UEM – reconnaissance of the scheme

    Structure, symbols and terms used in the UEM scheme

    The UEM scheme is the representation of the structure and the functioning of every knot in the societal web. In order to read the scheme easily we first of all explain the symbols used in the representation; then we discuss the contents of the scheme.

    With this scheme we look inside every ball (knot) of the network/web, as we described it earlier. Because the ERS describes the reality by means of the flows that occur, we find inside such a ball a tube that is subdivided in accordance to the types of flows that go through it. Between the thick black lines at the top and on the bottom the tube is divided in three big parts, that are separated by double lines: in the upper part we find the financial layer, in the middle the infrastructure layer and on the bottom the production layer.

    The double lines are interrupted by thick black little arrows pointing upward or downward; they indicate that the infrastructure layer is rendering services to the financial layer and the production layer. In the production layer we see also thick black little arrows pointing to the right: they represent the production process, which combines the direct input flows with flows coming from the infrastructure layer in order to realize the products or services the enterprise has chosen to produce.

    On the left and the right hand sides of the scheme we see thinner arrows representing the flows. The red ones indicate flows of money, the blue ones indicate flows of goods and services, and the green ones indicate the flows ‘that matter’. The production, the sales or the turnover is usually called the output. The qualification ’that matters’ signifies that this flow is of vital importance for all non-family entities and for most family entities. The waste flow matters for nature.

    Quite at the outside of the scheme we can read where the flows come from.   Notice that on the left side the personnel appears as a (specific) group of suppliers.

    The financial institutions that we find on the left as well as on the right, comprise: banks, holdings, governmental financial services, and the owner(s) and stockholders of the enterprise.

    The collection of owners, stockholders, personnel, suppliers, customers, banks/holdings, and governmental financial institutions groups all the categories that usually are meant when one speaks of ‘stakeholders’, but nature is also an (impersonal) stakeholder, although it has been hushed up systematically until the moment the ecological conscience broke through.

    Finally, at the top of the scheme we also find the terms profit and loss fenced in with +’s or –‘s. When the enterprise / the entity prospers, profit can be realized; in that case the section of the tube and of the ball surrounding it (the economic weight of the entity) becomes larger. If on the contrary things go wrong, than a sort of vacuum occurs and the tube will shrink.