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Prefabricated products are continually entering the building construction market; yet, the decision to use prefabricated products in a construction project is based mostly on personal preferences and the evaluation of direct costs. Researchers and practitioners have debated appropriate measurement systems for evaluating the impacts of prefabricated products and for comparing them with conventional on-site construction practices. The more advanced, cost–benefit approach to evaluating prefabricated products often inspires controversy because it may generate inaccurate results when converting non-monetary effects into costs. As prefabrication may affect multiple organisations and product subsystems, the method used to decide on production methods should consider multiple direct and indirect impacts, including nonmonetary ones. Thus, this study aims to develop a multi-criteria method to evaluate both the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabrication solutions to facilitate decision-making on whether to use prefabricated products.

Drawing upon a literature review, this research suggests a multi-criteria method that combines the choosing-by-advantage approach with a cost–benefit analysis. The method was presented for validation in focus group discussions and tested in a case involving a prefabricated bathroom.

The analysis indicates that the method helps a project’s stakeholders communicate about the relative merits of prefabrication and conventional construction while facilitating the final decision of whether to use prefabrication.

This research contributes a method of evaluating the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabricated products. The research underlines the need to evaluate the diverse benefits and sacrifices that stakeholder face when considering production methods in construction.

Recently the route connecting the trans-Korean railway and the trans-Siberian railway has become of particular interest for many academics and policy-makers in East Asian countries. The extensive review of previous studies, however, reveals that literature on the subject is lacking solid analytical framework. Most studies are one-sided, focusing on the political aspects of the issue or paying little attention to the economic aspects of the problem.

This study intends to develop an analytical framework through which the most efficient route among four major alternative routes connecting the trans-Korean and trans-Siberian railways can be identified. It attempts to assign priorities to the four alternative routes according to their level of economic efficiency.

This study utilizes a simple cost-benefit analysis in evaluating the four routes. Cost side, transportation time, effectiveness of customs procedures, and gauge difference are selected as the main economic factors. The volume of cargo, industrial production in adjacent regions, access to natural resources, and market size and foreign investment climate are used to evaluate the benefits of the routes.

The study concludes that Route 3, which connects ‘Busan - Seoul (South Korea) –Pyongyang -Sinuiju (North Korea) –Shenyang –Beijing - Erenhot (China) –Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) –Ulan-Ude - Moscow (Russia)’ is the most efficient route.

Urban MICE competitiveness research consists of two clusters, one that is public-statistics-based and another that is questionnaire-based. Supply-side research on urban MICE competitiveness is rare. Based on the findings of Chen (2014) and other scholars, the purpose of this paper is to design counterpart statistical indicators to empirically analyze CMCA member cities.

After calculating the standardized Z value of the original statistical data for 17 CMCA member cities, the authors conducted confirmatory factor analysis for the first-level principal components, based on which hierarchical clustering was performed; then, regression analysis was conducted with the MICE profit factor as the dependent variable and the cost factor, tight support factor and facilitating factor as the independent variables to support publishing articles.

The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the urban MICE competitiveness indicators from the supply-side perspective include the profit factor, cost factor, tight support factor and facilitating factor.

On the basis of research findings from the demand perspective and the literature review, the authors constructed an urban MICE competitiveness indicator system from the perspective of the supply side and conducted principal component analysis. However, because of the inaccessibility of panel data, the current data were only sufficient to conduct the research. If panel data could be acquired, further research could be conducted to perfect the current indicator system for urban MICE competitiveness.

The findings suggest that tourism total income, tourism foreign exchange income, inbound tourist number, number of exhibitions, exhibition area, number of UFI member cities and number of ICCA member cities were the main reason for the gap between different cities’ competitiveness and the reform focus for improving urban MICE competitiveness. The cost factor had a significantly negative influence on urban MICE competitiveness, implying that the higher the average hotel room price and revenue per available room, the less competitive the MICE host city is.

The tight support factor exerts a significant positive influence on urban MICE competitiveness from the supply-side perspective, while the cost factor exerts a significant negative influence. The findings suggest that the tourism total income, tourism foreign exchange income, inbound tourist number, number of exhibitions, exhibition area, number of UFI member cities and number of ICCA member cities were the main reason for the gap between different cities’ competitiveness and the reform focus for improving urban MICE competitiveness. The cost factor had a significantly negative influence on urban MICE competitiveness, implying that the higher the average hotel room price and revenue per available room, the less competitive the MICE host city is.

The research bridge the empirical statistics and the questionnaire-based perception study on urban MICE tourism image, and advance to construct an empirical statistics based indicator system for urban MICE tourism image.

The purpose of this paper is to present recent empirical results concerning offshoring and backshoring of manufacturing from and to Sweden, to increase the understanding of manufacturing relocation in an international context. In particular, extent, geographies, type of production, drivers, and benefits of moving manufacturing in both directions are investigated.

The study is based on survey data from 373 manufacturing plants. The same set of questions is used for both offshoring and backshoring between 2010 and 2015, which allows similarities and differences in decision-making and results between the two relocation directions to be identified.

There are many significant differences between offshoring and backshoring projects. Labour cost is the dominating factor in offshoring, as driver and benefit, while backshoring is related to many drivers and benefits, such as quality, lead-time, flexibility, access to skills and knowledge, access to technology, and proximity to R&D. This is also reflected in the type of production that is relocated; labour-intensive production is offshored and complex production is backshored.

Plants that have both offshored and backshored think and act differently than plants that have only offshored or backshored, which is why it is important to distinguish between these plant types in the context of manufacturing relocations.

The experience of Swedish manufacturing plants reported here can be used as a point of reference for internal manufacturing operations.

The survey design allows a unique comparison between offshoring and backshoring activity. Since Swedish firms in general have been quite active in rearranging their manufacturing footprint and have experience from movements in both directions, it is an appropriate geographical area to study in this context.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a structural relationship model to study the relationship between causes and effects of poor communication and information exchange in construction projects using Smart-PLS.

The first method of this research is to identify the causes and effects factors of poor communication in construction projects from the extant of literature. The data used to develop the model was collected using a questionnaire survey, which targeted construction practitioners in the Malaysian construction industry. A five-point Likert type scale was used to rate the significance of the factors. The factors were classified under their relevant construct/group using exploratory factor analysis. A hypothetical model was developed and then transformed into Smart-PLS in which the hypothetical model suggested that each group of the cause factors has a direct impact on the effect groups. The hypothesis was tested using t-values and p-values. The model was assessed for its inner and outer components and achieved the threshold criterion. Further, the model was verified by engaging 14 construction experts to verify its applicability in the construction project setting.

The study developed a structural equation model to clarify the relationships between causes and effects of poor communication in construction projects. The model explained the degree of relationships among causes and effects of poor communication in construction projects.

The published academic and non-academic literature introduced many studies on the issue of communication including the definitions, importance, barriers to effective communication and means of poor communication. However, these studies ended up only on the general issue of communication lacking an in-depth investigation of the causes and effects of poor communication in the construction industry. The study implemented advanced structural modeling to study the causes and effects. The questionnaire, the data and concluding results fill the identified research gap of this study. The addressed issue is also of interest because communication is considered one of the main knowledge areas in construction management.

Construction organizations must maintain a productive workforce without sacrificing their health and safety. The global construction sector loses billions of dollars yearly to poor health and safety practices. This study aims to investigate benefits derivable from using wearable technologies to improve construction health and safety. The study also reports the challenges associated with adopting wearable technologies.

The study adopted a quantitative design, administering close-ended questions to professionals in the Nigerian construction industry. The research data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The study found that the critical areas construction organizations can benefit from using WSDs include slips and trips, sensing environmental concerns, collision avoidance, falling from a high level and electrocution. However, key barriers preventing the organizations from adopting wearable technologies are related to cost, technology and human factors.

The time and cost lost to H&S incidents in the Nigerian construction sector can be reduced by implementing the report of this study.

Studies on WSDs have continued to increase in developed countries, but Nigeria is yet to experience a leap in the research area. This study provides insights into the Nigerian reality to provide directions for practice and theory.

This paper aims to understand the significant farm and market-level factors that incentivize the adoption and marketing of pulses influencing its supply response to changing demand.

The authors first use a modified Nerlovian supply response model using secondary data to identify the major price and non-price factors influencing the supply of pigeon pea, black and green gram in the major pulses growing states in India. Second, using primary qualitative data the authors map the pulses value chain from farm to retail to identify the how proportional and fixed transaction costs (FCTs) influence market participation of pulses growers and limit the transmission of price and quality information.

The supply response model shows some positive influence of price on area allocation for pigeon pea and black gram and some negative effects of yield and price increase of competing crops on pigeon pea acreage. However, for the most part, the area of Kharif pulses is inelastic to prices in the long run. Irrigation, rainfall and yields in the lag year are shown to have a significant influence on area allocation for pulses. The market study reveals that low yields, low landholding size and geographical disadvantages of high agro-climatic risk and poor connectivity hinder market access of pulses farmers relative to other crops. Market power in favor of buyers and poor price and quality information is a disadvantage to sellers, influencing their ability to participate in markets.

A quantitative study would be required to identify the magnitude of farm and market-level transaction costs.

This study helps to understand the supply response of pulses and gives suggestions to direct policy to rectify this.

This study aims to investigate the manufacturing reshoring decision-making content from an Eclectic Paradigm perspective.

Data were collected through a six-step systematic literature review on factors influencing manufacturing reshoring decision-making. The review is based on 100 peer-reviewed journal papers discussing reshoring decision-making contents published from 2009 to 2022.

In total, 80 decision factors were extracted and then categorized into resource-seeking (8%), market-seeking (11%), efficiency-seeking (41%) and strategic asset-seeking (16%) advantages. Additionally, 24% of these were identified as hybrid, which means that they were classified into multiple categories. Some decision factors were further identified as reshoring influencing factors (i.e. drivers, enablers and barriers).

Scholars need to consider what other theories can be used or developed to identify and evaluate the decision factors (determinants) of manufacturing reshoring as well as how currently adopted theory can be further advanced to create clearer and comprehensive theoretical frameworks.

This research underscores the importance of developing clearer and more comprehensive theoretical frameworks. For practitioners, understanding the multifaceted nature of decision factors could enhance strategic decision-making regarding reshoring initiatives.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the value and practicality of the Eclectic Paradigm in categorizing factors in manufacturing reshoring decision-making content and presents in-depth theoretical classifications. In addition, it bridges the gap between decision factors and influencing factors in the decision-making content research realm.

Environmental issues have become an important concern in modern supply chain management. The structure of closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) networks, which considers both forward and reverse logistics, can greatly improve the utilization of materials and enhance the performance of the supply chain in coping with environmental impacts and cost control.

A biobjective mixed-integer programming model is developed to achieve the balance between environmental impact control and operational cost reduction. Various factors regarding the capacity level and the environmental level of facilities are incorporated in this study. The scenario-based method and the Epsilon method are employed to solve the stochastic programming model under uncertain demand.

The proposed stochastic mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is an effective way of formulating and solving the CLSC network design problem. The reliability and precision of the Epsilon method are verified based on the numerical experiments. Conversion efficiency calculation can achieve the trade-off between cost control and CO₂ emissions. Managers should pay more attention to activities about facility operation. These nodes might be the main factors of costs and environmental impacts in the CLSC network. Both costs and CO₂ emissions are influenced by return rate especially costs. Managers should be discreet in coping with cost control for CO₂ emissions barely affected by return rate. It is advisable to convert the double target into a single target by the idea of “Efficiency of CO₂ Emissions Control Reduction.” It can provide managers with a way to double-target conversion.

We proposed a biobjective optimization problem in the CLSC network considering environmental impact control and operational cost reduction. The scenario-based method and the Epsilon method are employed to solve the mixed-integer programming model under uncertain demand.

The paper aims to compare the efficiency of alternative municipal solid waste (MSW) management business models: a single provider against multiple providers.

In this paper the drivers of MSW management costs are analysed to test the impact of the scale and scope of MSW management services on the average cost. While the business-as-usual scenario foresees a single provider, the alternative scenario foresees multiple providers.

Based on the empirical data on municipal waste management costs, on average, the size and the average cost of the service are inversely related. This trend is supported using sub-sets defined by the quantity of waste managed. Multiple factors aid in explaining this result, and among others, due to scale and scope, factors such as transition costs increase with the number of players running different services.

The provision of public services of economic interest should favour the participation of more companies wherever possible to the extent that social surplus is produced. However, pursuing this principle to the detriment of efficient service delivery is not ideal. This paper demonstrated that a single-provider waste management business model is efficient under specific conditions, as in this article.

This paper presents an original research methodology for comparatively analysing waste management service efficiency in urban areas and provides adequate evidence using alternative measures of costs according to the phase of the waste management chain, the scale and ultimately the scope of MSW management services.

本學術論文擬比較另類的都市固體廢物管理模式的效率, 比較的對像是:單一服務提供者和多個提供服務者。

研究人員分析都市固體廢物管理成本和價格的動因, 以測試有關的管理服務之規模和範圍對平均成本的影響。若在一切照常的情況下, 我們會預見單一服務提供者, 唯在不尋常的情況下, 我們則會預見多個提供服務者。

根據都市廢物管理價格和成本上的實證數據, 平均而言, 服務的規模與其平均成本是成反比的。我們使用了以所處理之廢物量來界定的子集來支持這趨勢。多重因素會幫助解釋和說明這研究結果, 其中包括:因規模和範圍的關係, 諸如過度成本等的因素, 會按著提供各種不同服務的主要參與者的數目而增加。

在能達創造社會剩餘的前題下, 會帶來經濟效益之公共服務的提供, 應有利於在可行範圍內有更多公司的參與; 但如果實行這原則而因此有損於服務提供的效率的話, 則這是不理想的。本文展示了在特定的情況下, 單一服務提供者的廢物管理商業模式是高效率的, 本文已說明這些特定情況。

本文為以比較分析法去探討城市地區廢物管理服務的效率、提出了一個新穎的研究方法, 並根據廢物管理鏈的階段、都市固體廢物管理服務的規模、以及最終其範圍, 考慮了成本和價格的另類測量方法, 繼而提供充分的證據, 以支持這些測量方法。