The past ten years have largely seen the resolution of the debate over ter- minology  aided by the publication  of standards in many countries.  It is generally accepted internationally that ‘value management'， or ‘the value methodology' in the USA， describes  the entire service. Other terms， principally ‘value engi- neering'， describe specific parts of the service. The year 2007 will mark 60 years of the life of the value management service. During  the first four decades North American thinking dominated its development. However， during the past ten years developments in principally Europe， Australasia  and China (notably Hong Kong) have seen the divergence of ideas and practices which  have impacted the progress of the value methodology in North America. Interestingly， over the whole period  value  management  has continuously   improved， unlike  other management fads that emerge， are applied with gusto and then die to be replaced by another.

在过去的十年里，随着许多国家标准的公布，关于三元学说的争论基本上得到了解决。国际上普遍认为，美国的“价值管理”或“价值方法论”描述了整个服务。其他术语，主要是“价值工程”，描述服务的具体部分。2007年是价值管理服务60周年。在最初的四十年里，北美思维主导了它的发展。然而，在过去十年中，主要是欧洲、Australasia和中国（特别是香港）的发展出现了观念和实践的分歧，这影响了北美洲价值方法的进步。有趣的是，在整个时期，价值管理一直在不断改进，不同于其他管理时尚的出现，它们被热情地应用，然后被另一种管理时尚所取代。