This website presents Value Management Theory (VMT) - a descriptive theoretical framework for analyzing value and anti-value in socio-economic systems.
The site serves as the canonical public reference for the theory, providing a structured, versioned, and citable representation of its ontology, axioms, theorems, limits of applicability, falsifiability conditions, and relations to other theories.
What This Site Is
This site is dedicated exclusively to the theoretical layer of Value Management Theory. Its purpose is to:
- present the theory in a formal, internally consistent structure;
- provide a stable reference for academic and analytical discussion;
- support citation and critical examination of the theory.
The content is intentionally organized as a long-form theoretical document rather than a product or marketing website.
What VMT Is - and What It Is Not
Value Management Theory is:
- a descriptive theory, not a normative prescription;
- a conceptual framework, not a management tool;
- applicable to socio-economic systems, not limited to markets or firms.
Value Management Theory is not:
- a business framework or methodology;
- a product, software system, or optimization algorithm;
- a universal welfare or efficiency model;
- a replacement for economic theory.
The theory does not answer the question "what should be done". Instead, it explains "what happens and why" when value is interpreted, transmitted, transformed, accumulated, or lost within systems.
Origin of the Theory
Value Management Theory emerged from long-term analytical and practical work with complex organizational and socio-technical systems in which traditional economic and management models proved insufficient to explain observed phenomena, including:
- persistent divergence between expectations and outcomes;
- accumulation of anti-value without obvious failures;
- degradation of system capability despite local optimization;
- instability caused by interpretation mismatch rather than resource scarcity.
These observations required a formal language capable of describing value as an interpreted change of state, rather than as a single scalar quantity derived from prices or utility.
Relation to Æilus
Value Management Theory is the theoretical foundation of the Æilus methodology.
- VMT provides the ontology, axioms, and formal structure.
- Æilus provides a practical methodology for working with value systems using VMT concepts.
This site intentionally focuses only on the theory. Applied practices, roles, processes, and tools are documented separately within the Æilus ecosystem.
Status and Evolution
Value Management Theory is an evolving theoretical construct.
- The theory is explicitly versioned.
- Changes are introduced through clarification, refinement, and extension, not through retroactive reinterpretation.
- Earlier formulations are preserved conceptually through version history.
The HTML representation on this site reflects the latest active version of the theory. Versioned PDF documents provide stable snapshots suitable for citation, review, and offline use.
Author and Attribution
Value Management Theory was formulated by Victor Bolshakov.
If you reference the theory in academic, analytical, or applied work, please use the citation format provided on the Cite page.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge the intellectual contributions of:
- Konstantin Sypalo - for analytical insights, questioning of assumptions, and assistance in clarifying the structure and scope of the theory;
- Maria Kerbs - for critical review, discussion, and conceptual feedback that helped refine several theoretical formulations.
These contributions improved the clarity and robustness of the theory but do not imply shared authorship or responsibility for the final formulation.