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Purpose & Values Methodology (PVM)
PVM is a structured approach to analyzing the NON-FINANCIAL literature of a company from a whole-systems perspective. From this analysis we can determine the strength of the firm's culture and the extent to which it is driven by a purpose extending beyond profit and set of core values. We call firms with Strong Culture 'Vortices'. Firms with Weak Cultures we call 'Ships'. We have currently applied PVM to all S&P 500 firms. The output from the PVM process is a binary rating:

VORTICES - STRONG CULTURE - Evidence of the company being driven by core values and a purpose that includes, yet extends beyond, profit.

SHIPS - WEAK CULTURE - No evidence of the company being driven by core values and a purpose that includes, yet extends beyond, profit.

Example 'Vortex' Firm	Example 'Ship' Firm

Examples of 'Vortex' and 'Ship' firms from the S&P500.

Fundamental and Technical Analysis
Traditional stock analysis is made up of two types: fundamental and technical. Fundamental analysis is a method of evaluating securities based on the intrinsic value of a stock. Technical analysis is evaluating securities based on analysis of market trends and statistics, such as past prices and volume. The MetaWealth PVM is designed to ascertain qualities of companies that are neither technical nor fundamental in nature. The performance characteristics it measures are defined using a systemic, whole systems approach. This unique approach captures information about companies not currently available to the market.

Whole Systems Analysis
Our perspective is a high level analysis of complex systems. We call it whole systems analysis. Whole systems analysis allows us to look beyond individual characteristics of companies into the underlying forces driving the business, i.e. their culture as defined by their purpose and values. From a whole systems perspective the purpose and values of a company represent the formative forces that order the particular pattern of organization within the firm. In nature formative forces are the governing principles that, for example, are able to turn a breeze it into a tornado. This is why we call companies with strong cultures 'Vortices'

Within corporations rated 'Vortices' by PVM, purpose and values play a significant role in creating and maintaining the structured ordered processes that enable the company to produce consistently high returns. (This structure of processes should not be confused with the organizational structure of a company, i.e. with its hierarchy, divisions, lines of command. Organizational structure has little to do with the structure of processes created by a company's purpose and values.) PVM is the tool used to perform this whole systems analysis. It is designed to recognize, extract, and evaluate the strength of formative forces at work in an organization's culture as represented by a company's purpose and values.

The 'Vortex' and 'Ship' ratings are based upon information gathered using PVM regarding the extent to which the culture of a company is sufficiently developed to enable activities of the firm to be ordered, coherent and aligned around its purpose and values. The scientific term for this structured ordering of process is a dissipative structure. Through greater alignment and coherence between their various parts dissipative structures enable greater energy to 'dissipate' through their system. The process is relatively common in natural systems, but up to now has not been observed at work in organizations. This ability of PVM to identify and track the presence of dissipative structures in organizational activity provides new information not yet generally available. Investors using PVM hence have access to a unique source of information not currently available through technical or fundamental analyses. While companies that develop vortex structures have access to a significant source of competitive advantage.