Value Engineering (VE) is a systematic analysis of the functions of various components and materials to lower the cost of goods, products and services with a tolerable loss of performance or functionality. Value, as defined, is the ratio of function to cost. Value can therefore be manipulated by either improving the function or reducing the cost. It is a primary tenet of value engineering that basic functions be preserved and not be reduced as a consequence of pursuing value improvements. The term "value management" is sometimes used as a synonym of "value engineering", and both promote the planning and delivery of projects with improved performance.
The reasoning behind value engineering is as follows: if marketers expect a product to become practically or stylistically obsolete within a specific length of time, they can design it to only last for that specific lifetime. The products could be built with higher-grade components, but with value engineering they are not because this would impose an unnecessary cost on the manufacturer, and to a limited extent also an increased cost on the purchaser. Value engineering will reduce these costs. A company will typically use the least expensive components that satisfy the product's lifetime projections at a risk of product and company reputation.
Due to the very short life spans, however, which is often a result of this "value engineering technique", planned obsolescence has become associated with product deterioration and inferior quality. Vance Packard once claimed this practice gave engineering as a whole a bad name, as it directed creative engineering energies toward short-term market ends. Philosophers such as Herbert Marcuse and Jacque Fresco have also criticized the economic and societal implications of this model.
Knowledge Development can be defined as "a process carried out at strategic, operational and tactical levels of command, to provide the decision makers with a comprehensive understanding of complex environments. This will include relationships and interactions between systems and actors within the engagement space".
As an approach to knowledge development, research and innovation can support achievement of the vision and mission of an academic institution. With new technologies and processes, it is necessary for institutions to think innovatively to ensure continued success stay competitive and to adapt to new changes. Thus, the need for innovation in institutions/organizations has resulted in a new focus on the role of faculty in shaping the nature and success of creative efforts. Without student faculty joint research, institutions are likely to struggle and more important be left behind in the process of exploiting a wonderful opportunity for value co-creation. This new call for research in academia represents the shift from the 20th century, traditional view to the 21st-century view of valuing innovative thinking. The aim of this chapter is simple – to review the student-faculty joint research as a strategy for knowledge co-creation in academia with particular focus on management students.