Construction Management and Economics

The next step in the use of innovative, dynamic and performance-based contracts for service delivery by contractors could be use of monetary incentives to stimulate self-regulation of the network. Because it is currently unclear how performance-based payments in network tenders can effectively encourage network members to coordinate their own operations, a serious game was performed that simulates road maintenance planning to study changes in decision making and the emergence of network coordination. The experiments show that monetary incentives influence decision making, but their effect may be opposite to their intended aim and can lead to a competitive network. It was, however, also found that this competitiveness is not shown in networks where members are familiar with each other. This leads to the conclusion that penalty-based incentive mechanisms probably interfere with self-regulation and that the social dimension of contractor collaboration is paramount to the success of network-based contracting of construction activities.

Despite the existence of many studies showing positive effects of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning process in general, the use of ICT in teaching writing skills in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms is still not very encouraging. This study attempts to seek findings on the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing skills in Malaysian secondary schools. This paper just reports one part of the findings obtained from a big project which was conducted in Malaysian secondary schools in five areas of Malaysia. This study focuses solely on the data collected from four English teachers in a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur who were interviewed by the researcher. This study revealed that the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing was very low. Advantages of using ICT were reported to be attracting students' attention, facilitating students' learning process, helping to improve students' vocabulary and promoting meaningful learning. Disadvantages found included the difficult class control, distraction and the students' tendency to use short forms in their writing. It was also revealed that teachers are generally weak in managing problems and planning activities involving the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing. The results of this study are hoped to provide insights to the Ministry of Education in Malaysia to improve the low use of ICT in teaching ESL writing skills.

The present article gathers examples of modular dwelling concepts, where Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and other timber-based products are the primary elected material, and makes comparisons between the 'prefabrication construction process and marketing strategies' for modular dwellings with the 'automotive industry'. The article is divided in three parts. First section of the article provides an analysis of the environmental impacts of transportation and building sector, then identifies reaction trends between electric vehicles and prefab modular homes. The second section deals with work flow, emphasizing the prefabrication process of house modules, the constraints given by transportation and storage, and arguing for the personalization of a mass production product demonstrated through six case studies. The third section debates possible marketing strategies, evoking business models based on collectible concepts, cataloging, mass customisation principles and image/brand for tourist/urbanistic developments.

Previous research suggests that construction industry companies use relatively little formal managerial procedures when managing knowledge. Instead, many construction companies are relying on informal networks and social capital as conduits for the sharing of knowledge. However, objects play an important role in organizations as vehicles for the sharing of knowledge. The use of platforms , standardized packages of prescribed components, routines and practices, in a major Scandinavian construction company (SCC), demonstrates that platforms are potentially useful when sharing and accumulating knowledge. The platform concept is a boundary object integrating various functions and activities and standardizing work procedures while at the same time leaving some room for contingencies and local conditions. SCC's use of platforms contributes to the understanding of knowledge sharing practices by emphasizing the role of formally enacted objects and tools and by underlining the need for bridging and bonding the stocks and flows of knowledge in construction companies.

Motivation has long been one of management's most difficult and important duties. Success in this subject is becoming more challenging in organizational trends because business environment changes quickly and becomes more competitive. Researches on employee motivation especially highlight two types of factors: intrinsic and extrinsic. The purpose of this study it is to find out the effectiveness of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on employee motivation, which one is more effective and compare them according to demographic characteristics of employees. Using descriptive survey design, the sample of the study was 41 employees of an electricity delivery company located in the province of Ağrı, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. As a result of the study it is found out that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect employees while they achieve their tasks. Another result is that intrinsic factors are more motivating than extrinsic factors. Being the first one in the province of Ağrı, this study is meaningful and valuable.

Insolvency may be broadly defined as an inability of a business entity to meet pending financial commitments. For a construction firm, such a situation creates conditions whereby a business entity is unable to fulfill its contractual obligations with regard to work in progress or credit owing (De Valance, 1994). There are indications to suggest that during times of adverse conditions, the occurrences of insolvencies are mutually exclusive and remain a subject of debate. The occurrences of these financial facilities seem to have adversely affected business operations within the civil engineering construction Industry. In South Africa, figures released by the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC) in 1992 were suggesting an expected general decline in work load handling by this sector. This was a result of scaling down of heavy Infrastructure projects because of government shifting focus to housing and other related projects mainly towards meeting the needs...

The United Kingdom’s construction sector, valued at $513.5 billion in 2023 and accounting for 6% of national GDP, presents significant opportunities for international firms seeking market entry. Driven by urbanization, housing shortages, and government-backed infrastructure funding, the sector is projected to grow steadily across residential, commercial, and transport developments. Mega projects such as HS2 rail stations, Oxford Street redevelopment, and campus expansions underscore the UK’s long-term commitment to urban renewal. This paper provides a strategic market entry analysis for international firms particularly from the United States looking to operate in the UK. Through market research, regulatory review, and cultural assessment based on Hofstede’s national dimensions, it identifies key drivers and barriers to success. Findings highlight the dominance of collaborative frameworks like JCT and NEC in public sector procurement, a growing preference for value-based bidding, and rising focus on sustainability and flexibility in project delivery. However, after UK’s leaving the Europe Union, labor shortages, regulatory shifts, and rising material costs present operational challenges. As of early 2025, the sector reported 38,000 unfilled construction roles, prompting a £600 million government initiative to train 60,000 workers by 2029. Culturally, indirect communication, long-term planning, and well-being are core workplace values in the UK often contrasting with U.S. practices. Legal frameworks including the Building Regulations 2010 and Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 enforce high compliance standards and transparent dispute resolution mechanisms. The paper concludes that a joint venture with an experienced UK-based firm offers the most effective market entry strategy. Such partnerships help navigate cultural differences, ensure legal compliance, and improve competitiveness in bidding for large-scale public and private projects.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of two approaches based on Vector Evaluated Particle Swarm Optimization (VEPSO) algorithm in two real world applications, which are the environmental economic dispatch problem and the optimization of a reinsurance contract portfolio. The two tested algorithms are the canonical VEPSO and a new version called VEPSO-N, where in the last one the global updating on each swarm is done based on the archive. The performance is evaluated using the following metrics: hypervolume, number of solutions and coverage, showing that both approaches can present good outcomes.

The construction supply chain is of temporary nature and complex, with many interactions between multiple actors in different construction projects. This challenging context typically leads to relatively higher costs and lower productivity, compared to other industries. Supply chain management (SCM) has been put forward as a mean to better handle this challenging context. As a part of SCM initiatives some construction industry stakeholders have turned to third-party logistics (TPL) providers, especially in large construction projects. The use of TPL providers is a new, and under-investigated, phenomenon in the construction industry. The main purpose of this study is thus to explore the use of a TPL provider in a large construction project and to analyse its resulting effects. Driving forces and possible concerns for implementing TPL are identified and the possibility for TPL to be a facilitator for implementing SCM in construction is investigated. The research is based on a literature review and an explorative case study of a large hospital project in Sweden, where the client and the main contractor have initiated the use of a TPL provider to coordinate sourcing and materials handling activities on site. The results show positive effects on establishing an effective interface between the construction site and the supply chain. The results also show that a TPL solution facilitates an increase in productive work at the construction site itself, a reduction of costs and an increased utilization of site assets. On the downside, the study also shows a lack of SCM knowledge amongst the involved actors in the project, hindering them to reap the full potential of TPL.

The construction supply chain is of temporary nature and complex, with many interactions between multiple actors in different construction projects. This challenging context typically leads to relatively higher costs and lower productivity, compared to other industries. Supply chain management (SCM) has been put forward as a mean to better handle this challenging context. As a part of SCM initiatives some construction industry stakeholders have turned to third-party logistics (TPL) providers, especially in large construction projects. The use of TPL providers is a new, and under-investigated, phenomenon in the construction industry. The main purpose of this study is thus to explore the use of a TPL provider in a large construction project and to analyse its resulting effects. Driving forces and possible concerns for implementing TPL are identified and the possibility for TPL to be a facilitator for implementing SCM in construction is investigated. The research is based on a literature review and an explorative case study of a large hospital project in Sweden, where the client and the main contractor have initiated the use of a TPL provider to coordinate sourcing and materials handling activities on site. The results show positive effects on establishing an effective interface between the construction site and the supply chain. The results also show that a TPL solution facilitates an increase in productive work at the construction site itself, a reduction of costs and an increased utilization of site assets. On the downside, the study also shows a lack of SCM knowledge amongst the involved actors in the project, hindering them to reap the full potential of TPL.

This is a working paper and has been submitted to other conferences for presentation. Please do not cite without permission from the author. Despite its consistent use and application by management scientists and practitioners alike, an in-depth review of the empowerment literature concludes the construct lacks conceptual clarity, leaving research surrounding the construct of empowerment questionable. It is critical that a clear conceptualization of the empowered state exist to increase the utility of the phenomenon and allow for the development of the empowerment process. After a detailed review of past and current approaches to defining empowerment, a clarified and more accurate definition of the empowered state is presented. Keeping in mind its power roots and its multidimensional nature, the empowered state is defined as a psychological state reflecting autonomy, control, and accountability. These components reflect an employee who reaches an empowered state perceiving they have authority and self governance over their own work and aspects of their work environment, and knowing they are held accountable in their work outcomes. Once this reconceptualization of the empowered state has been thoroughly discussed, a model of the empowerment process is proposed, identifying factors impacting the degree to which an employee experiences an empowered state, the antecedents and outcomes of such a state, and other mediating variables.

Studies across trades suggest that occupational accident and injury rates and costs are higher than average in the construction industry. There is, a need for innovative and cost-effective occupational safety approaches. The Finnish construction industry and its key stakeholders have introduced a new safety training concept, called the Safety Training Park (STP). The STP consists of fullscale training points that use new training methods to stimulate individual safe behaviour and safety climate changes within work groups and companies. The Safety Training Park in Northern Finland (STPNF) was designed, constructed, and financed through a collaborative process that included over 80 organizations. A realistic evaluation approach was applied to document the effectiveness of STPNF training from individual and organizational perspectives. Results indicate that the dialogical STP approach with several information sharing channels fits the target groups. Evidence regarding effectiveness at the organizational level is also discussed. Cost-benefit calculations show that the multi-organizational coalition model enables efficient occupational safety and health training with reasonable costs.

The uncertainties (e.g. altering labor
productivity, weather changes, material shipment delays,
and site-based conditions) have been the root causes of the
construction industry continuously struggling to perfectly
estimate the durations of activities, which are expected to
be properly planned, scheduled, and will thereby control the
cost of a project. Conventional approaches that involve
probabilistic assessments such as Critical Path Method
(CPM) and Program Evaluation and review techniques
(PERT) use fixed or constrained probabilistic estimations,
and frequently do not consider the range of expert opinion
or arrive at a consensus of uncertain time parameters. This
paper will utilize a Delphi method that is a systematic,
iterative process used to elicit and hone the views of the
experts to come up with a collaborative approach to
estimating the time taken by construction activities. The
tasks are as follows: to carry out a Delphi survey of the
experienced construction professionals in a series of rounds
and reach the consensus on the likely ranges of project
activity durations, and also test the technique by using a
case study of a building construction project. Three surveys
of anonymous panel of 12 experts (with more than 10 years
of experience) were implemented, including the openended estimates, statistical feedback and revisions until the
consensus was achieved (coefficient of variation was less
than 15 per cent). The estimated duration based on the case
study outcomes was refined down to 7 days to 13 days
during foundation excavations (median: 10 days) and labor
availability was used as the reason (35% weight). The
Delphi method also proved more accurate since it yielded
tighter ranges and smaller variance of schedules by 15
percent compared to PERT in the case study. Several factors
combine in this research to give an easy-to-use and
consensus-based method of duration estimation, and
consequently improving risk management and schedule
accuracy. It provides construction managers practical
knowledge to make informed decisions regarding resource
planning, facilitates the union with digital planning
software, and encourages efficiency within an ecosystem
where delays occur in more than 70 percent of projects
creating resilient and sustainable project execution.

Employment requirements, as part of social procurement, are increasingly used in construction procurement as a tool to mitigate issues of exclusion on the job market. To create a better understanding how employment requirements nurtures a new type of actor, here named the "employment requirement professional" (ERP), the aim of this paper is to study how this role is framed in terms of work practices and professional identity. Building on 21 semi-structured interviews in the Swedish construction sector, a detailed account of who works with employment requirements, how and why they conduct their work is provided. The findings show how ERPs mediate between contrasting interests when they create new social procurement roles and practices; how they enact different approaches to promote social sustainability, how their roles are formed by multiple and reciprocal lines of actions, and how they make sense of who they are and what type of work they engage in. The research contributes to a discussion on effects from social procurement in construction and the emergence of a new professional role, their identity and work practices.

The most important impediment to interregional trade is the transportation and transaction cost among trading parties. In this study, the transportation and transaction cost is characterized in three different forms of gaps between trading partners viz; physical, institutional, and social. In all forms of gaps, movement can be facilitated by a form of bridge. Bridges, as an abstract concept, can be characterized as i) physical bridges connecting two sides of any geographic obstacles, ii) institutional bridges handling transaction limitations (such as absence of compatible telecommunication, banking, legal system), and iii) socio-cultural bridges dealing with difficulties for mutual understanding of trading parties such as cultural mismatches. Physical bridges are the basic capital investments linking physical gaps between sides such as tunnels, bridges, highways, airports. Institutional bridges are the compatible institutional structures among regions, states, countries such as banking, insurance finance, and legal structures. Socio-cultural bridges are the socio-cultural proximities among societies such as historic backgrounds, common languages, familiar religious practices, common cultural identities from food to humor. In this study, first, the benefits of bridges are theoretically presented, and then the advantages of various forms of bridges to the selected country, Turkey, are critically presented. The study has shown that, Turkey has been handling all forms of transportation and transaction costs not only through the physical bridges but also through the legal, institutional as well as the informal and emotional bridges. In this process, Turkey is taking advantage of her geostrategic and geopolitical location as well as her geo-cultural characteristics which have been accumulated throughout history. As a result, all efforts aimed to reduce the cost of transportation and transaction bring about additional consumer and producer surpluses and which consequently bring about positive welfare gain to the Turkish society.

The uncertainties (e.g. altering labor productivity, weather changes, material shipment delays, and site-based conditions) have been the root causes of the construction industry continuously struggling to perfectly estimate the durations of activities, which are expected to be properly planned, scheduled, and will thereby control the cost of a project. Conventional approaches that involve probabilistic assessments such as Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and review techniques (PERT) use fixed or constrained probabilistic estimations, and frequently do not consider the range of expert opinion or arrive at a consensus of uncertain time parameters. This paper will utilize a Delphi method that is a systematic, iterative process used to elicit and hone the views of the experts to come up with a collaborative approach to estimating the time taken by construction activities. The tasks are as follows: to carry out a Delphi survey of the experienced construction professionals in a series of rounds and reach the consensus on the likely ranges of project activity durations, and also test the technique by using a case study of a building construction project. Three surveys of anonymous panel of 12 experts (with more than 10 years of experience) were implemented, including the open-ended estimates, statistical feedback and revisions until the consensus was achieved (coefficient of variation was less than 15 per cent). The estimated duration based on the case study outcomes was refined down to 7 days to 13 days during foundation excavations (median: 10 days) and labor availability was used as the reason (35% weight). The Delphi method also proved more accurate since it yielded tighter ranges and smaller variance of schedules by 15 percent compared to PERT in the case study. Several factors combine in this research to give an easy-to-use and consensus-based method of duration estimation, and consequently improving risk management and schedule accuracy. It provides construction managers practical knowledge to make informed decisions regarding resource planning, facilitates the union with digital planning software, and encourages efficiency within an ecosystem where delays occur in more than 70 percent of projects creating resilient and sustainable project execution.

This paper suggests a classification of the social roles simulation models can play. Two dimensions are distinguished according to the context and use of models: models can be boundary objects or representative objects and they can be epistemic or technical objects. These two dimensions allow a classification of four types of model roles. Models can be ascribed different roles over time and different roles by different stakeholders involved in their development and use potentially leading to misunderstanding and conflicts. The suggested classification framework can be applied to a variety of problems around the use models including the discussion of the differences between System Dynamics models and Discrete Event Simulation models and the comparative analysis of model use.

Despite the existence of many studies showing positive effects of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning process in general, the use of ICT in teaching writing skills in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms is still not very encouraging. This study attempts to seek findings on the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing skills in Malaysian secondary schools. This paper just reports one part of the findings obtained from a big project which was conducted in Malaysian secondary schools in five areas of Malaysia. This study focuses solely on the data collected from four English teachers in a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur who were interviewed by the researcher. This study revealed that the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing was very low. Advantages of using ICT were reported to be attracting students' attention, facilitating students' learning process, helping to improve students' vocabulary and promoting meaningful learning. Disadvantages found included the difficult class control, distraction and the students' tendency to use short forms in their writing. It was also revealed that teachers are generally weak in managing problems and planning activities involving the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing. The results of this study are hoped to provide insights to the Ministry of Education in Malaysia to improve the low use of ICT in teaching ESL writing skills.

This paper sought to analyse the influence of mass communication on customers’ satisfaction regarding e-banking services, for two selected commercial banks in Sylhet city, Bangladesh. One of them is Private Commercial Bank and another one is Government Commercial Bank. A cross sectional survey was used for this research to reach the objectives and hypothesis of the study. Mass media communication is the learning of how individuals exchange information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually assumed to relate newspaper, periodical magazine, and book publishing, as well as radio, television and film, even via internet as these mediums are used for circulating information, news and advertising. Mass media communication is used here as an independent variable and customer satisfaction is considered as dependent variable. Total 250 questionnaires were circulated, out of which 200 were considerable for the study. Respondents are customer from...

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is increasingly deployed as part of the processes in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry projects. While the benefits of BIM have been extensively proclaimed, explicit justification in terms of direct cost savings for BIM implementation on real-life projects, particularly for clash detection BIM workstream, are not well documented. This paper proposes and demonstrates a methodology to prove how BIM-based clash detection leads to cost savings. A schema is developed based on literature review and industrial expertise to quantify cost savings achieved by the utilisation of BIM-based clash detection and resolution. This paper provides validation of the proposed schema on a major infrastructure project. The developed schema includes the categorisation of identified clashes based on stakeholder involvement and required actions. The validation used the estimated cost of clashes were those not resolved before site operations took place. This schema simplifies both the categorisation and cost estimation of clashes in design. Estimated savings yielded 20% of contract value using the schema, for the multi-million-dollar project case study, thus extending evidence of BIM savings and benefits. The schema improves the existing process and valorises clash detection, thus allowing stakeholders to conduct a cost-benefit analysis. In addition, the categorisation methodology allows prioritising on the most costly clashes, and draw lessons learnt for further projects. This schema opens the path towards a systematic methodology to appraise the benefits of different BIM uses or processes.

Research in construction financial management has frequently centred on the development, usage and accuracy assessment of cash-flow forecasting tools and techniques. The conventional approach simulates S-curves of anticipated flows of cash in and out of the contracting organisation using step calculation. However, such approaches take no cognisance of the anticipated construction programme or detailed data contained in tender documentation and other soft issues such the effects of payment delays. This research addresses this matter by making an assessment of the feasibility of developing a black box approach that utilises simple multi-linear regression modelling. Data were simulated and examined in a pilot study using selected variables. The results of the research were inconclusive and it is suggested that further work in this area should focus non-linear regression models and ANNs

Various 'short cut' approaches have been adopted in cash flow forecasting ranging from the statistical, mathematical, simulation and the use of artificial intelligence techniques. However, the majority of these approaches failed to consider the issues of risks and uncertainties inherent in construction. As such, a wide variation is observable between the predicted cash flow profile and the actual. This study attempts to model the variation between predicted and actual cost flow due to inherent risks in construction. Data were obtained through questionnaire survey and empirical data collection. Contractors on individual projects were requested to score on a Likert type scale, the extent of occurrence of each identified risk variable that resulted in the variation between the predicted and actual cost flow profiles. An analysis of the responses, using ranking of the mean response enabled the study to focus on the most significant risk variables. The impact of these risk variables on cost flow forecast was then investigated by collecting data on predicted and actual cost flow from completed construction projects in order to determine their variation. Neural network was employed using the back propagation algorithm to develop the cost flow risk assessment model. The developed model was tested on 20 new projects with satisfactory predictions of variations between the forecast and actual cost flow at 30, 50, 70 and 100% completion stages.

The excessive level of construction business failures and their association with financial difficulties has placed financial management in the forefront of many business imperatives. This has highlighted the importance of cash flow forecasting and management which has given rise to the development of several forecasting models. The traditional approach to the use of project financial models has been largely project-oriented perspective. However, the dominating role of 'project economics' in shaping 'corporate economics' tends to place the corporate strategy at the mercy of the projects. This paper approaches the concept of cash flow forecasting and management from a fresh perspective. Here, the use of forecasting models is extended beyond their traditional role as a guideline for monitoring and control of progress. They are regarded as tools for driving the project in the direction of corporate goals. The work is based on the premise that the main parties could negotiate the terms and attempt to complement their priorities. As part of this approach, a model is proposed for forecasting and management of project cash flow. The mathematical component of the model integrates three modules: an exponential and two 4 th degree polynomials. The model generates a forecast by potentially combining the outcome of data analysis with the experience and knowledge of the forecaster/organisation. In light of corporate objectives, the generated forecast is then manipulated and replaced by a range of favourable but realistic cash flow profiles. Finally, through negotiation with other parties, a compromised favourable cash flow is achieved. This paper will describe the novel way the model is used as a decision support tool. While the structure of the model and its mathematical components are described in detail, the data processing and analysis parts are briefly described and referenced accordingly. The viability of the model and the approach are demonstrated by means of a scenario.

Research in construction financial management has frequently centred on the development, usage and accuracy assessment of cash-flow forecasting tools and techniques. The conventional approach simulates S-curves of anticipated flows of cash in and out of the contracting organisation using step calculation. However, such approaches take no cognisance of the anticipated construction programme or detailed data contained in tender documentation and other soft issues such the effects of payment delays. This research addresses this matter by making an assessment of the feasibility of developing a black box approach that utilises simple multi-linear regression modelling. Data were simulated and examined in a pilot study using selected variables. The results of the research were inconclusive and it is suggested that further work in this area should focus non-linear regression models and ANNs

The aim of this research is to identify the determinants of excess liquidity defined as excess reserves in the banking sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The empirical analysis is carried out through the use of the dynamic panel analysis based on the generalized method of moments (GMM) methodology on a dataset of 19 commercial banks operating in B&H in the period from 2006 to 2015. The estimated relationships between excess liquidity and selected variables in models' specifications are as expected. The findings indicate that the size of the bank, non-performing loans and total loans are the key determinants of excess liquidity amongst internal factors. The results also reveal that among the domestic macroeconomic variables CPI is statistically significant indicator of excess liquidity. The commercial banks also rely on foreign markets and the finding arising from this study confirms a significant influence of Eonia on excess liquidity position in B&H. The presented research results and their economic interpretation may have valuable implications on the optimal liquidity management in the commercial banks in B&H and appropriate liquidity supervision. It will also provide beneficial foundation for more thorough liquidity analysis and its possible linkages with other risks within the banking sector.

This paper examines the role of non-oil revenue in the preparation of Nigeria's 2025 budget estimates. Nigeria, a country historically reliant on oil exports, faces the challenge of diversifying its economy to reduce dependency on oil revenue, especially as global oil prices fluctuate. The study analyzes the significance of non-oil revenue sources such as taxes, agriculture, telecommunications, and services, while highlighting their impact on Nigeria's fiscal policy, budgetary planning, and sustainable economic growth. Using a review of literature and fiscal data, this paper explores how non-oil revenue contributes to government budgets, suggesting ways to enhance its effectiveness in achieving the country's financial goals.

When construction projects are halted or slowed by conflicts with stakeholders, they have lost their social license. Social licenses are granted by stakeholder networks, which include community groups, among others. Project managers would benefit from approaches that can predict which groups or coalitions within the stakeholder network have sufficient influence and motivation to delay progress and that can suggest interventions to reduce that risk. We present an integration of theories and methods that has been successfully used in the extractive industries to maintain a high level of social license. We define the social license concept, noting its embeddedness in stakeholder theory and the resource dependence view of the firm, and how it has been elaborated enough to become measurable. Then we integrate it with social network analysis and methods for quantifying stakeholders' issues and concerns. Key benefits are the ability to identify minority clusters that have sufficient influence to dominate the majority and the specification of network interventions to raise the level of social license. We use an example of a proposed housing project to illustrate how the proposed approach produces practical stakeholder relations strategies for gaining and maintaining a social license to build.

The optimization problem of planning Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) is a challenging problem that has been regarded as a cost-minimization problem, while other pertinent Quality of Service (QoS) criteria are modeled as constraints to be satisfied. We propose a novel approach that models, to some realistic extent, the problem of planning WMNs as a simultaneous optimization of deployment cost and network throughput under obvious network constraints. We propose two multi-objective models differing mainly in how the throughput objective is optimized. We tailor a natureinspired meta-heuristic algorithm to solve the two models. The cost and the effectiveness of the planning solutions are two conflicting objectives which undermine each other. In such situations, the network planner would prefer a set of trade-off planning solutions at his disposal to choose from A comparative experimental study with different key-parameter settings on the two instance models is conducted to help network planner decide which planning optimization model to choose given their specific requirements and/or scenarios.

Collaborative project delivery models (CPDMs) are increasing in popularity as infrastructure construction projects become more complex and grow in scale and scope. CPDMs build on high levels of trust, information exchange and formal contractual relations, creating complex relationships between actors in the project network. The literature emphasizes the procurement phase and contractual aspects of CPDMs; however, few studies explicitly focus on the role of social relationships in CPDM projects. Social network theory has recently been introduced in the architecture, engineering and construction industry industry to study relationships between network actors, but the role of social ties within CPDM project networks is still unclear. Through two qualitative case studies, we have analyzed the role of social ties in projects applying a CPDM contract. The empirical evidence of 41 semi-structured interviews and observations points to aspects that affect the development of social ties in CPDMs, such as initial project setup, project identification, perception of actors, resource sharing and shared space, as well as the importance of formal and informal ties for supporting collaborative project practices. The evidence shows how social ties develop into negative or positive bonds affecting the level of collaboration. This study contributes by emphasizing the interplay between project networks using CPDMs and social ties.

Objectives, Purpose, or Aim:
The aim of this article is to contribute to the better design of wayfinding systems by explicating the indexical properties of directional arrows and their consequences for wayfinding behavior.
Background:
The challenges associated with designing for the wayfinding needs of the different groups of users continue to be documented with the poor design of built environments being largely to blame for the wayfinders’ inability to navigate complex settings. Directional arrows have been found to be especially problematic in such settings.
Methods:
Ethnographic data were collected and analyzed over a period of 3 years in three overlapping phases. The unique adequacy requirement of methods, which stipulates that the methods used to produce a description of a situation should originate from the situation they describe, was adopted.
Results:
Directional arrows derive their meaning from the position they occupy within the physical environment and from three sources: the spatial configuration of the setting, the positioning of the sign within the setting, and the directional arrow itself. The affordance closest to the sign will be taken as the one which the sign refers to. Wayfinders treat that affordance as being indicated by the arrow until such time as it becomes apparent that it is not.
Conclusions:
In response to the need to find lasting solutions to the enduring problems of wayfinding, this article demonstrates how better design of wayfinding systems can be achieved by explicating the indexical properties of directional arrows and their consequences for wayfinding behavior.

Advanced management accounting techniques have been seen by IFAC's (1998) evolution framework as a shift towards value creation and providing timely and relevant information needed for decision making. The adoption of advanced management accounting techniques, such as Target Costing (TC), requires organizations to be able to deal with challenges and problems that may occur during the adoption process. In today's competitive environment, many companies are continuously seeking to produce high quality and functional products based on customers' expectations gleaned from market research. In meeting these objectives, TC has been widely adopted under the original leadership of Japanese TC since the 1960s. Hence, this paper aims to review the literature investigating the TC practices in non-Japanese contexts. The study focuses on the TC concept and its application in ten countries. The information is based on 35 articles which were written in English, translated, and published in various refereed international journals. Furthermore, this paper discusses the factors, issues and challenges that influence TC application in the countries, as well as the applicability level of this technique in the Malaysian context. In general, the evidence reviewed reveals a significant variation in TC practices, steps followed and participants involved in TC application in the 10 countries surveyed. In addition, environmental factors and issues relating to product features improvement are crucial for a successful implementation of TC. The paper concludes by stating that efficient supply chain management is an important element in successful TC implementation. Essentially, manufacturing firms should establish closer ties with suppliers who have a distinctive role to enhance product value in TC practices.

George Osborne has recently outlined new thinking on private financing for major public service projects. Widely criticised as saddling public bodies with long-term debts, the Private Finance Initiative funding model has been used extensively since the 1990s. Mark Hellowell examines whether the Chancellor's speech outlines a strategic shift or is more semantic.

The research aims to investigate the factors affecting brand loyalty in football industry. In order to achieve this aim, the loyalty of the supporters of Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, and Trabzonspor called as "The Big Four" since they have the highest brand value in Turkish Super League were investigated. By using quota sampling method, 662 students of the faculty of economics and administrative sciences of Bulent Ecevit University in 2013-2014 spring period were reached and questionaire technique was applied to the sample. The students who were supporters of another football clubs except from The Big Four, and who were non supporters were eliminated and 557 students were found to be the supporters of The Big Four. In the research, the variables were tested via Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. As a result of the research, benefits variable from brand associations and identification variable were found to be the most effective variables on psychological commitment towards the football clubs. The other result indicated that psychological commitment variable and benefits variable from brand associations were found to be the most effective variables on behavioral loyalty towards the football clubs.

Although climatic heat stress can be fully brought under control and prevented from causing short-term or long-term damage to the human body in laboratory experiments, the expected effect of interventions are however often lost in the practice on construction site as frontline personnel are driven by conflicting institutional logics in their specific institutional environment. The paper presents a comparative study between Hong Kong and Mainland China in the case of climatic heat stress management on construction sites. Specifically, we look into how societal culture as institutional logics leads workers and managers to their pragmatic or normative behaviours that deviate from the expected outcome of safety management. Two competing institutional logics in construction safety management are identified and discussed, i.e., production logic and prevention logic. Comparative analysis of the Chinese samples under two different institutional environments identifies two distinct society-l...

We employed a Glaserian grounded theory approach to explore the gap between behavioural safety and its unsatisfactory outcomes. Data were collected through ethnographic studies on the practice of managing heat stress on thirty-six construction sites in Hong Kong and Chonqing in mainland China. Two core concepts, institutions and institutional logics, are generated and defined to explain why safety rules do not necessarily produce safety behaviours. At society level, we explicated two pairs of institutional logics: the religion logics (Confucianism vs. pragmatism) and the market logics (rational market vs. individualism). At project organisational level, two logics of processing safety in production are explicated: a protection logic in the Chongqing context and a production logic in the Hong Kong context. The concepts and sub-concepts are compared to existing business literature for clarification of scopes. Empirical findings of the study suggest safety intervention needs to redirect its focus from promoting safety alone to addressing the institutional logics of the entire organisation and its societal context practised by multiple levels of actors. We conclude that safety research would benefit from redirecting its focus of analysis from discourses, interviews or surveys to authenticated cases reconstructed through triangulation of actors' discourses at multiple levels of an organisation, third-party observation, physiological data and objective measurement of the work environment. Methodologically, this paper provides a detailed guidance for conducting grounded theory research with a focus of conceptualisation.

I have been exceedingly blessed to be surrounded by people who have encouraged and supported me in my endeavours. I have enjoyed overwhelming support from family, mentors and friends especially in the creation of this work -I say a big thank you to you all and God bless! I am particularly grateful to the following: Dr. David S. Root: My sincere gratitude for the wonderful supervision and guidance you provided me throughout this study. It took up a lot of your time but, I always got feedback and looked forward to our interesting 'chats'! I have benefited a great deal from the interaction which has helped me develop a greater appreciation of the research process. Associate Professor Dr. Winston Shakantu: Thanks for being an 'unofficial co-supervisor' and for assisting me so graciously -including reading and commenting on my interview transcripts and draft thesis. I appreciate our numerous and exciting brain-storming sessions …at the office, in the car and at home. Dr. Kai Rintala: for the input during the early stages of the research and for making me think hard about the 'best card' to use in justifying my work.

I have been exceedingly blessed to be surrounded by people who have encouraged and supported me in my endeavours. I have enjoyed overwhelming support from family, mentors and friends especially in the creation of this work -I say a big thank you to you all and God bless! I am particularly grateful to the following: Dr. David S. Root: My sincere gratitude for the wonderful supervision and guidance you provided me throughout this study. It took up a lot of your time but, I always got feedback and looked forward to our interesting 'chats'! I have benefited a great deal from the interaction which has helped me develop a greater appreciation of the research process. Associate Professor Dr. Winston Shakantu: Thanks for being an 'unofficial co-supervisor' and for assisting me so graciously -including reading and commenting on my interview transcripts and draft thesis. I appreciate our numerous and exciting brain-storming sessions …at the office, in the car and at home. Dr. Kai Rintala: for the input during the early stages of the research and for making me think hard about the 'best card' to use in justifying my work.

Building industry as one of the greatest industries in Iran comprises a significant share of waste generation in the country. Since a large quantity of the generated construction waste is buried due to the lack of a recycling protocol, it leads to an undesired waste of resources and causes severe environmental issues. This paper provides a study on the problem of material loss/construction waste in the Iranian Building Industry regarding the impact of relevant shortcomings in the stages of design, construction and supervision as the main phases of construction process. This paper includes the case studies from Isfahan, Mazandaran, Qazvin and Zanjan provinces, with a focus on the most important elements underlying construction waste generation. It also presents the experts points of view on prefab and conventional construction methods considering construction waste generation through a questionnaire-based survey. In general, the results show that Iranian project managers, engineers, contractors and workers believe that from 40 to 100 percent of construction wastes can be reduced via application of prefab construction methods. The results indicate that prefabrication can be considered as a solution to waste reduction in the Iranian Building Industry, whereas there is a dominant conventional method application in the industry.

This paper presents a new methodology for obtaining a quantitative measure of human task perJorrnance complexity and effort on the construction site. An example application of the developed methodology to the analysis of concrete placement tusks is provided. The developed method can be used to aid construction equipment manufacturers in understanding and assessing the automation potential for a variety of construction work tasks.

Bidding is a strategic and vital stage for construction contractors. Regarding this contractors are always encounter with two important issues: first, they should decide to bid or no to bid for a project and second, they should decide the price they want to offer. Many factors are involved in such decision making. In this paper, by using a two-step questionnaire, which was initially evaluated and confirmed by experienced contractors, factors that may affect contractors’ decision to bid/no bid for projects were identified and weighted by statistical indices. The research population includes first-grade contractors based on ranking developed by Iran President Deputy Strategic Planning and Control (IPDSPC) that undertake large size projects in construction, water and transportation fields. The study introduces 76 factors categorized under 11 categories and four groups. Finally, the results were adapted to Pareto's law and the most important factors were ranked and represented.

The aim of this study was to identify the relationships between cytokine status, lipid peroxidation (LPO) products, and total antioxidant activity (TAA) in obese adolescent boys and girls. Methods and Results: The study included 29 boys and 33 girls with an established diagnosis of exogenous-constitutional obesity of the first degree. Twenty-eight healthy adolescent boys and 24 adolescent girls made up control groups. The concentration of cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-4, and IL-10) was assessed by enzyme immunoassay. The content of LPO products (conjugated dienes [CDs], ketodienes and conjugated trienes [KD-CT], Schiff bases [SB], thiobarbituric acid reactants [TBARs], total antioxidant activity (TAA) was evaluated. Spectrophotometric methods were used. The data obtained indicated a statistically significant increase in the level of IL-6 (P=0.018) and the IL-6/IL10 ratio (P=0.033) in obese boys, compared with the control. There was also an increase in the content of LPO products in this...

The emergence of a new technology like BIM is often connected with extensive discussions of industrial and organizational development and change. However, predicting the use trajectory of a technology has always been a difficult task. In understanding the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT), the way that people make sense of a technology is an important component. Even if sensemaking varies over time, studies of sensemaking processes over longer periods are rare. This paper has two aims. First, to develop a conceptual framework of how the development of sensemaking processes shapes the adoption and use of ICT. Second, to discuss the implications of this for research and practice, with a specific focus on the adoption and use of BIM. The research involves a case study of 12 years of telemedicine use in a Swedish county. These results are compared with contemporary BIM studies. The overall conclusion is that the use of technology is heavily shaped by the sensemaking of significant actor groups. This is grounded both an institutional logic and daily practice in relation to the benefits or disadvantages the group perceives from the use of the technology.

There is a need for a better approach to measure construction productivity rigorously, multilaterally, longitudinally and decomposed into its components. In response, this paper offers a robust approach to analysing construction productivity at the firm level that has been lacking in the industry to date, by measuring the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of 37 public-listed Malaysian construction firms over 14 years (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016), based on the F€ are-Primont index. In comparing different groups of building, civil and specialist construction firms, this is the first application of a meta-frontier framework to capture the technological gaps involved. Based on the construction firms' financial data, it is found that TFP improvement generally occurs due to Technical Efficiency (TE) and Scale-Mix Efficiency (SME) (largely scope economies), and significant technological gaps exist among different groups. Moreover, the industry suffered a decline in technologically related production environment over the periodprompting the conclusion that long-term policy engagement should focus on technological improvements. The paper provides a robust approach to analysing construction productivity at the firm level that also can be used for accessing productivity components and technological gaps in construction and other industries.

The success of PPP-BOT projects largely depends on effectively mitigating the impact of a variety of risks and uncertainties, especially those influencing the revenue over time. Revenue instability is one of the main obstacles of PPP form of procurement. Government support, which is established as a clause in the concession agreement, should be carefully designed and well formulated. Options which arise from certain clauses in the contract are more valuable for risky projects. The purpose of this paper's proposed model is to evaluate early fund generation options and also to calculate equitable bounds for a guaranteed revenue for the project sponsor under uncertainty and risk. The model is specially designed to alleviate the concern of revenue risk. To illustrate its applicability the methodology is then applied to a freeway PPP project and a power plant PPP project in Iran. The results show that the value of these options can indeed be significant and by applying the proposed systematic negotiation mechanism both public and private sectors can take advantage of its flexibility at the negotiation table. The proposed mechanisms can facilitate negotiations on the verge of a break down as well as accelerating ongoing negotiations that have become moribund.