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Despite extensive academic research related to digital technologies (DT), their integration into architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) projects lags in practice. This paper aims to discover DT deployment patterns and emerging trends in real-life AEC projects.

A case study methodology was adopted, including individual case analyses and comparative multiple-case analyses.

The results revealed the temporal distribution of DT in practical AEC projects, specific DT products/software, major project types integrated with digital solutions, DT application areas and project stages and associated project performance. Three distinct patterns in DT adoption have been observed, reflecting the evolution of DT applications, the progression from single to multiple DT integration and alignment with emerging industry requirements. The DT adoption behavior in the studied cases has been examined using the technology-organization-environment-human (TOE + H) framework. Further, eight emerging trend streams for future DT adoption were identified, with “leveraging the diverse features of certain mature DT” being a shared recognition of all studied companies.

This research offers actionable insights for AEC companies, facilitating the development of customized DT implementation roadmaps aligned with organizational needs. Policymakers, industry associations and DT suppliers may leverage these findings for informed decision-making, collaborative educational initiatives and product/service customization.

This research provides empirical evidence of applicable products/software, application areas and project performance. The examination of the TOE + H framework offers a holistic understanding of the collective influences on DT adoption. The identification of emerging trends addresses the evolving demands of the AEC industry in the digital era.

Lean manufacturing (LM) concepts have been widely adopted in diverse industrial sectors. However, no literature review focusing on case studies describing LM implementation is available. Case studies represent the actual implementation and provide secondary data for further analysis. This study aims to review the same to understand the pathways of LM implementation. In addition, it aims to analyse other related review questions, such as how implementing LM impacts manufacturing capabilities and the maturity level of manufacturing organisations that implemented LM, to name a few.

A literature review of case studies that discuss the implementation of LM during the last decade (from 2010 to 2020) is carried out. These studies were synthesised, and content analyses were performed to reveal critical insights.

The implementation pattern of LM significantly varies across manufacturing organisations. The findings show simultaneous improvement in manufacturing capabilities. Towards the end of the last decade, organisations implemented LM with radio frequency identification, e-kanban, simulation, etc.

Reviewing the case studies documenting LM implementation to comprehend the various nuances is a novel attempt. Furthermore, potential future research directions are identified for advancing the research in the domain of LM.

In a highly competitive and globalised era, agile organisations proactively steer towards sustainability. This situation persuaded the organisations to align Quality Management (QM) initiatives to achieve sustainable outcomes. This study aims to explore quality–sustainability linkage, explicitly focusing on attaining the prestigious IAQ Quality Sustainability Award. Further it investigates, the impact of QM as a strategy for promoting sustainability to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Due to the lack of substantial literature connecting QM to sustainability, the current research adopted an explanatory multiple-case study. Six cases were purposively chosen for the study. Three cases of those who have achieved the prestigious IAQ Quality Sustainability Award and remaining have been selected that have fallen short of receiving the award. A detailed within-case and cross-case examinations involving six cases that reported their QM achievements aligned with SDGs.

The findings demonstrate the significant role of QM adoption in achieving positive results from the perspective of SDGs, such as reduced environmental impacts, improved operational efficiency and enhanced quality of life. Effective stakeholder collaboration, proficiency in analytical tools and strategic alignment with SDGs emerged as critical success factors. Conversely, weak linkage with sustainability and unclear approaches were crucial challenges in attaining the IAQ Quality Sustainability Award.

This paper outlines essential commandments for organisations actively seeking to promote sustainability. It offers valuable insights for decision-makers, facilitating a profound understanding of the challenges and opportunities in pursuing sustainable performance.

The distinctive nature of this study lies in its dedicated exploration of the intricate relationship between QM deployment and its true impact on the achievement of the SDGs.

This study sought to populate a concise set of guidelines for use of the case study research methodology and evaluate the adequacy with which the methodology has been used previously within both the positivist and interpretivist domains of architectural research.

Firstly, the study set out to establish, from the literature, the nature of the case study methodology. Thereafter, a set of guidelines for adequate use of the methodology was populated. The study, then, proceeded to examine selected architectural research papers that had used the case study methodology in order to evaluate the adequacy with which they had used the methodology. The research papers were randomly drawn from two major architectural research journals publishing scholarly work within the positivist and interpretivist paradigms.

Within the interpretivist domain of architectural research, the study found that there might exist some inadequacy in the way in which the case study methodology has been used.

Despite the popularity of the case study methodology, there have only been limited scholarly attempts at developing a set of guidelines with which to evaluate the adequacy of its usage, particularly within the context of architectural research. This lack of a concise set of guidelines might lead to inappropriate usage of the methodology. This study sought to undertake a review of the usage of the methodology within architectural research with two objectives, namely, populating a concise set of guidelines for use of the methodology and evaluating the adequacy with which the methodology has been used previously.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the integrated application of business process modeling and notation (BPMN) and value stream mapping (VSM) to improve knowledge work performance and productivity in police services. In order to explore the application of the hybrid BPMN-VSM approach in police services, this study uses the department of digital crime investigation (DCI) in one Norwegian police district as a case study.

Service process identification was the next step after selecting an appropriate organizational unit for the case study. BPMN-VSM-based current state mapping, including time and waste analyses, was used to determine cycle and lead time and identify value-adding and nonvalue-adding activities. Subsequently, improvement opportunities were identified, and the current state process was re-designed and constructed through future state mapping.

The study results indicate a 44.4% and 83.0% reduction in process cycle and lead time, respectively. This promising result suggests that the hybrid BPMN-VSM approach can support the visualization of bottlenecks and possible causes of increased lead times, followed by the systematic identification and proposals of avenues for future improvement and innovation to remedy the discovered inefficiencies in a complex knowledge-work environment.

This study focused on one department in a Norwegian police district. However, the experience gained can support researchers and practitioners in understanding lean implementation through an integrated BPMN and VSM model, offering a unique insight into the ability to investigate complex systems.

Complex knowledge work processes generally characterize police services due to a high number of activities, resources and stakeholder involvement. Implementing lean thinking in this context is significantly challenging, and the literature on this topic is limited. This study addresses the applicability of the hybrid BPMN-VSM approach in police services with an original public sector case study in Norway.

Commercial buildings, which include office buildings, are one of the three major energy-consuming sectors, alongside industrial and transportation sectors. The vast increase in the number of buildings is a positive sign of the rapid development of Malaysia. However, most Malaysian government office buildings tend to consume energy inefficiently due to lack of energy optimization. Most of the previous studies focused on the performance of green buildings in fulfilling the green development guidelines. As such, it is essential to study the energy performance of existing government office buildings that were constructed before most energy-efficient standards were implemented to mitigate energy wastage due to the lack of energy optimization. This study aims to analyse the energy performance of existing non-green Malaysian government office buildings and the factors that influence building energy consumption, as well as to evaluate the efficacy of the existing energy conservation measures.

This study was conducted by a literature review and case study. The chosen buildings are six government office building blocks located in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. In this study, a literature review has been conducted on the common factors affecting energy consumption in office buildings. The energy consumption data of the buildings were collected to calculate the building energy intensity (BEI). The BEI was compared to the MS1525:2019 and GBI benchmarks to evaluate energy performance. SketchUp software was utilized to illustrate the solar radiation and sun path diagram of the case study buildings. Finally, recommendations were derived for retrofit strategies based on non-design factors and passive design factors.

In typical government office buildings, the air-conditioning system consumed the most energy at 65.5%, followed by lighting system at 22.6%, and the remaining 11.9% was contributed by office appliances. The energy performance of the case study buildings is considered as satisfactory as the BEI did not exceed the MS1525:2019 benchmark of 200 kWh/m2/year. The E Block recorded the highest BEI of 183.12 kWh/m2/year in 2020 due to its north-east orientation which is exposed to the most solar radiation. Besides, E Block consists of rooms that can accommodate large number of occupants. As such, non-design factors which include higher occupancy rate and higher cooling demand due to high outdoor temperature leads to higher energy consumption. By considering passive design features such as building orientation and building envelope thermal properties, energy consumption can be reduced significantly.

This study provided a comprehensive insight into the energy performance of Malaysian government office buildings, which were constructed before the energy-efficient standards being introduced. By calculating the BEI of six government office buildings, it is found that the energy performance of the case study buildings fulfils the MS1525 benchmark, and that all their BEIs are below 200 kWh/m2/year. Malaysia's hot and humid climate significantly affects a building's cooling load, and it is found the air-conditioning system is the major energy consumer of Malaysian government office buildings. This study discusses the efficacy of the energy-saving measures implemented in the case study buildings to optimize energy consumption. Recommendations were derived based on the non-design factors and passive design factors that affected the energy consumption of the case study building. It is envisioned that this study can provide practical strategies for retrofit interventions to reduce energy consumption in Malaysian office buildings as well as for office buildings that are in a similar climate.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns were implemented to achieve two goals: (1) to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases and (2) to reduce the number of COVID-19 deaths. In this paper, the authors aim to look at empirical evidence on how effectively lockdowns achieved these goals among small island developing states (SIDS) and for one specific SIDS economy, Guam.

The authors reviewed existing studies to form two hypotheses: that lockdowns reduced cases, and that lockdowns reduced deaths. Defining a lockdown as a positive value for Oxford COVID-19 government response tracker, OxCGRT's stringency index, the authors tested the above hypotheses on 185 countries, 27 SIDS economies and Guam using correlation and regression analyses, and using different measures of the strictness, duration and timing of the lockdown.

The authors found no evidence to support the hypothesis that lockdowns reduced the number of cases based on data for all 185 countries and 27 SIDS economies. While the authors found evidence to support the hypothesis in the case of Guam, the result required an unrealistically and implausibly long time lag of 365 days. As to the second hypothesis that lockdowns reduced the number of deaths, the authors found no evidence to support it for 185 countries, 27 SIDS economies as well as Guam.

From the review of the existing literature, the authors are the first to conduct this type of study among SIDS economies as a group and on Guam.

This paper presents a set of instrumental case studies for the context-based learning of BIM in the milieu of knowledge-based practice in the AEC industry. The study aimed to examine students' actions and perspectives in a simulated learning environment for real-world BIM processes. The core intent was to provide an in-depth understanding of strategic and functional BIM implementation by synthesizing a suggestive pedagogical framework based on context-based learning approaches.

Derived from context-based approaches and experiential learning methods such as role-play, problem-based and active learning, the study involved a set of doctoral-level case studies. In a qualitative research study, these cases were devised and organized around industry-focused simulations on various levels of BIM implementation strategies.

Results from the case studies and the student responses suggest that the comprehensive evaluation of real-world BIM implementation simulations facilitates a solid understanding of the value of BIM. The participation of industry professionals catalyzes the development of strategic and functional BIM competencies.

The study proposes a well-structured and replicable BIM learning framework based on context-based learning approaches. The novel framework is adaptive and flexible for BIM education. It can provide students with the necessary skills, strategic vision and professional competencies for innovative practices in the 21st-century AEC Industry. The simulative learning settings, including the evaluation rubrics and connected instructional methods, can be implemented and further developed for similar education efforts.

In recent years, augmented reality (AR) has shown its potential to assist various construction activities. Its use commonly requires additional refinement to be integrated into the building information modeling (BIM) process. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated AR implementation in BIM-enabled projects because of numerous challenges related to its implementation. This study aims to investigate the implementation of AR in construction and identify the critical mechanisms for implementing BIM-AR successfully.

A mixed methodology was adopted for this study. First, this work presents a bibliometric analysis covering articles obtained from Scopus database published between 2000 and 2022. A sample size of 65 research papers pertinent to AR in construction was analyzed using VOSviewer software. Second, a participatory case study was conducted for a BIM-enabled project in China to gain insight into how BIM-AR implementation in construction is achieved.

The findings from the bibliometric analysis show an increasing interest in AR research within construction. The results indicate that AR research focuses on four clusters: real-time communication, project management, construction activities and education. Findings from the case study provide an empirical experience of AR application scenarios in a BIM-enabled project. Concomitantly, 15 critical success factors that influence BIM-AR implementation were finally identified and demonstrated.

This study provides a rich insight into the understanding and awareness of implementing AR. First, the findings are beneficial to construction practitioners and researchers because they provide a concentrated perspective of AR for emerging activities in the construction industry. Second, the results obtained from the case study could provide a useful guide for effectively implementing AR in a BIM-enabled construction project. Overall, this study may stimulate further research on AR-related studies in construction, such as BIM integration, factor analysis and construction education.

The purpose of this study is to identify the business strategies that entrepreneurs have formulated to establish the business with the intention of scaling up in the information technology (IT) sector in Chile, given that they have managed to scale up sustainably at an average annual rate of 73.3% and an average annual employee growth rate of 37% for four consecutive years after an establishment period of 25 months.

Three methodological steps were used to identify which strategic initiatives are relevant to the establishment of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the path to scaling up. The first part consisted of identifying the literature and defining the research propositions and research questions. The second part was to prepare, collect and analyse the data to conduct the research by applying, transcribing, reviewing and coding the sources of evidence to explore how SMEs are able to develop strategic initiatives for the start-up process. The final stage was to validate the research proposal to identify potential strategic initiatives identified during the multi-case study.

As a result of the data analysis and empirical findings, three deliberate strategic initiatives were identified: staying engaged with customers, delivering successful business solutions and articulating social capital. However, in crisis situations, entrepreneurs readjust their strategies based on their management skills and an emergent strategic initiative was identified as securing the financial structure and revolutionising change. While this research was not designed to identify personal attributes, it did highlight the importance of adaptation and learning as a skill to drive the business model for scaling up during the establishment of their business.

It is clear that the study focused on Chile and cannot be replicated in other regions or sectors due to the characteristics of the sample itself, but it provides empirical evidence that there are cycles prior to scale up that need to be understood. The findings were empirically validated during the establishment phase, but the deliberate and emergent strategic initiatives that consolidated the SME to prepare for its scale-up process are not evident in the theory.

The IT sector will continue to grow and change after the pandemic, and the global economy will use more digital systems, creating new ways of working with the use of IT. This context will impact on SMEs where strategies, whether deliberate or emergent, will need to be part of the new business models, and therefore, caution should be exercised when using the results of this study. Public and private institutions should educate and guide entrepreneurs for the potential scaling up of their SMEs without having to wait 42 months, according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2021-2022 (Hill et al., 2022). Scaling up can begin as early as 25 months after establishment, breaking the paradigm of the theory that the SME must be established in a period of 3.5 years. This period cannot be generalised as business opportunities in the IT sector are faster. The research also contributes by reporting that contingency planning is relevant during the establishment phase.

Educational institutions and the public sector have made efforts to change business cultures regarding the importance of strengthening entrepreneurship, but teaching the emergent strategies that often challenge SME creation is not yet widespread in educational formats. This is a challenge not only for institutions but also for entrepreneurs trying to anticipate the constant changes in the global economy. This research provides an opportunity to create more dynamic business models with more conscious risk planning.

Although the literature has confirmed the findings, this research has provided a pre-scaling picture that links these two important stages on the axis of deliberate and emergent strategies. The findings confirm the importance of correctly embedding five strategic initiatives for the establishment of the SME if it is to continue on its journey towards business scale-up. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence in emerging economies on how entrepreneurs have found the right path to scale-up.