Value engineering in your business
Posted 23 May 2007 at 9:53AM by Simon Dickson in Business blogging
BBC correspondent (and Dragon's Den host) Evan Davis tries valiantly to help us mere mortals understand the arcane world of economics. This week, he clearly has a bee in his bonnet about Travelodge hotels and the lack of complimentary shampoo. (Although given his 'number two all over' hairstyle, I'd have thought soap and a flannel would have been fine?)
He uses this as the 'hook' for an interesting blog piece about value engineering: in other words, the cost-vs-benefit decisions every business faces. He directs us to a page on the Travelodge website, which explains why such frills aren't included in your room rate. 'In each case, someone has thought carefully about it,' he notes.
Since I was reminded of the phrase fairly recently, I have found myself muttering it under my breath quite lot; either when I encounter something that has obviously been value engineered - from an airline meal to the packaging for an electronic device. Or (less often in fact) where it seems to me something could benefit from value engineering if only they bothered to pursue it.
Is it time you took a step back, and had a think about where you could trim your costs a bit? Or perhaps where you could raise the service, whilst raising the price a fraction more?
Tags: bbc, cost-benefit, evan davis, travelodge, value engineering
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