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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 August 2022

Krishna Chauhan, Antti Peltokorpi, Rita Lavikka and Olli Seppänen

Prefabricated products are continually entering the building construction market; yet, the decision to use prefabricated products in a construction project is based mostly on…

1950

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Book part
Publication date: 5 April 2024

Luis Orea, Inmaculada Álvarez-Ayuso and Luis Servén

This chapter provides an empirical assessment of the effects of infrastructure provision on structural change and aggregate productivity using industrylevel data for a set of…

Abstract

This chapter provides an empirical assessment of the effects of infrastructure provision on structural change and aggregate productivity using industrylevel data for a set of developed and developing countries over 1995–2010. A distinctive feature of the empirical strategy followed is that it allows the measurement of the resource reallocation directly attributable to infrastructure provision. To achieve this, a two-level top-down decomposition of aggregate productivity that combines and extends several strands of the literature is proposed. The empirical application reveals significant production losses attributable to misallocation of inputs across firms, especially among African countries. Also, the results show that infrastructure provision has stimulated aggregate total factor productivity growth through both within and between industry productivity gains.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 February 2024

Luuk Mandemakers, Eva Jaspers and Tanja van der Lippe

Employees facing challenges in their careers – i.e. female, migrant, elderly and lower-educated employees – might expect job searches to have a low likelihood of success and might…

Abstract

Purpose

Employees facing challenges in their careers – i.e. female, migrant, elderly and lower-educated employees – might expect job searches to have a low likelihood of success and might therefore more often stay in unsatisfactory positions. The goal of this study is to discover inequalities in job mobility for these employees.

Design/methodology/approach

We rely on a large sample of Dutch public sector employees (N = 30,709) and study whether employees with challenges in their careers are hampered in translating job dissatisfaction into job searches. Additionally, we assess whether this is due to their perceptions of labor market alternatives.

Findings

Findings show that non-Western migrant, elderly and lower-educated employees are less likely to act on job dissatisfaction than their advantaged counterparts, whereas women are more likely than men to do so. Additionally, we find that although they perceive labor market opportunities as limited, this does not affect their propensity to search for different jobs.

Originality/value

This paper is novel in discovering inequalities in job mobility by analyzing whether employees facing challenges in their careers are less likely to act on job dissatisfaction and therefore more likely to remain in unsatisfactory positions.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 43 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 December 2022

Muhammad Imran, Abdul Sattar and Md Shabbir Alam

Economic ties and formation of trade blocks escalates the movement of goods among the participants and bring different economic and structural changes. Therefore, the current…

Abstract

Purpose

Economic ties and formation of trade blocks escalates the movement of goods among the participants and bring different economic and structural changes. Therefore, the current research emphasises on the distribution of market structure and industrial value added among the participant countries of China–Pakistan economic corridor project while focussing on pre and post FTA status.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilises the footloose capital model for analysing whether China or Pakistan is more suitable for attracting factors of production to increase their share of industrial value added. For econometric analyses the current research utilises data from 1995 to 2018 and maximum likelihood effect method to assess factors that affect regional value-added distribution.

Findings

Results show that both countries owe different level of economic developments. Effect of capital is, comparatively, similar for both countries while Pakistan supports trade openness which points towards the fact of positive utilisation of abundant labour resources in Pakistan by establishing industrial structure either through domestic capital formation or foreign investment. Whereas, share of labour and trade openness of China positively affect value added production of China.

Originality/value

This is one of the unique studies that studies the regional economic treaties usefulness for any developing country across Asia. Where this study uses the footloose capital model and maximum likelihood method for its analysis which is not previously done, while for detailed analyses the study further divides the timeframe into two parts as pre-FTA ranges from 1995 to 2006, post-FTA from 2007 to 2018 while overall results consist of whole-time frame.

Details

Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1026-4116

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 March 2024

Raúl Katz, Juan Jung and Matan Goldman

This paper aims to study the economic effects of Cloud Computing for a sample of Israeli firms. The authors propose a framework that considers how this technology affects firm…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to study the economic effects of Cloud Computing for a sample of Israeli firms. The authors propose a framework that considers how this technology affects firm performance also introducing the indirect economic effects that take place through cloud-complementary technologies such as Big Data and Machine Learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The model is estimated through structural equation modeling. The data set consists of the microdata of the survey of information and communication technologies uses and cyber protection in business conducted in Israel by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Findings

The results point to Cloud Computing as a crucial technology to increase firm performance, presenting significant direct and indirect effects as the use of complementary technologies maximizes its impact. Firms that enjoy most direct economic gains from Cloud Computing appear to be the smaller ones, although larger enterprises seem more capable to assimilate complementary technologies, such as Big Data and Machine Learning. The total effects of cloud on firm performance are quite similar among manufacturing and service firms, although the composition of the different effects involved is different.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the very few analyses estimating the impact of Cloud Computing on firm performance based on country microdata and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first one that contemplates the indirect economic effects that take place through cloud-complementary technologies such as Big Data and Machine Learning.

Details

Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5038

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 May 2023

Lars Stehn and Alexander Jimenez

The purpose of this paper is to understand if and how industrialized house building (IHB) could support productivity developments for housebuilding on project and industry levels…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand if and how industrialized house building (IHB) could support productivity developments for housebuilding on project and industry levels. The take is that fragmentation of construction is one explanation for the lack of productivity growth, and that IHB could be an integrating method of overcoming horizontal and vertical fragmentation.

Design/methodology/approach

Singe-factor productivity measures are calculated based on data reported by IHB companies and compared to official produced and published research data. The survey covers the years 2013–2020 for IHB companies building multi-storey houses in timber. Generalization is sought through descriptive statistics by contrasting the data samples to the used means to control vertical and horizontal fragmentation formulated as three theoretical propositions.

Findings

According to the results, IHB in timber is on average more productive than conventional housebuilding at the company level, project level, in absolute and in growth terms over the eight-year period. On the company level, the labour productivity was on average 10% higher for IHB compared to general construction and positioned between general construction and general manufacturing. On the project level, IHB displayed an average cost productivity growth of 19% for an employed prefabrication degree of about 45%.

Originality/value

Empirical evidence is presented quantifying so far perceived advantages of IHB. By providing analysis of actual cost and project data derived from IHB companies, the article quantifies previous research that IHB is not only about prefabrication. The observed positive productivity growth in relation to the employed prefabrication degree indicates that off-site production is not a sufficient mean for reaching high productivity and productivity growth. Instead, the capabilities to integrate the operative logic of conventional housebuilding together with logic of IHB platform development and use is a probable explanation of the observed positive productivity growth.

Details

Construction Innovation , vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Understanding Intercultural Interaction: An Analysis of Key Concepts, 2nd Edition
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-438-8

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 March 2024

Keanu Telles

The paper provides a detailed historical account of Douglass C. North's early intellectual contributions and analytical developments in pursuing a Grand Theory for why some…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper provides a detailed historical account of Douglass C. North's early intellectual contributions and analytical developments in pursuing a Grand Theory for why some countries are rich and others poor.

Design/methodology/approach

The author approaches the discussion using a theoretical and historical reconstruction based on published and unpublished materials.

Findings

The systematic, continuous and profound attempt to answer the Smithian social coordination problem shaped North's journey from being a young serious Marxist to becoming one of the founders of New Institutional Economics. In the process, he was converted in the early 1950s into a rigid neoclassical economist, being one of the leaders in promoting New Economic History. The success of the cliometric revolution exposed the frailties of the movement itself, namely, the limitations of neoclassical economic theory to explain economic growth and social change. Incorporating transaction costs, the institutional framework in which property rights and contracts are measured, defined and enforced assumes a prominent role in explaining economic performance.

Originality/value

In the early 1970s, North adopted a naive theory of institutions and property rights still grounded in neoclassical assumptions. Institutional and organizational analysis is modeled as a social maximizing efficient equilibrium outcome. However, the increasing tension between the neoclassical theoretical apparatus and its failure to account for contrasting political and institutional structures, diverging economic paths and social change propelled the modification of its assumptions and progressive conceptual innovation. In the later 1970s and early 1980s, North abandoned the efficiency view and gradually became more critical of the objective rationality postulate. In this intellectual movement, North's avant-garde research program contributed significantly to the creation of New Institutional Economics.

Details

EconomiA, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1517-7580

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2024

Martin David Owens and Elizabeth Johnson

The paper aims to understand how state and non-state domestic terrorism impacts MNEs in foreign markets. Despite the burgeoning literature on terrorism within international…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to understand how state and non-state domestic terrorism impacts MNEs in foreign markets. Despite the burgeoning literature on terrorism within international business (IB), most research has focused on international terrorism, or terrorism generally. Consequently, there has been limited research examining how domestic or local based terrorism impacts foreign firms.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper.

Findings

Domestic terrorism is the most common form of terrorism in the world today and involves the state and non-state actors. Non-state domestic terrorism can be low intensity or high intensity. High intensity non-state-domestic terrorism typically involves regular and protracted political violence, along with inter-communal violence. This can expose MNEs to considerable operational, governance and legitimacy pressures.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the gap in IB terrorism research with regards domestic or local based terrorism. Drawing on IB theory and critical terrorism research, the paper addresses the nature and impact of domestic terrorism within IB. The authors’ paper shows the operational, governance and legitimacy pressures of both state and non-state domestic terrorism for MNEs in host markets. While most IB scholars consider the threat of non-state terrorism for international firms, this study shows how domestic state terrorism benefits and constrains foreign firms.

Details

Critical Perspectives on International Business, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 April 2024

Yong H. Kim, Bochen Li, Miyoun Paek and Tong Yu

We study the potential effects of pension underfunding on corporate investment, financial constraints and improved employee bonding using 10 Pacific-Basin countries (including the…

Abstract

We study the potential effects of pension underfunding on corporate investment, financial constraints and improved employee bonding using 10 Pacific-Basin countries (including the United States, Australia, and eight Asian countries) at heterogeneous economic development stages and different regulatory environments. We document that corporate pensions are significantly underfunded in most countries of our sample in the period of 2001–2017, when interest rates were ultralow in most countries. In addition, firms from countries with stronger employee protection and more generous retirement benefits tend to show higher levels of underfunding in their defined benefit (DB) pension plans. To the extent of pension underfunding imposing constraints on corporate investment, we find that firms in these countries can face more constraints on investment when their pension is underfunded.

Details

Advances in Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-865-2

Keywords

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