This section describes the analysis conducted to identify the most significant value loops within the stakeholder value network. Identifying the important value loops provides another method for identifying the important value flows within the stakeholder network. It also provides an indication of the value loops that return the most value back to NASA/NOAA, which the stakeholder and value flow analyses described above do not provide.
I ranked the complete set of 1880 value loops according to their value loop scores. Figure 51 through Figure 60 below show the top 40 value loops pictorially, with the value loop scores indicated next to each loop. The value loops have been grouped according to the first value flow appearing in each value loop. Note that in the diagrams below, value flows appearing in brackets represent science-related value flows from the respective science categories.
Figure 51. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “space-acquired data” to Scientists
Figure 52. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “access to space systems” to Scientists
Figure 53. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “funding” to Scientists
Figure 55. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “compliance with policy” or “future plans information” to the Government
Figure 56. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “science opinions” to the Government
Figure 57. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “future plans information” or “funding” to S&T Advisory Bodies
Figure 58. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “future plans information” or “funding” to Commercial Industry
Figure 59. Top-scoring value loops beginning with “employment,” “Earth observations-derived products & services,” or “science content” to the Public
Figure 60. Top-scoring value loop beginning with “educational material” to Educators
Another way to examine the top value loops is to overly the value flows contained in the top loops onto the Level 2 stakeholder map, shown in Figure 61 below. This can provide a better visualization of the actual flow of value throughout the stakeholder network. Due to the large number of direct loops in the model, 30 of the top 40 value loops are direct loops. Each direct value loop contains only NASA/NOAA and one other stakeholder. Because of this, the top 40 value loops do not contain many stakeholders with indirect connections to NASA/NOAA, such as the Public. Therefore, to capture some of the important longer value loops, I identified both the top 40 direct and top 40 indirect value loops. The value flows comprising these top value loops are shown in the figure below.
Figure 61. Value flows comprising top 40 direct and top 40 indirect value loops
To summarize Figure 61, the top value loops involve primarily the following: • Resources and space acquired data from NASA/NOAA to Scientists
• Science knowledge from Scientists to NASA/NOAA, the Government, Educators, and S&T Advisory Bodies
• Science content from NASA/NOAA to the Public, the Government, and Educators
• Science policy advice from S&T Advisory Bodies to NASA/NOAA, the Government, and Scientists
• Funding and future plans information from NASA/NOAA to Commercial Industry • Science systems and launch services from Commercial Industry to NASA/NOAA • Skilled workforce from Educators to NASA/NOAA
• Employment from NASA/NOAA to the Public • Votes from the Public to the Government
In Figure 61 above, NASA/NOAA, Scientists, the Government, and S&T Advisory Bodies have the greatest number of value loop connections. The Public, Commercial Industry, and
Educators play more limited but important roles. Notably, Commercial Industry did not appear in the list of top value flows from the previous section, and Commercial Data Users do not appear in the list of top value loops in this section. The value loop analysis indicates that Commercial Industry can provide highly valued launch services to NASA/NOAA. This is one of the key concerns currently facing NASA due to the potential retirement of the Delta II medium-lift launch vehicle (Pasztor 2007). The remaining six stakeholders in the model are not included in any of the top value loops.
One notable absence from the list of top value loops and value flows is the flow of “health, safety, & environmental protection” from the Government to the Public. We expected this value flow to have a high importance since it includes the policies that would be enacted to deal with climate change, an issue of heightened national importance. This value flow does not appear in the top list due to the structure of the model—each stakeholder may only appear once in a value loop. If a value loop flows through the Government, followed by the Public, (i.e. “health safety, & environmental protection” from the Government to the Public), there are no other paths back to NASA/NOAA other than through the Government. Therefore, the “health, safety, & environmental protection” value flow would form a recursive loop between the Government and the Public, as shown below in Figure 62. However, the Government relies on science knowledge and science opinions from Scientists, S&T Advisory Bodies, and NASA/NOAA in order to craft legislation and regulations related to health, safety, and environmental protection. Therefore, the importance of the “health, safety, & environmental protection” value flow is captured implicitly in the scores assigned to the “science knowledge” and “science opinion” value flows into the Government.
Figure 62. Recursive value loop created by “health, safety, & environmental protection” value flow
The information regarding the top-scoring value loops can be combined with information regarding the top NASA/NOAA outputs, discussed later in Section 4.5, to provide program-level recommendations for the Earth Observations Program. These recommendations are presented later in Section 5.2. In the following section, I combined the information from the analyses of the most important stakeholders, value flows, and value loops to construct a simplified stakeholder model.