Different categorizations for business processes have been proposed. One
of the most influential is Michael Porter’s Value Chain model. It distin-guishes two categories of processes: core processes (called primary activities)
and support processes (support activities). Core processes cover the essen-tial value creation of a company, that is, the production of goods and ser-vices for which customers pay. Porter mentions inbound logistics, operations,
outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and services. Support processes en-able the execution of these core processes. Porter lists infrastructure, human
resources, technology development, and procurement as such support pro-cesses. As a third category, other authors extend this set of two categories
with management processes. For example, the periodic process to assess the
strength of competitors is such a management process. The distinction of core,
support, and management processes is of strategic importance to a company.
Therefore, if such a distinction is made explicit, e.g. at the stage of process
identification or while creating a process architecture, it is likely to be a heav-ily disputed topic.