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1 – 10 of 11Maqsood Ahmad Sandhu, Tareq Zayed Al Ameri and Kim Wikström
Projects are an inherent part of implementing strategies. Still, the challenge is to connect a long-term strategy for larger ecosystem development to the individual projects being…
Abstract
Purpose
Projects are an inherent part of implementing strategies. Still, the challenge is to connect a long-term strategy for larger ecosystem development to the individual projects being undertaken. The purpose of this paper is to test the ability of seven project management office (PMO) roles to achieve strategic planning in large society development public organisations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Design/methodology/approach
The questionnaire survey that was employed for data collected from 450 project members in 19 project-based public organisations having PMO unit had a response rate of 60 per cent. The received data analysed quantitatively by using multiple regression.
Findings
The survey data revealed that PMO enhanced the achievement of the strategic plan for better development of the business ecosystem. The analysis outputs, as expected, have indicated that 95 per cent of the targeted organisations established their own PMO for developing business ecosystem.
Research limitations/implications
Despite there are PMOs hosted by private organisations, the study is limited to the PMO within the context of the government and semi-government organisations in the UAE.
Practical implications
These findings further utilised in developing the conceptual PMO model that would be flexible to be applied to similar project management methodology in various business settings, as well as pave the way for further scholarly investigations.
Originality/value
This work is both exploratory and causal study, which concentrates on investigating the effectiveness of seven proposed PMO roles (as independent variables) in carrying out the strategic plan (as the dependent variable) of the public-sector organisations in the UAE for the development of business ecosystem.
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Maqsood Ahmad Sandhu and Ali Al Naqbi
This study aimed to determine the indirect effects of transformational leadership and transactional leadership on innovation performance through the serial mediation of climate…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to determine the indirect effects of transformational leadership and transactional leadership on innovation performance through the serial mediation of climate for innovation and individual creativity.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected from 139 employees working in various ICT and telecommunication industries in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Findings
The analysis results revealed positive and significant relationships between transactional leadership and the creation of a climate for innovation for individuals' creativity and innovation performance. The results also indicated employees' perceptions of a supportive climate for innovation mediation, the transformational and transactional leadership and individual’ creativity relationships.
Practical implications
This research suggests that investing in organizational climate improvement provides a dynamic platform for creativity and innovation in the workplace.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to investigate the relationships in ICT and telecommunication organizations in a developing country, the UAE. The study includes associations between transformational and transactional leaderships and employees' sense of creativity and innovation performance and the impact of employees' perceptions of a supportive climate for innovation.
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Maqsood Ahmad Sandhu, Omer Farooq, Saba Khalid and Mariam Farooq
Based on the extensive literature review and the research published in the context of Western countries, this study proposes that the entrepreneurship education, participation in…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the extensive literature review and the research published in the context of Western countries, this study proposes that the entrepreneurship education, participation in entrepreneurial seminars at the universities and their involvement in the activities of innovation and incubation center of the universities may foster entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) among Emirati female graduating students.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the study’s hypothesized model, survey data are collected from 283 female graduating students of 19 public and private universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The analysis of the data relies upon multiple hierarchical regression and moderation analysis in SPSS.
Findings
The results suggest that all three types of educational activities positively influence the women's EIs in the UAE. However, formal entrepreneurship courses are more effective than the participation in seminars and involvement in the activities of innovation/incubation center. The authors also found that perceived social support does not moderate the impact of education on EIs, which means that entrepreneurship education is equally effective in fostering EIs, no matter female students perceive low or high social support. On the other hand, results demonstrate that the level of gender stereotypes negatively moderates the impact of education on it. This implies that if a female student believes in a high gender stereotype, the impact of education on her EIs will be low and vice versa.
Research limitations/implications
This study specifically focuses on women entrepreneurship and for the UAE only. However, the results can be generalized for female entrepreneurship, specifically for countries where governments are taking initiatives to foster female entrepreneurship. The study provides specific implications for the UAE public policy government.
Practical implications
As the Government of the UAE is keenly interested to boost up the women entrepreneurial behavior, the findings of the study support that in addition to entrepreneurship education, the government should also encourage the universities to arrange entrepreneurship seminars as these seminars also increase the EIs of women. In addition, the government and the universities should also focus on the involvement of women in the incubation centers/innovation park because the incubation centers can provide the practical exposure to the women in the new business start-ups.
Originality/value
This research is among the first, which benchmarks women EIs in the UAE.
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Maqsood Ahmad Sandhu, Ahm Shamsuzzoha and Petri Helo
The purpose of this paper is to deal with the importance and obstacles of outsourcing strategy in project business in terms of product development perspectives. This strategy is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deal with the importance and obstacles of outsourcing strategy in project business in terms of product development perspectives. This strategy is intrinsically analyzed and evaluated with respect to the strategic business environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The objective of this research is to analyze the advantages and limitations of the outsourcing that have been identified in prior studies. This research has attempted to investigate the performance implications of outsourcing strategies in terms of theoretical considerations and implementation perspectives.
Findings
In this study, the authors have presented a general overview of outsourcing strategies in terms of both light and dark sides of this approach. Various driving forces of outsourcing strategy along with critical success factors are articulated within project to product development perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could be continued to measure various performance variables such as productivity, sales, revenues, career opportunities, manifest in power struggles, change jobs, change organizational cultures, etc. in multiple case companies, which affect with the success or failure of outsourcing arrangements.
Practical implications
The term outsourcing is nowadays a widely known business strategy, where manufacturing firms share partly or fully of their production process with outside organizations or suppliers. The research approach as articulated within this paper would be beneficial for project business organizations and specially the product designers and project managers for planning and developing their strategic business potentials with respect to outsourcing and in-sourcing decisions.
Originality/value
In this paper a high-level decision-making model for outsourcing and a cause and effect type framework are demonstrated with a view to ease the decision-making process for the organizations managers.
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Mohamed Aldhaheri, Amal Bakchan and Maqsood Ahmad Sandhu
The purpose of this paper is to define and analyze causal factors shaping the effectiveness of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) major projects in meeting the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to define and analyze causal factors shaping the effectiveness of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) major projects in meeting the product objectives, from the end-user’s perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey questionnaire was developed and administered to end-users working in major oil and gas projects. Data collection process was initiated on, around 275 end-users, and 213 responses were received, achieving a high response rate of 77 percent.
Findings
The results indicate that both alignment of objectives and end-user’s engagement factors exhibit a positive influence on effectiveness of EPC, with the former having higher contribution than the latter. In this context, the product success triangle reveals higher preference of the end-user’s team toward quality than schedule and cost objectives.
Research limitations/implications
Shifting the efforts of involving the end-user forward in time, starting from the planning stage, alleviates the adverse impacts of design changes as well as increases the ability to save cost, improve performance and increase end-user’s satisfaction.
Practical implications
The model raises the awareness of oil and gas industry practitioners toward the critical factors influencing the project effectiveness and proposes useful techniques for maintaining proper alignment between project and product objectives as well as facilitating end-user’s engagement at the site level. As such, it can serve as a motivation tool for aligning the objectives and acknowledging the engagement, with the aim of achieving the product success.
Originality/value
The effectiveness of EPC structural model was developed and tested using PLS–structural equation modeling statistical technique. The interpretation of the structural model demonstrated that both end-user’s engagement and alignment of objectives are essential to successfully achieve project effectiveness.
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Maqsood Ahmad Sandhu, Petri Helo and Yohanes Kristianto
The aim of this paper is to propose a simulation study of the “steel supply chain” to demonstrate the effect of inventory management and demand variety on the bullwhip effect…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to propose a simulation study of the “steel supply chain” to demonstrate the effect of inventory management and demand variety on the bullwhip effect mitigation.
Design/methodology/approach
The relevant literature is reviewed, and then the simulation model proposed.
Findings
This study identifies reasons for sharing information under varying levels of demand and some variants, and demonstrates the benefits of mitigating the bullwhip effect by applying a design of experiment. It is shown that the information sharing is able to mitigate the bullwhip effect in the steel supply chain by extending the order interval and minimising the order batch size.
Research limitations/implications
This study explores the factors associated with the bullwhip effect. This research is focused on built‐to‐order simulation, so the results are only oriented on the basis of orders; hence a simultaneous order‐ and forecast‐based steel supply chain should be carried out in the future.
Practical implications
This framework is expected to provide a convenient way to measure the optimum inventory level against a limited level of demand uncertainty, and thus enterprises can promote the supply chain coordination.
Originality/value
An innovative simulation model of the “steel supply chain” is proposed, which includes information sharing in the simulation model. Furthermore, dynamic scheduling is shown by applying a continuous ordering and order prioritization rule to replace traditional scheduling methods.
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Yasir Yasin Fadol and Maqsood Ahmad Sandhu
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of trust in the relationships and long‐term commitment between partners in strategic alliances. A framework is developed for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of trust in the relationships and long‐term commitment between partners in strategic alliances. A framework is developed for better understanding the role of trust in the performance of strategic alliances in a cross‐cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical findings of this study are gathered from structured and unstructured interviews with some key actors involved in the process of forming strategic alliances in their own organizations; a case study of the oil industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which illustrates this is analysed. Qualitative analysis is conducted to assess the role of trust in this cross‐cultural context.
Findings
It was noted that building trust between partners helped to avoid bureaucratic obstructions and enhanced the decision making process in the UAE. It was found that trust helped partners to exchange resources faster, devote more funds to the venture and exchange knowledge and information smoothly. The results clearly show that trust plays an important role in building well‐functioning relationships in the oil and gas industry.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to the UAE and can be generalized to other similar cultural contexts only to a certain extent. Future research should consider the same parameters in order to fully generalize the results to other industries.
Practical implications
The paper presents a case study of the nature and characteristics of partners in the oil and gas industry, which may be applied to other similar industries. It is hoped that presenting practical tools for understanding the function of trust in strategic alliance performance may be useful.
Originality/value
This framework makes two major contributions; first, it explores a subject which has been under‐researched in the literature, that is, the issue of trust between partners of strategic alliances in a developing context; and, second, it leads to a set of recommendations and benchmarks the practitioners in the UAE and similar contexts to help them increase the trust between partners in strategic alliances.
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This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
Both transactional and transformational leadership approaches were related to employee creativity and capacity for innovation. A management focus on the development of individual creativity is likely to be productive as individual creativity has a direct impact on organizational innovation.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.
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Noorzaini Moktar and Nik Elyna Myeda
The purpose of this paper is to enhance decision-making process for the procurement of facilities management (FM) services within aviation corporate organisation, where the FM…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enhance decision-making process for the procurement of facilities management (FM) services within aviation corporate organisation, where the FM services functions to support the business operation. It builds on considering the fundamental elements comprising the FM procurement process from the aviation perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper investigates the characteristics of the different types of sourcing approaches and the underpinning factors affecting its selection for the procurement of FM services within the aviation industry. The decision-making framework for the procurement of FM services is developed based on the qualitative case study by interview and focus group discussion with the custodian department that is directly involved in the procurement of FM services.
Findings
The degree of outsourcing is increasing due to corporate organisation’s persona. Procurement of FM services is a complex process required detailed review, efforts and time in choosing the right sourcing approach. Off the shelf guidelines for the procurement of FM services suits property professional which directly involved with the procurement of FM services. However, decision-making process for the procurement of FM services specifically for aeronautical and non-aeronautical corporate organisation are rarely found. The case study findings signify that the respondents are familiar with the in-sourcing, outsourcing and right sourcing approaches. The underpinning factors affecting sourcing approaches were categorised according to the main reasons for the procurement of FM services, considerable factors during the procurement stage and value-adding criteria. The use of strategic management tools is not widely imposed, and intelligent client guideline is not available. Hence, the decision-making framework has been developed to fill the gap in this study.
Research limitations/implications
The research is based on a study of aviation or airline corporate organisation, which limits the possibility of holistic view to the FM industry as a whole but highlights the research gap of FM procurement which is scarce within the case study of airline companies. The focus area is also bounded within the procurement of FM services designated for the office buildings.
Originality/value
The paper provides initial guideline for the airline company in sourcing the procurement of FM services that were developed based on established guidelines from accrediting bodies and scholars, as well as from the sampling feedback analysis. It is also among the firsts that examine the procurement of FM services in the context of aviation or airline industry. The outcome of this paper is a decision-making framework for the procurement of FM services that is specially designed for the airlines corporate organisations, which fills the gap that exists in the industry.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of knowledge management capabilities (KMCs) on supply chain management practices (SCMP) and organizational performance (OP) in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of knowledge management capabilities (KMCs) on supply chain management practices (SCMP) and organizational performance (OP) in firms, in addition to examining the effect of supply chain management on OP.
Design/methodology/approach
To demonstrate the effect of KMCs on SCMP, and OP, different techniques such as factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling were used to verify the validity of the proposed conceptual model and to test the suggested hypotheses, using data collected from 165 companies in the Saudi food industry (representing a response rate of 74.9 percent).
Findings
According to the study’s findings, SCMP are positively affected by KMCs. Moreover, OP is directly affected by KMCs and SCMP.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the specific nature of the sample, the findings of the current research are applicable only to the food industry.
Originality/value
The current research introduced a conceptual model, which has been tested and verified in the Saudi food industry. The findings recommend that both KMCs as well as SCMP will contribute to improving the OP. In addition, KMCs will improve the SCMP.
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