What is ‘Value-Added Network (VAN)’
A private network provider hired by a company to facilitate electronic data interchange (EDI) and/or provide other network services such as message encryption, secure email and management reporting. A Value-Added Network (VAN) simplifies the communications process by reducing the number of parties with which a company needs to communicate. The VAN accomplishes this by acting as an intermediary between business partners that share standards based or proprietary data. VANs may be operated by large companies for efficient supply chain management with their suppliers, or by industry consortiums or telcos.
Explaining ‘Value-Added Network (VAN)’
VANs usually operate in a mailbox setting, wherein a company sends a transaction to a VAN and the VAN places it in the receiver’s mailbox. The receiver contacts the VAN and picks up the transaction, and then sends a transaction of its own. The system is similar to email, except that it is used for standardized structured data rather than unstructured text.
Further Reading
- EU involvement in TEN development: network effects and European value added – www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
- Business angels and value added: what do we know and where do we go? – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- Venture capitalist governance and value added in four countries – www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
- Supply management and e-procurement: creating value added in the supply chain – www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
- Is economic value added more associated with stock return than accounting earnings? The UK evidence – www.emerald.com [PDF]
- Five facts about value-added exports and implications for macroeconomics and trade research – www.aeaweb.org [PDF]
- Relating life cycle assessment indicators to gross value added for Dutch dairy farms. – www.cabdirect.org [PDF]
- Venture capitalists' non-financial value-added: an evaluation of the evidence and implications for research – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- The value added statement–an appropriate instrument for Integrated Reporting – www.emerald.com [PDF]
