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6.4.1 Systems Engineering Business Context: The Evaluation of the South African Systems Engineering Industry
Author(s) -
Harding Charl
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2012.tb01372.x
Subject(s) - system of systems engineering , new business development , business process , competitive advantage , engineering management , process management , business model , engineering , systems design , business , systems engineering , marketing , operations management , work in process
Systems Engineering and Business Strategy might seem to be at different sides of the Business spectrum, but in reality Systems Engineering is a vehicle for achieving the goal set by Business Strategy and obtaining a competitive advantage. It is the author's experience in both military and commercial projects, that most Systems Engineers do not have an understanding of the business principles such as marketing and economics to be taken cognizance of during the design and development of system. The current Systems Engineering standards like the INCOSE handbook, ISO/IEC 15288‐2008 and ANSI/EIA‐632‐1998 also do not always provide any standard processes or activities that could guide Systems Engineers in looking at the business case during the Systems Engineering life cycle. The top management of the organization is responsible for defining the business strategy that defines the direction to enable the organization to satisfy the market demands and subsequently make profit to build a sustainable business. In a Systems Engineering organization, market needs are satisfied through products and services that Systems Engineers are responsible for, but the author's experience has shown that Systems Engineers do not partake in development of organizational strategy. In many cases the Systems Engineers do not even know the organizational strategy. This may cause a misalignment between the organizational strategy and the products and services delivered to customers. The importance of incorporating the business strategy into the Systems Engineering process is becoming more important in order to remain competitive in the global market. The business strategy alignment of Systems Engineering projects is even more important during the current recession of the global economy. This paper investigates the relationship between Systems Engineering, business and the business case of the project the system engineer is responsible for. The relationship between Systems Engineering and Business Strategy to enable Systems Engineering to become the competitive advantage of an organization is also investigated.