product is available from our writers.

Get a GB570 Unit 2 example written to your instructions

Name the product your section is mapping, even roughly, and copy over the Unit 2 wording along with the grading rubric. Where no figures are supplied, the sample estimates them from cited public sources and labels each one. There is no charge for the first custom sample, and it returns inside 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.

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GB570 Unit 2 questions, answered

Should the map show Porter's value chain or the whole industry chain?

Usually both, at different depths. The industry chain, sometimes called the value system, shows the firms and the margin each keeps. Porter's primary and support activities belong inside the focal firm, where they can actually be observed. If your prompt names only one of the two, follow it, and mention the other in a sentence so the grader sees you know the difference.

How precise do the margin figures need to be?

Precise enough to carry the conclusion and no more. A band with a source is stronger than a single cent figure with none. Test whether your conclusion changes at either end of each band; if the stage holding the most profit stays the same, say so. That one sentence tells a grader your estimates were weighed rather than guessed.

Where can I find a free GB570 Unit 2 sample paper?

A full GB570 Unit 2 value chain map is on this page: the seven firms behind a composite olive oil bottle, the price and captured amount at each, Porter's activities for the focal firm and a graded source note for every figure.

Should the map be a diagram or written notes?

Usually both. The diagram carries the stages and figures at a glance, and the notes explain the sources and the weak points. If your tool cannot draw boxes, a clear numbered sequence of stages with figures still works.

How do I handle a stage whose figures I cannot find?

Estimate it from the stages on either side or from published studies, give a range, and grade it as estimated. Then say in the commentary what document or source would replace the estimate with a reported figure.