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This article sets out to critically evaluate the impact that higher education institution (HEI)‐based consultancy can have upon the adoption and use of e‐commerce by businesses units operating in the small business sector of the British economy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that “new” (post‐1992) universities are more likely to offer consultancy services to small businesses. It is also claimed that owner/managers seem reluctant to pay full economic prices and would only subscribe to HEI‐based consultancy services if and when these are supported by considerable subsidies. In order to test the owner/manager reluctance hypothesis, 60 matched case studies were conducted, involving small businesses based in the West Midlands region of Great Britain. Preliminary results indicate that most small business owner/managers are aware of the potential benefits accruing from ICT and e‐commerce and tend to use HEI‐based consultancy services as a subsidised access point to e‐markets, involving both their core and peripheral activities. There exists, however, an apparent mismatch between the supply and demand sides of the HEI‐based ICT and e‐commerce consultancy market.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the economic forces influencing the outsourcing process of property management services, and investigate how these forces should be applied in order to maximize the productive efficiency and performance quality, thus ensuring optimal use of resources.

Market competition and transaction monitoring were identified to be the fundamental factors. Single‐case study method was used to quantitatively examine the impact of these economic forces on the outsourcing of property management services of the Hong Kong Housing Authority.

The property services market was contestable, and through competitive tendering the level of competition had a significant negative impact on production cost and a significant positive relationship with service quality. Fee level was also found to have no significant effect on service quality. Professional maintenance services were found to be complex and associated with significant transaction costs, especially where there was a high degree of contact with tenants.

The outsourcing strategy forms a conceptual baseline on which further research can build to test its significance in many other settings, thus resulting in a more robust economic theory for outsourcing of property management services.

Competitive tendering should be adopted for outsourcing to minimize production cost and maximize service quality. The overall transaction costs should be minimized by focusing the limited resources on monitoring of the complex professional maintenance services, especially the services for major planned maintenance works where there are many occupiers involved.

The confirmatory tests indicate that the strategic objectives of cost and quality improvement from outsourcing, as expected by the stakeholders, can be achieved. Hence the research contributes to the property management practice by developing an economic strategy which optimizes the use of resources for the benefit of corporate organizations which own a property portfolio, whilst at the same time satisfying the power and needs of the tenants and other stakeholders.

Outsourcing is now a common strategy for delivery of property services. Recent reviews of empirical literature find support for the efficiency and cost savings from outsourcing is at best mixed. In the housing context, organizations are still sceptical to the real cost benefit and are reluctant to enter into multiyear outsourcing contracts to deliver their housing management and facilities services. This study aims to investigate whether outsourcing can bring significant cost savings to housing services, and if so to explore how the transaction process should be structured in order to optimize the transaction value through minimization of production and transaction costs.

Single‐case study methodology, based on a typical major housing corporation in Hong Kong, was used to quantitatively examine the impact of outsourcing on cost savings using independent‐samples t‐test, and competition on fees (production cost) using Pearson correlation analysis. Pearson analysis was also conducted to examine the correlation between the levels of transaction costs and the degrees of complexity of housing services.

The quantitative study found that outsourcing could lead to significant cost savings for housing services in a contestable property service market. The levels of competition had significant negative correlation with the tendered prices, inferring that more competent bidders should be invited for competitive tendering to minimize production cost. Complex services with intensive resident involvement and uncertain scope of works were associated with high monitoring costs, inferring that monitoring resources should be allocated according to the complexity of services to minimize transaction costs. This approach can ensure optimization of transaction value, which is particularly relevant to high‐density developments requiring high transaction costs for performance monitoring of the outsourced housing services.

Whilst cost savings and transaction structure for optimization of transaction value are verified in the context of a representative major housing organization, the results form a baseline on which further research can build to test their significance in many other settings. Ultimately, a more robust transaction value theory can be developed for outsourcing of housing services.

With the findings of this research, housing organizations can make an informed decision to outsource the services. They can also adopt the transaction structure to optimize transaction value from outsourcing, i.e. minimization of production and transaction costs through market competition and allocation of monitoring resources based on the complexity of services.

This study makes economic contribution to corporate outsourcing policy by establishing a transaction structure which policy makers and facilities managers can adopt to optimize cost savings. Consequently, this will benefit the society through optimal use of resources.

Construction is repeatedly criticised for its low productivity based on statistical data that do not represent the output of construction adequately. The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of construction output – being the numerator in construction productivity calculations – by focussing on changes in quantity of the products, product characteristics and composition of the aggregate rather than as changes in price.

The research design of this study applies statistical data from the national accounts along with data from four paradigmatic case studies of social housing projects covering a period of 50 years.

The results indicate that while construction output prices have increased threefold over the past 50 years, improvements in performance can only explain approximately 20 per cent.

The developed four-step method has demonstrated its value as a means to measure changes in the characteristics of the product, but more studies on the actual figures and results over time and regions are required before solid conclusions can be drawn.

This study has added new knowledge of construction output that supports the development of a more accurate construction statistics, which in turn can assist the design of more effective and evidence-based policies for improving construction productivity.

This paper describes and demonstrates a novel performance-based methodology for addressing changes in the characteristics of the products in a longitudinally perspective, which can potentially provide a better understanding of changes in productivity.

There is a growing need for professional international public relations, driven by the globalisation of markets and the instantaneous worldwide reach of the media. In parallel, there are higher expectations of openness and corporate governance throughout the developed world, demanding more professional communications. This paper defines international public relations and discusses the infrastructure necessary for the management of international programmes and the likely costs incurred, including awareness research and media monitoring. Then, in a practical look at the potential pitfalls and opportunities of planning, budgeting and managing international PR campaigns, the author suggests ten guidelines for all international practitioners to follow in striving to achieve efficient co‐ordination and to extract maximum value from the PR budget, plus five more specifically for consultants to ensure a professional and profitable service.

The costs, benefits and implications of BS5750/ISO9000 certification for small and medium‐sized firms are investigated on the basis of a review of published literature and a survey of the actual experience of a representative sample of firms. The principle motivation for installing BS5750‐based quality systems appears to be customer pressure; retaining existing customers is a key benefit. A minority of firms discover that “internal” benefits, such as greater control and discipline, turn out to be more valuable. Developing and installing a BS5750‐based system is a major exercise for small firms but through reductions in quality costs, the costs of certification can typically be recovered within three years of commencing to operate the system. The attitude of the chief executive is a key determinant of effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the transaction costs involved in managing procurement contracts in the public sector, particularly at the lower and higher level of local governments from the clients’ perspective.

The paper uses new institutional economics, specifically the transaction cost approach. A multiple case study design was used, in which five local government authorities (LGAs) were selected from the Kigoma and Tanga regions of Tanzania. Interviews with heads of procurement management units, focus groups and secondary sources were used to collect information for lower level LGAs.

Very high information, negotiation and monitoring transaction costs were revealed at the post-contractual stage for higher levels of local government in all cases. Transaction costs were associated with institutional problems, lack of financial resources and attitudes towards accountability, transparency and competition. It was also found that lower levels of local government are faced with very high transaction costs for all procurement stages due to a lack of procurement contract management capacity among ward and village procurement project committees, low levels of support from higher level LGAs, a lack of simple Swahili-standardised documents and guidelines for lower level procurement contract management which reflect current legal issues and the lack of a legal framework for procurement at the lower level of local government. These costs are associated with poor accountability and a lack of competition, transparency and efficiency throughout public procurement chains.

There is no estimate for quantitative approaches, because it is was difficult to measure transaction costs associated with accountability, transparency and efficiency.

The paper contributes knowledge on qualitative levels of transaction costs for procurement contract management for both higher and lower levels of LGAs from the clients’ viewpoint.

This study aims to identify the most critical concerns of property developers in terms of the transaction costs involved in compliance with environmental laws at the building scheme design stage when key design decisions are made.

Sixteen structured interviews were carried out with experienced industry practitioners in Hong Kong. Transaction cost theory is used to explain the regulatory compliance costs.

The results show that the most significant impacts of transaction costs were due to uncertainties in negotiations with government, which takes time to obtain approvals and overcome ambiguous legislative requirements.

The government could make use of the research findings to formulate a clear environmental policy to coordinate various departments and laws to address uncertainty with time for project delivery, and conduct quantitative regulatory impact assessments in the development of new legislation.

This study identifies and explaines “uncertainties” as the most critical concern for property developers in terms of the transaction costs involved in compliance with environmental laws. The results of this study would help policymakers to improve policy design, which would in turn increase efficiency and productivity in the property development process.

Financial help to apply the benefits of microprocessor technology to UK manufacturing firms is available from the Department of Industry. A sum of £15 million has been allocated to encourage UK industry to apply microprocessor techniques principally to two objectives: first, to get UK manufacturing firms to use microprocessor technology in their own production processes; and second, to get them to incorporate microprocessor devices in their end‐products.

The changing role of quantity surveyors in the new paradigm of sustainable construction requires studies into new competencies and skills for the profession. The impact of sustainable construction on quantity surveying services, engagement and how they manage challenges provided an indication of the success indicators of the quantity surveying profession in meeting the sustainable construction needs.

A five-point Likert scale was developed from the list of quantity surveying firms in Singapore. An 85% response rate from 60 quantity surveying firms contacted in this study provided 51 responses. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were employed to evaluate the findings.

The factor analysis categorised the drivers derived from the literature into awareness of sustainable construction, adversarial role on green costing; carbon cost planning; valuing a sustainable property; common knowledge of sustainable construction; and lack of experience in sustainable construction.

The research findings supported the idea of increased sustainable construction skills in quantity surveying education, research and training.

The dearth of quantity surveyors with sustainable construction experience must focus on quantity surveying professional bodies and higher education. The quantity surveying profession needs reskilling in green costing and carbon cost planning to meet the needs of sustainable construction.