| 1. |
- AlNasseri, Hammad Abdullah, et al.
(författare)
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Towards a Taxonomy of Planning and Scheduling Methods in the Context of Construction Management.
- 2013
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Ingår i: [Host publication title missing]. - Trondheim : Akademika forlag. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 570-581
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Planning and scheduling are considered as one of the most difficult but most important processes from perspectives of project management. These processes involve implementation of a widerange of planning methods used by different organizations with various levels of planning knowledge. The planning methods for scheduling can be classified as traditional methods (e.g. line of balance, Gantt chart and critical path) and modern methods (e.g. last planner and critical chain). Over time these methods had advanced from paper based to computer based. However, some project planners still prefer using the traditional methods despite other new alternatives. Users of those methods have different perspectives about the efficiency and effectiveness of the different planning methods used to manage different projects. Evidences from the secondary data found from extensive literatures have been used to assess the planning and scheduling methods mentioned above. A taxonomy describing each of the method in terms of their theories, key features, application areas, benefits and limitations is presented. The preliminary outcome of this paper may provide a tool to aid organizations in selecting and prioritizing the most appropriate methods to be developed and implemented in planning and scheduling of their projects. It also initializes a theoretical base for more rapid taxonomy studies on the use of different planning and scheduling approaches. As an overall, the present paper reminds practitioners of common ground about its important insights on how such taxonomy studies have potential to make scope of those methods and tools clearer, especially when they compare among them within the same application contexts.
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| 2. |
- Aulin, Radhlinah, et al.
(författare)
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Incentives to catalyse green building certifications for building construction
- 2013
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Ingår i: [Host publication title missing]. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 13-23
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the construction industry, sustainability and greening is more than just a passing trend. It has become an important agenda since the building sector has immense environmental impacts. It accounts for 42% of final energy consumption and about 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions. In order to meet these challenges, the construction industry needs to change and adopt new working procedures which take the environment into consideration. Since studies have shown that sustainable development contributes to economic, environmental and social benefits for organisations, it is apparent to attract developers and property owners to invest in green buildings. The aim of this study is to examine incentives offered to environmental certification systems for building that give credibility to the environmental work. The discussions will begin by investigating current incentives in existing environmental certifications system such as Green Building, Miljöbyggnad, LEED and BREEAM. Additionally, the study will appraise the incentives that are offered in successful energy savings sectors such as clean vehicles and other examples from the USA local governments. The study had conducted interviews with 15 environmental experts’ to gain better understanding on existing green certifications and new incentives that can be infused to promote green buildings. Results demonstrate that there are no clear direct financial incentives offered to green building investors. However intangible incentives gained from green building such as: clear goals, systematic mode of operation, higher property value, lower operating costs, marketing profits, higher rental income and higher status for certified green buildings are driving factors for this presently largely voluntary practice. Likewise, the lessons learned from other successful energy savings sectors enable the authors to conclude that proposing incentives such as favourable loan and insurance, better insurance premiums, speedier document processing, attractive tax incentives can act as a catalyst in stimulating the development of more green certified buildings.
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| 3. |
- Eriksson, Per-Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Managing exploration and exploitation in construction projects
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings for 7th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisation. - Trondheim : Akademika forlag. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 451-460
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prior research has shown that companies in various industrial contexts need to achieve both exploitation of current knowledge and technologies to make profits today, and exploration of new knowledge and technologies to adapt to changing conditions and prepare for tomorrow’s demands. The capacity to achieve both exploration and exploitation is especially problematic in project based organizations due to projects’ discontinuous nature. In spite of its theoretical and practical importance, research on exploration and exploitation in projects and project-based organizations is scarce. The purpose of this study is to investigate how exploration and exploitation is managed in construction projects. Empirical data was collected through a multiple case study involving interviews with the client’s project manager, the contractor’s project manager, and the design manager in seven construction projects. Tentative findings show that the project actors often focus more on exploitation than on exploration although they acknowledge the importance of exploration too. However, exploitation often involves adopting conventional methods and solutions based on existing knowledge without any development efforts. Time constraints in tight schedules are hindering both radical innovations and continuous developments. The findings also reveal that explorative solutions must be possible to exploit in the same project. Sufficient project size and/or long-term contracts over a series of projects therefore enhance both investments in explorative activities and exploitation through continuous developments from project to project. Exploration activities are mostly performed in early stages while the focus on exploitation strengthens as the project proceeds. Exploration is often conducted by the contractor or by the client, consultant and contractor together. Hence, in design-bid-build contracts the client and consultant often miss opportunities to explore new technical solutions. Early contractor involvement, (e.g. in Design-build contracts) thereby enable the achievement of both exploration and exploitation
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| 4. |
- Johansson, Emilio, et al.
(författare)
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Incentive Based Procurement in Construction Partnering
- 2013
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Ingår i: [Host publication title missing]. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 530-538
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study is a description of an effort to investigate contractors’ and subcontractors’ views of how incentives relates to partnering. In order to understand the contractual relationship between the contractor and subcontractor in partnering projects data were collected by using archive materials, on-site observation and through interviews. The result from the document analysis and observations were used in order to conduct interviews with subcontractors and targeted partnering experts. Previous studies have found that one cause for inefficiencies in partnering projects are caused by lack of incentives between main contractor and subcontractor. Other studies found that economic incentives are overestimated, and that lack of trust is the dominant reason for failure. By analysing the collected data it is shown that those latter studies are based on a fallible conclusion regarding economic incentives due to a mismatched theoretical levels; firm level and interpersonal level. By analysing the data it is shown that economic incentives do play an instrumental part in partnering projects, and if lack of trust is a cause for partnering failure it is so on an interpersonal level.
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| 5. |
- Johnsson, Helena
(författare)
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The Daily Life of a Construction Contractor - Multiplicity in Production Strategies
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings from 7th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisation 2013. - Trondheim : Akademika forlag. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 404-414
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- For a contractor, two main contractual agreements are used to meet the client; open bidding or design-build contracts. Viewing construction as a production system, this implies different production strategies are active; engineer-to-order and make-to-order. Theory suggests that this is difficult to handle within the same firm. The research aims to identify concurrent production strategies at a contractor and to elaborate on the consequences for the internal capabilities when acting according to several strategies. The in-depth case study is performed at a large contractor, active on the construction market in several European countries. The core capabilities of the case firm are analysed using theory capturing needed capabilities in the engineer-to-order and make-to-order situations. Generalisation is made by describing the atypical capabilities and consequences. The case study firm operates four concurrent production strategies. To cope, manufacturing is organised in flexible, multi-skilled teams to optimise the manufacturing resource utilization. When introducing industrialization in construction, the manufacturing flexibility hinders streamlining of the supply chain.
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| 6. |
- Karrbom Gustavsson, Tina
(författare)
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Boundary Spanning in Construction Projects : Towards A Model for Managing Efficient Collaboration
- 2013
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Ingår i: <em>Proceedings from the 7th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization</em>. - : Akademika Publishing. - 9788232102730
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Construction project performance is dependent on efficient collaboration and the ability to overcome traditional rigid boundaries between organizations, professions and process stages. This paper is based on an exploratory case study of a contemporary collaborative construction project during both design and production and reports findings on boundary spanning and boundary spanners. The findings propose a typology of boundary spanning in collaborative construction projects: geographical boundary spanning, professional boundary spanning and stakeholder boundary spanning. The findings also report a comprehensive list of boundary spanning roles of importance for boundary spanning to take place. The paper also present directions for further research on management of collaboration in construction projects.
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| 7. |
- Parsanezhad, Pouriya, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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A Holistic Approach to Acquisition of Building Information for a More Efficient Collaboration
- 2013
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Ingår i: PROCEEDINGS FROM 7TH NORDIC CONFERENCE ON CONSTRUCTION ECONOMICS AND ORGANISATION 2013 <em>GREEN URBANISATION– IMPLICATIONS FOR VALUE CREATION</em>. - : Construction Researchers on Economics and Organisation in the Nordic region (CREON). - 9788232102730 ; , s. 468-561
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Maintaining seamless, error-free, accurate and automated hand-over of building information is one of the most oppressive obstacles to a collaborated building design and delivery practice and a life-cycle-oriented construction. Contemporary building data technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) offer a handful of possibilities towards this end. Nonetheless, utilization of the full capacity of BIM demands a neutral and standardized approach often termed as open BIM. This may translate to implementation of buildingSMART’s standard building data model, IFC, for exchange of data among different sectors throughout building industry. This study is a basic research on the status quo and potentials for developing and maintaining an integrated approach toward data management within AEC/FM organizations. Automated, sustained and error-free transfer of building information and analytical capabilities from AEC-centric BIM tools to facility managers, in specific, is a cutting-edge area which demands technical and organizational solutions. Document- and stage-based thinking and silo mentalities among AEC firms and legislative inertia are some major hindrances against this goal. A complete shift from as-designed and as-built documents and models to their as-commissioned, as-operated and as-maintained counterparts, however, entails development of a building information infrastructure that persistently enable versioning, traceability and visibility of data originated from a multitude of resources. In order for a BIM repository to serve this need, it should fulfil certain requirements and possess specific functionalities.
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| 8. |
- Thunberg, Micael, et al.
(författare)
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Coordinated supply chain planning in construction
- 2013
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Ingår i: 7th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization. - Trondheim : Akademika forlag. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 546-556
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose is to analyse how supply chain planningin construction can be better coordinated, both concerning the supply chain assuch and concerning activities on-site. A literature review and a case studyidentify a number of problems that occur due to poor coordination. To mitigatethese problems it is suggested that a structured framework, like the SupplyChain Operations Reference (SCOR) model, can facilitate the implementation ofsupply chain management so as to enhance coordination and supply chainperformance in the construction industry. The use of a structured model isargued to improve the integration of subcontractors and suppliers in the maincontractor’s planning process. The focus is on the so called “Plan” process in theSCOR model, which is the process that is used to coordinate supply chainactivities in all parts of the supply chain, including site activities. Thefindings identify which parts of the SCOR Plan process that need to be adjustedto fit the construction industry and how it can facilitate the synchronisationbetween the main contractor and its subcontractors. The main contribution is thedevelopment of a model for mapping and managing the construction planning process,so as to enhance coordination and the performance of the construction supplychain.
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| 9. |
- Vennström, Anders, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploitation Of Exploratory Knowledge : A Multiple Case Study of Knowledge Diffusion From Demonstration Projects
- 2013
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Ingår i: 7th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisations. - Trondheim : Akademika forlag. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 335-345
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous research in various industrial contexts has shown that companies needs to achieve both exploitation of current knowledge, and exploration of new knowledge to be successful in changing conditions. In the construction sector exploration activities are sometimes conducted in demonstration projects. The project based nature of the sector is, however, argued to be one common obstacle to exploitation and diffusion of knowledge and innovation. In Sweden, the government has financed different demonstration projects, through The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, in order to facilitate development and diffusion of new knowledge. This paper sets out to compile the results of a previous study of conducted demonstration projects and establish a framework and research questions for a follow up study of the demonstration projects six years after their completion in order to assess the extent of knowledge diffusion. The previous study is based on interviews with the clients’ project managers and document studies of reports published from the demonstration projects. The tentative findings show that the projects involved product, process, organizational/contractual and financial/revenue innovations. The result also shows that the investigated projects were reported as successful and therefore could serve as base for diffusion of new knowledge. In the second step the study will investigate if and how knowledge was diffused from the demonstration projects among the involved actors.
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| 10. |
- Yao, Yao, et al.
(författare)
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Establishing a Stakeholder Framework for Eco-City Development : With a Case Study of Chinese Eco-City
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings from the 7th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization. - : Akademika forlag. - 9788232102730 ; , s. 24-36
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Eco-city introduces a new type of urban development mode which considers social, environmental and economic aspects. Comparing to other green building projects, the development of Eco-city involves boarder urban settings. There is no formal evaluation tool for measuring the gains and losses of different stakeholders in the context of an Eco-city project. Cost benefits analysis (CBA) for Eco-city could provide better understanding of economic feasibility and social benefits of project. There is little literature on CBA for Eco-city, thus three qualitative research methods are applied, observation, literature study and interview. Also, the unique identity of the author, fully involved in the development of Eco-city in China, provides the opportunity in investigate the research question with observation and interview. To conduct CBA for Eco-city, the stakeholder framework is prepared in this paper. Based on the output and interpretive results from the qualitative methods, we show a Eco-city stakeholder framework. The framework illustrates every cost and benefit for stakeholder, providing stakeholders a clearer picture of their cost and benefits. The integrated costs benefits are generated for the system. The establishment of this framework clarifies interactions among stakeholders and gives financial stakeholders a better understanding of their investment benefits and risks. It can also act as a decision-making tool for financial stakeholders as well as policy maker in the future.
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