Framing value management for creative projects: An expansive perspective

•C-K tools permit to manage the value designed during a creative project at Renault regarding future electric vehicles•Value management in creative project shifts from an evaluation to a design activity•The value to manage is the common unknown (new concepts and knowledge explored)•Value is monitored by the distance between the dominant design and the design paths imagined•Beneficiaries are project stakeholders and also the actors of surrounded ecosystems

Questions have been raised about the relevance of Value Management (VM) for creative projects. Such project embraces new fields of knowledge in terms of technologies, markets and business models. At the start of the project, the members do not know the value that would be finally delivered: the value is not determined ex-ante but it is designed during the project. Based on the analysis of a creative project regarding future electric vehicles at Renault, our VM framework considers three elements: (1) the value to be managed is the new knowledge and the concepts of new products/services, (2) the value of a creative project is managed by controlling the distance between the new knowledge/new concepts and the dominant design (i.e. main products and business model), (3) the value created is beneficial to both the project stakeholders and the actors of surrounding ecosystems.