Value management in the South African manufacturing industry: exploratory findings

Purpose – This paper seeks to investigate the nature and extent of value management (VM) practice in the South African manufacturing industry. It aims to explore engineers' and designers' awareness and understanding of VM and the nature and extent of the use of VM techniques within their companies. Design/methodology/approach – A web‐based, online questionnaire survey is employed to establish value management practice within the manufacturing sector. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse the survey response data. Findings – The results suggest that, while VM (and more particularly its value engineering antecedent) is generally known among engineers and designers in the manufacturing sector in South Africa, it is less widely practised. VM is seen predominantly as a cost reduction tool. This misperception, and the lack of awareness of the potential benefits of VM, must be remedied if the South African manufacturing industry is to remain competitive. The industry needs to adopt best practice VM techniques and standards. Research limitations/implications – It has proved extremely difficult to obtain survey data from manufacturing organizations, resulting in a low response rate. While this is a limitation, the information sourced provides useful direction for future case study investigation. Practical implications – Refresher courses in contemporary VM theory and practice are recommended, as well as exploration of the impacts on VM of other techniques such as risk, quality and environmental management. Originality/value – Against a background of increasing globalization, the findings are important if the South African manufacturing sector is to remain competitive. The results provide pointers for future research using a case study method.