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The purpose of this paper is to develop a model based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) and program evaluation and review technique/critical path method (PERT/CPM) for determining prospective benchmarks.

The idea of determining prospective benchmark is needed for developing a model for future planning where inputs and outputs of systems are influenced by external factors such as economic conditions, demographic changes, and other socio-economic factors. In this paper, the PERT/CPM method estimates prospective inputs and outputs. On the other hand, in particular systems some measures play the role of both input and output. Such factors in DEA literature are called dual-role factors. This paper integrates PERT/CPM technique and the DEA.

The results of the proposed model depict that a present benchmark may not be a benchmark in future. A numerical example validates the proposed model.

This paper, for the first time, applies the PERT/CPM technique to incorporate the ideas for identifying prospective benchmarks. Moreover, the proposed model is an alternative solution for classifying inputs and outputs in DEA. Also, the proposed model is utilized in benchmarking green supply chain management.

In the past several decades, Taiwanese companies have been successful in the world market. However, knowledge about how these firms use information technology is very limited. Investigates the application of decision support systems (DSS) and executive information systems (EIS) in Taiwan. Two mail surveys were conducted to explore who used the system, where the systems were applied, what decision models were used and reasons for not using these systems. The results indicate that: more than 20 per cent of the firms already used DSS or EIS and an additional 37 per cent had plans to adopt them shortly; 87 per cent of the firms considered DSS and EIS to be important to their competitiveness; middle‐ and lower‐level managers were major DSS and EIS users; half of them used the system every day; the most troublesome problem in developing DSS/EIS was the difficulty in determining information requirements; and information aggregation and what‐if analysis were major functions for decision support. Furthermore, quantitative models were employed only in large and old companies. The most popular models included linear programming, PERT/CPM, and regression analysis, whereas the most popular domains for application were finance and production management.

Marketing planning is a key area of marketing management. Planning activities have become extremely complex and demand systematic and effective techniques which can help to optimize the efficiency of executing such activities. Efficiency amounts to bringing about the greatest reductions in time to complete the scheduled activities while taking into account the economic feasibility of using available resources. Argues that planning, scheduling and control can be enhanced greatly with the use of project evaluation and review technique (PERT). Claims that it helps to monitor and organize resources to enable activities to be completed on time and within budget limits. Describes Time Line for Windows, a PERT package which is designed specifically for the end‐user and which can be run on a desktop computer to facilitate the marketing planning process.

To select the best strategies in the presence of both deterministic and non‐deterministic data in uncertain environments, without relying on weight assignment by decision makers, this paper aims to propose an innovative approach, which is based on mathematical programming called chance‐constrained data envelopment analysis (CCDEA).

This paper proposes an innovative approach called CCDEA for strategy selection.

In summary, the approach presented in this paper has some distinctive contributions: the proposed model does not demand weights from maker; DEA analysis obtains the optimal weights for all inputs and outputs of each decision‐making unit without relying on the subjective judgment of decision makers; the proposed model considers multiple criteria for strategy selection; the paper makes a sufficient contribution to the practice of operations research. This paper is the first study which applies CCDEA for evaluating the strategies in uncertain environments; and the paper introduces a method for strategy selection in the presence of stochastic data.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first application of CCDEA to deal with strategy selection.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between the adherence to critical chain project management (CCPM) practices and the new product development performance, in terms of the results of product development programs and product portfolio management (PPM).

A survey was conducted with 79 innovative companies operating in Brazil. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis and non-parametric tests.

Significant and positive correlations were found between CCPM adoption and the performance factors proposed. The adoption of CCPM offered stronger correlation with PPM performance than with the adoption of traditional methods. The results further indicate a possible indirect contribution of CCPM practices to the product development program by means of PPM improvement.

This study deepens the knowledge of the joint study between project management and new product development, by bringing empirical evidence that the adoption of specific practices suggested by CCPM is used by organizations with superior performance. Moreover, the results broaden CCPM literature by attesting that companies do not necessarily have to apply the CCPM approach in a formal and explicit way to obtain the performance results given. The analyses still have practical value when indicating which CCPM practices should be prioritized by managers seeking high performance in PPM.

We examine how digital technologies enable distributed actors to collaborate asynchronously on virtual projects. We use Wikipedia and associated wiki digital technology as the research site for our exploration. Our probe of the emergence of Wikipedia articles highlights a distinctive property of such digital technologies: in their very use, they generate a digital trace. This digital trace serves as a generative memory that facilitates ongoing cocreation, justification, and materialization of contributions from distributed actors. We examine the implications of such processes for virtual projects that embrace digital technologies with properties similar to the wiki technology used in Wikipedia.

The inherent risks and their interactive impacts in megaproject development have been found in numerous cases worldwide. Although risk management standards have been recommended for the best practice in engineering construction projects, there is still a lack of systematic approaches to describing the interactions. Interactions such as social, technical, economic, ecological and political (STEEP) risks have complex and dynamic implications for megaproject construction. For a better understanding and effective management of megaprojects such as the Edinburgh Tram project, the dynamic interaction of concomitant risks must be studied.

A systems dynamic methodology was adopted following the comprehensive literature review. Documentary data were gathered from the case study on Tram Network Project in Edinburgh.

A casual loop of typical evolution of key indicators of risks was then developed. A hypothesised model of social and ecological (SE) risks was derived using the system dynamics (SD) modelling technique. The model was set up following British Standards on risk management to provide a generic tool for risk management in megaproject development. The study reveals that cost and time overruns at the developmental stage of the case project are caused mainly by the effects of interactions of risk factors from the external macro project environment on a timely basis.

This article presented a model for simulating the socio-ecological risk confronting the management and construction of megaprojects. The use of SD provided the opportunity to explain the nature of all risks, particularly the SE risks in the past stages of project development.

The general purpose of this paper is to give Sapolsky's classical study of the Polaris Project, written in 1972, the credits it actually earns. In addition, there are two more specific aims: to discuss the role and usage of project management techniques, such as PERT (programme evaluation and review technique), in the practices of project execution; and to display the power of thorough empirical case studies in order to deepen our understanding of the realities of project execution.

The paper constitutes a detailed review of the content and contributions of the book The Polaris Systems Development written by Harvey M. Sapolsky in 1972. The paper presents the main ideas of the book and discusses its implications for contemporary project management research.

Sapolsky's work, The Polaris Systems Development, is an important account of some of the most significant courses of events in the birth and formation of project management, especially the creation of PERT as a technique for project coordination. However, by going beyond the rhetorical surface of the project management, Sapolsky shows that PERT never played the role in Polaris that it is generally claimed to have had. The paper puts these findings in context and discusses why this has been ignored in project management research so far.

Scholars focusing on project management research need to distance themselves from its historical tight bounds to project management textbooks and administrative project management techniques. There is a strong need for a broader empirical basis and pluralism in theoretical perspectives in the study of the realities of project execution.

The paper recapitulates a classic account of the formative period of project management, which so far has generally been ignored in project management research. In addition, it discusses three functions of project planning techniques: boundary objects for coordination, political features for legitimacy and trust building, and cognitive means for the social construction of a predicable future.

Historically, scheduling of production activities has been one of the most important management problems. Scheduling involves the planning and the co‐ordination of the various activities to achieve the optimum utilisation of resources over a given time period. Production scheduling differs with the typology of the production systems. Various production systems that are encountered in practice are: continuous production, mass production, batch production, job shop production and projects. In this article, we attempt only to discuss the project scheduling problems.

This paper aims to develop conceptual arguments questioning the efficacy of administration by the transaction cost economics (TCE) approach in an organization undergoing a major change.

The focus is on three distinct dimensions of organizational life where, as per prior research, TCE is likely to be inadequate: interdependence across transactions, high reliance on managerial foresight and inseparability of administrative decisions made at different points in time.

The climate of coercion and surveillance engendered by administration based on TCE approaches – that punishes deviation from goals, even when they are framed on inadequate knowledge – forestalls creative problem-solving that is necessary to address unforeseen developments that arise during change implementation. Fiat accomplishes within-group compliance in the change project sub-teams, but between-group interdependencies tend to be neglected, hampering organizational effectiveness. Moreover, attempts to create independent spheres of accountability for concurrent fiats regarding pre-existing and new commitments breed inefficiency and wastage.

The malevolent aspects of TCE-based administration contribute to organizational dysfunctions like escalation of commitment and developing of silos in organizations.

To succeed in effecting a major organizational change, meaningful relaxation of demands for delivering on prior goals is required, along with forbearance of errors made during trial-and-error learning.

TCE-based administration is deleterious to an organization attempting a major change. Supremacy accorded to resolution of conflicts in distinct hierarchical relationships by the mechanism of fiat fails to address the needs of an organizational reality where multiple groups are engaged in a set of interdependent activities and where multiple, interdependent organizational imperatives need to be concurrently served.