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It is a well‐known fact that the construction industry always passes through two distinctive problems during the construction stage: slippages of project‐schedules, i.e. time‐frame, and overruns of project‐costs, i.e. budget. However, limited literature is available to solve or dilute these two problems before they even occur. It is strongly believed that the bulk of the two mentioned problems can be mitigated to a great extent, if not eliminated, provided that proper attention is paid to the pre‐construction phases of projects. Normally projects are implemented through traditionally old techniques which generally emphasize only solving “construction problems during the construction phase”. The aim of this article is therefore to unveil a professional methodology known as Project Control System (PCS) focusing on pre‐construction phases of construction projects.

In this article, the authors share the lessons learned during implementation of Kuwait University projects worth approximately $400 million in a span of ten years. The task of the project management/construction management (PM/CM) is being provided to the university by a joint venture team of international and local specialists.

The pre‐construction methodology ensures smooth and successful implementation during construction phases of the projects as they are generally executed in a fast‐pace, deadline‐driven and cost‐conscious environment. The intuitive proactive methods, if implemented during pre‐construction stage, automatically answer the questions that are encountered during the execution periods of projects.

In this article, the authors share the lessons learned during PM/CM during projects over a span of ten years, which could be of use to others.

The purpose of this paper is to explore an interesting complex infrastructure construction case study project in which the initiation/design and delivery phases were managed differently, with diverse assumptions and workplace culture. It uses a recently developed collaboration and relationship-based procurement taxonomy to analyse the decision to commence a project and to deliver the project. The taxonomy tool reveals underlying assumptions and helps explain actions taken. The paper provides a window into the decision-making process. It also illustrates levels of innovation applied at the design and delivery phases.

A case study was undertaken, primarily using recorded and transcribed interviews, with five key senior participants in the project. This gathered a client, designer and contractor perspective that was subsequently analysed using a sense-making approach.

It is possible to start a project adopting a highly collaborative approach that maximises innovation, understanding complexity and developing a design that can then be delivered using a more traditional approach. The taxonomy used demonstrates that it is a useful visualisation tool for this purpose.

The research was limited to the perspectives of only five individuals even though they were key decision-makers and had a robust overview of the project as a whole. The delivery phase was chosen as a matter of policy without the ability to break loose from that policy. The implications for beginning the initiation and design process in a highly collaborative hands-on mode influenced the understanding of all parties involved in the project in a positive direction. The case study was based in Australia, which has extensive experience of collaborative project delivery approaches.

The taxonomy and its ability to provide visualisation of the experienced collaboration presents a powerful tool in helping us understand how it may be useful and what limitations to collaboration exists.

The paper illustrates the value of social interactions as alliance forms tend to consider triple bottom line issues and stakeholder engagement more highly than traditional, transnational approaches to project design and delivery.

The case study was unusual in its technical complexity; however, the main value of the paper is the application of the taxonomy and visualisation tool as a way to better understand how a project is being managed from a collaboration perspective.

The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

Uncertainty management (UM) in projects has been a point of attention for researchers for many years. Research on UM has mainly been aimed at uncertainty analyses in the front-end and managing uncertainty in the construction phase. In contrast, UM components in the design phase have received less attention. This research aims to improve knowledge about the key components of UM in the design phase of large road projects.

This study adopted a literature review and case study. The literature review was used to identify relevant criteria for UM. These criteria helped to design the interview guide. Multiple case study research was conducted, and data were collected through document study and interviews with project stakeholders in two road projects. Each case's owners, contractors and consultants were interviewed individually.

The data analysis obtained helpful information on the involved parties, process and exploit tools and techniques during the design phase. Johansen's (2015) framework [(a) human and organisation, (b) process and (c) tools and techniques)] was completed and developed by identifying relevant criteria (such as risk averse or risk-taker, culture and documentation level) for each component. These criteria help to measure UM performance. The authors found that owners and contractors are major formal UM actors, not consultants. Empirical data showed the effectiveness of Web-based tools in UM.

The studied cases were Norwegian, and this study focussed on uncertainties in the project's design phase. Relevant criteria did not cover all the criteria for evaluating the performance of UM. Qualitative evaluation of criteria allows further quantitative analysis in the future.

This paper gave project owners and managers a better understanding of relevant criteria for measuring UM in the owners and managers' projects. The paper provides policy-makers with a deeper understanding of creating rigorous project criteria for UM during the design phase. This paper also provides a guideline for UM in road projects.

This research gives a holistic evaluation of UM by noticing relevant criteria and criteria's interconnection in the design phase.

This study aims to analyze the facilities managers’ involvement over the project life cycle phases (PLP), based on theoretical knowledge, consensus from empirical assessment of facilities managers and consultants’ practices.

A literature review was undertaken to determine the different tasks that facilities managers typically handle, identify project phases and their underlying activities in which facilities managers would be involved. This was followed by targeting a group of consultants to build a consensus, upon the identified involvement of facilities managers, over the PLP, while measuring the level of involvement from a representative group of facilities managers in Saudi Arabia. A matching between the perceptions and practice has been performed to serve as recommendations for future research on improving the practice in Saudi Arabia.

The involvement of facilities managers in the PLP is relatively low, according to the consultants’ perceptions. Consultants perceive that facilities managers should be involved in more professional activities, which would ultimately improve projects’ delivery to clients.

The involvement of facilities managers over the PLP ensures effective delivery of projects and reduces the multiplicity of challenges at the operation and maintenance phase. The viewing of facility managers’ involvement adds to the effectiveness of their role within the building industry.

This paper investigates the consultants’ perception of the involvement venues for facility managers to perform activities which are evaluated to be “mandatory,” “advantageous” or “not necessary.” The study reflects the state of facilities management practice, and the consensus of consultants toward the role of the facility managers through the PLP.

This study explores the critical success factors (CSFs) for Security Education, Training and Awareness (SETA) program effectiveness. The questionable effectiveness of SETA programs at changing employee behavior and an absence of empirical studies on the CSFs for SETA program effectiveness is the key motivation for this study.

This exploratory study follows a systematic inductive approach to concept development. The methodology adopts the “key informant” approach to give voice to practitioners with SETA program expertise. Data are gathered using semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants from various geographic locations including the Gulf nations, Middle East, USA, UK and Ireland.

In this study, the analysis of these key informant interviews, following an inductive open, axial and selective coding approach, produces 11 CSFs for SETA program effectiveness. These CSFs are mapped along the phases of a SETA program lifecycle (design, development, implementation and evaluation) and nine relationships identified between the CSFs (within and across the lifecycle phases) are highlighted. The CSFs and CSFs' relationships are visualized in a Lifecycle Model of CSFs for SETA program effectiveness.

This research advances the first comprehensive conceptualization of the CSFs for SETA program effectiveness. The Lifecycle Model of CSFs for SETA program effectiveness provides valuable insights into the process of introducing and sustaining an effective SETA program in practice. The Lifecycle Model contributes to both theory and practice and lays the foundation for future studies.

It is estimated that more than half of the construction industry’s projects encounter significant cost overruns and major delays, resulting in the industry having a tarnished reputation. Therefore, it is crucial to identify key project cost and schedule performance factors. However, despite the attempts of numerous researchers, their results have been inconsistent. Most of the literature has focused solely on the construction phase budget and time overruns; the engineering/design and procurement phase costs and schedule performances have been rarely studied. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The objective of this study was primarily to identify and prioritize engineering, procurement and construction key performance factors (KPFs) and to strategize ways to prevent performance delays and cost overruns. To achieve these objectives, more than 200 peer-reviewed journal papers, conference proceedings and other scholarly publications were studied and categorized based on industry type, physical location, data collection and analysis methods.

It was concluded that both the time required to complete engineering/construction phases and the cost of completing them can be significantly affected by design changes. The two main causes of delays and cost overruns in the procurement phase are construction material shortages and price fluctuations. Other factors affecting all phases of the project are poor economic condition, equipment and labor shortages, delays in owners’ timely decision making, poor communication between stakeholders, poor site management and supervision, clients’ financial issues and severe weather conditions. A list of phase-based strategies which address the issue of time/cost overruns is presented herein.

The findings of this study address the potential confusion of the industry’s practitioners related to the inconsistent list of potential KPFs and their preventive measurements, and pave the way for the construction research community to conduct future performance-related studies.

This paper aims to investigate the phases of new product development within the design-driven innovation (DDI) process, the role of designers and collaborators in the process and how this process relates to some quality principles.

This study adopted a qualitative approach using Gioia methodology. In particular, four Italian manufacturing companies in the home appliances and furniture industry were selected, and data mainly collected through direct interviews were analysed through content analysis.

The new product development related to DDI includes the following phases: the company brief, the designer research, the concept of the designer, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the market launch. Designers play a strategic role in the above phases of DDI, but other actors also cooperate and some quality principles affect positively on the process. This study proposes a model for a DDI process in the home appliances and furniture sector.

Although this exploratory study was conducted on only four companies, it advances the DDI research in relation to new product development.

This study makes recommendations to entrepreneurs and managers on how to innovate successfully and to effectively manage designers and collaborators to ensure competition.

This analysis highlights that design-based innovation contributes to improving the quality of life of consumers.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to examine the phases of new product development in DDI process, the actors involved and relationship to quality principles for the Italian home appliances and furniture sector.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of Value Management towards achieving sustainability through reducing the construction waste during the design process.

To achieve the abovementioned aim, a research methodology consisting literature review and survey questionnaire is designed to achieve the following objectives: first, building a comprehensive understanding of the research topic through reviewing literature related to the nature of the construction industry, waste in construction, sustainability, the design phase and Value Management; second, presenting and analysing two case studies to validate the role of Value Management towards reducing waste in construction projects; third, conducting a survey questionnaire with a representative sample of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt to evaluate their perception and application of Value Management towards reducing the construction waste during the design phase; and finally, proposing a business improvement framework to facilitate the integration of Value Management into the design phase as an approach for reducing construction waste.

The construction waste has a negative impact on achieving sustainability objectives. The design process plays a major role in generating waste throughout the project life cycle. This is a result of improper decisions taken during the design phase. Egypt as a developing country does not have the required technical or financial resources to deal with the huge amount of waste generated during the construction process. The Egyptian Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 focussed on eradicating the waste from its source (i.e. design phase). Integrating Value Management into the design phase will help developing creative ideas and better decisions, which will enable achieving sustainability objectives and reducing construction waste.

The Egyptian Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 has discussed the importance of dealing with the wastes from the source. Although the construction waste is a dangerous type of waste, most research studies have not focussed on the design process as a source for the construction waste. In this research, the design phase was discussed as an important element in reducing the construction waste by using Value Management approach.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how representative the literature is in identifying industrial practice to designing product‐service systems (PSSs).

The paper analyses literature to report on the existing approaches used to design PSSs. A single exploratory case study approach, based on semi‐structured interviews and archival data analysis, was used to understand an existing product‐service organisation's approach to designing PSSs. A total of 12 senior managers were interviewed from a cross section of the organisation, to gain multiple perspectives on the PSS design process and ten company reports were analysed.

The research has identified that the PSS design process reported by literature is not representative, lacking inputs and outputs to some phases and feedback. In total, 18 inputs and 11 outputs have been identified from the case study that are not reported by the literature. These create five feedback loops within the PSS design process used by the case study organisation. This suggests that the PSS design process is cyclic and iterative and not sequential, as reported by existing literature.

This research is based on a single‐case study approach, limiting the ability to generalise findings, and does not provide a complete PSS design approach.

This research compares literature against industrial practice to PSS design, presenting insight to aid practitioner's design PSSs.

This paper fills a gap in the servitization and PSS literatures; evaluating the approaches reported by literature against existing industrial practice.