Flexible strategic framework for managing forces of continuity and change in value engineering processes: Study in Indian context

Value engineering has been recognized as an important methodology for cost reduction in product development, process development and projects planning. In today's dynamic world, however, Value Engineering (VE), as conventionally perceived and practiced by the design and development teams in rather an isolated manner is not adequate to address all the concerns faced by an organization. Value, or the factors both external as well as internal to an organization affecting value, does not remain constant throughout the VE process. The VE process, therefore, cannot continue to be a disconnected standalone process anymore. VE process needs to be integrated into the overall strategy of the organization. The forces of continuity and change, outlined in this paper, influence the initial goals VE projects and changes that take place throughout the process and their final outcome. This paper focuses on, identifying the key factors for forces of continuity and forces of change, to a build flexible strategic framework at organization level, and integrate the VE process with the organizational goals and strategies. The Continuity and Change (C-C) matrix proposed in this paper has been applied to four different organizations pursuing VE initiatives and come out with a flexible strategic framework for managing forces of continuity and change in VE process in an organization. © 2009, Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management.