Value creation in the engineering enterprise: an educational perspective

ABSTRACT

This position paper sets out to examine value creation in the engineering enterprise, a process that has mostly been associated with innovation and entrepreneurs. An analysis of the literature on engineering value creation in business studies, engineering and engineering education publications shows that there has been surprisingly little empirical study and thus the means by which most engineers contribute value is unclear in the literature. Analysis of published data and data from studies by the authors in engineering workplaces in Australia, South East Asia and Portugal suggests that the work performed by most engineers has little to do with innovation. Based on these data the authors identify 14 ways in which engineers create value. An important finding is that routine engineering performances by a majority of engineers, not associated with innovation or entrepreneurial activities, not only can be shown to create value, but also to protect accumulated value from inadvertent destruction. The paper outlines the educational implications of these findings and proposes measures that engineering educators can adopt to improve the understanding of engineering graduates about engineering value creation.

KEYWORDS:

• Engineering practice
• value creation
• engineering education
• entrepreneurship

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the contributions of many colleagues and research students to this work, beyond those cited in the text, as well as hundreds of engineers who provided their time, attention for interviews, field studies, surveys and follow-up discussions. Anonymous reviewers suggested diagrams and provided comments that helped improve the text. All funding sources have been acknowledged in prior publications.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Emeritus Professor James Trevelyan is an engineer, educator, researcher and start-up entrepreneur. He taught design, mechatronics, computer methods, project management and sustainability at The University of Western Australia. His research has included development of sheep shearing robots, internet-enabled remote operation and control of robots, landmine clearance methods, engineering education and engineering practice.

Emeritus Professor Bill Williams originally trained as a chemist at the National University of Ireland and went on to work in education in Ireland, the U.K., Eritrea, Kenya, Mozambique and Portugal. He taught technical communication at Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal and is a member of the Centre for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon.

ORCID

James Trevelyan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5014-2184

Bill Williams http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1604-748X

Notes

1. Meaning to assign an inferior value.