Search results

Under the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic circumstances where the gold prices are increasing and the stocks are in free fall, this research aims to compare the returns of gold prices and Turkish real estate investment trust (T-REIT) index by covering the 2008 global financial crisis, 2018 Turkish currency crisis and 2020 COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis periods and examine the effects of the returns of gold and the T-REIT index on each other, a research area that has been limited in the literature.

For the empirical analysis, vector auto regression model was used, and Augmented Dickey–Fuller and Granger causality tests were also conducted. The average returns were compared with the coefficient of variation analysis.

The results of the study exhibited that except for the 2008 global financial crisis period, 2018 Turkish currency crisis and 2020 COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis, the T-REIT index performs better than gold prices, but it is a riskier instrument, and both investment instruments do not affect the returns of each other. The segmentation of both instruments recommends the fund managers including both tools for diversification of a portfolio.

In Turkey, gold prices are valued based on the fluctuations of the global gold prices, as well as the Turkish Lira/US Dollar currency exchange rates. The effect of the exchange rates may be considered in future studies, and the study may be conducted based on the USD values of the T-REIT index and global gold prices. Further studies may also include the comparison between the T-REIT index returns and a set of commodities such as the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index. This study covered only the first five months of 2020 to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis initial effects, and a successor study is also recommended by including more new data of the post-COVID-19 pandemic and comparing both results.

The results of the research are expected to contribute to the REIT literature and give insight to investors about their investment choices while including both investment tools in their portfolio, especially for the future conditions of the new COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis.

The study may provide insight for individuals, especially those who are considering possible investment options in the Turkish real estate market in the post-COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Gold and real estate have always been considered as important investment instruments. Gold is commonly accepted as a safe haven in the literature, and the REITs are considered as long-term investment instruments by many scholars. While gold prices increase in the windy periods, the returns of real estate investments have more cyclical movements based on mostly the macroeconomic conditions and its integration with stock markets, yet the real estate is a common long-term investment tool, especially because of the regular income it generates for the retirement years. By covering three crisis periods including the COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis effects, making research about two important investment tools would contribute to the literature, especially in which the studies in this area were very limited.

International construction joint ventures (ICJVs) will fully realize their potential for success and effectively monitor performance when an adequate and suitable performance benchmark is established. However, existing studies fall short of adequately providing a mutually acceptable benchmark for assessing the performance of ICJVs. This study aims to develop an adequate and suitable performance measurement framework for ICJVs.

A twofold structured questionnaire survey, supplemented by semi-structured interviews, was used to collect data from the practitioners of ICJVs hosted in the developing country of Ghana. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and a hybrid-fuzzy logic approach.

A list of 30 performance indicators (PIs), defined by project performance, perceived satisfaction, company/partner performance, socio-environmental performance and performance of ICJV management, was validated and proved to be significant. Only 22 out of the 30 PIs, focusing on project efficiency, societal improvement and organizational goals are realized by the ICJV practitioners. Further, suitable determinants and viable quantitative ranges for measuring each PI are established to prevent different interpretations of the meanings of PIs and objectively express the level of success in quantitative terms. The results call for further investigation of the convergence between the practice of and research into some PIs (e.g. socio-environmental performance) and a range of different performance levels (PLs) in a more scientific manner.

This study not only advances the knowledge base and practice of performance measurement in ICJVs but could also assist stakeholders and decision-makers to assess, compare and monitor the performance of different ICJV projects on common grounds objectively.

This study not only comprehensively assessed PIs – what to measure – but also systematically determined suitable determinants – how to measure – for each PI.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyse how building information modelling (BIM) transforms complex infrastructure settings (i.e. airports) around digital technologies by enhancing connectivity and collaboration between major stakeholders and construction technology solutions. The objectives include understanding each project party's perspective for BIM implementation to align their motivations and connectivity along project's supply chain network and how BIM drives construction technology ecosystem uses for a more integrative and collaborative project delivery.

The study adopts qualitative data collection and analysis methods comprising semi-structured interviews, thematic analysis and an explanatory case study of a large-hub airport project.

The study findings show that enabling BIM implementation leads to streamlining construction technology ecosystem uses that increase connectivity within project parties' processes. Airports – as hosting high-value assets – can fast realize value of synergistic activities throughout project delivery by harnessing significant amount of siloed data created by each major party.

The study provides a structured analysis of how complex project settings leverage construction technology uses through their core BIM processes by highlighting multi-party approaches from an ecosystem perspective. This study also contributes to the body of knowledge and practice by presenting a transferrable and scalable approach for leveraging connected construction technology in a large-scale project involving fragmented processes managed by a large number of stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight for future innovation research activities and for the role of universities in working with industry to promote innovation.

The paper provides an overview and synthesis of the literature on innovation and the role of universities. This is supported by interviews, case studies, and surveys within academic and industrial communities.

The paper identifies that innovation, whether at an international, national, regional, firm or project level of analysis, continues to be at the forefront of the mind of policy makers and practitioners alike. Nevertheless, our understanding of innovation is far from complete. More research is required to study innovation at these different levels of resolution and at different points in the project life cycle. In order for the research base to play its part in promoting construction innovation, an engagement mechanism is required that brings together academia and industry in a way that recognises and responds to these multiple perspectives on innovation.

The paper creates value by synthesising literature on construction innovation and highlights areas for further research. Based on this, a model for effective industry/university engagement is proposed.

The paper seeks to identify the determinants of business failure in construction and to predict the failure likelihood of construction companies by assessing their current situation based on both company‐specific and external factors.

A conceptual model is designed based on an extensive literature survey. The analytical network process together with the Delphi method is utilised to compute the importance weights of variables on business failure through interviews and discussions with experts. The applicability of the proposed model is tested on five companies to estimate their failure likelihood by using the findings derived from the analysis.

The results suggest the importance of organisational and managerial factors, including the efficiency of the value chain at the corporate level, the appropriateness of organisational decisions, and the availability of intangible resources for the survival of construction companies.

The findings of the analysis are limited to the experiences of three professionals in the Turkish construction industry. The performance of the model is only tested in five companies. The accuracy of the model may be improved by using the diverse experiences of a larger group of experts.

The proposed tool may act as an early warning system for construction companies by estimating the level of their failure likelihood. Companies may benefit from the findings of the model to assess their current situations and take necessary action to avoid possible business failures.

The knowledge and experiences of experts are used to obtain a complete model that accommodates both external and company‐specific variables, and more importantly the inter‐relations among them. Similar models may also be developed for companies in other industries to diagnose their bankruptcy or failure likelihood.