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This study aims to explore the resource development process implemented by a small consulting firm, active in a traditional industrial context, pursuing the innovation path to develop solutions within the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) domain.

This study undertakes a single qualitative case study of Sinergia, an Italian innovative small consulting firm. The case study is analyzed through critical events and adopting the 4 R model, developed within the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) approach.

The analysis highlights a transition from knowledge broker to solution provider, based on a process of networking, with a relevant strategizing effort, and of assembling internal, external and shared resources. Three patterns in the evolution of the company’s innovation path emerge: resource-oriented networking, hybrid resource development and resource assembly.

The empirical study provides novel empirical evidence over localized innovation processes in I4.0 by exploring the innovation path pursued by a small consulting firm in connection with the local business. The study represents a theoretical development in terms of the 4 R model as it suggests the need to further conceptualize the category of technical resources – including products and facilities – in the increasingly complex I4.0 domain and provides insights on the changing role of actors in networks underpinned by emerging resource structures.

Competitive tendering in South Africa is often associated with procurement based on the lowest fee tendered. Previous research on this topic did not provide in-depth examinations of how pricing within consulting engineering companies was affected by competitive tendering nor did it illuminate the extent to which professional services were impacted by competitive tendering. This paper aims to examine the implications of competitive tendering on pricing and delivery of consulting engineering services in South Africa.

A survey research strategy with a questionnaire as the research instrument elicited qualitative data from 28 experienced consulting engineers in South Africa. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data from the questionnaires.

Three key themes were identified, namely: considerations when determining consulting engineering fees on competitively tendered projects; the impact of reduced fees due to competitive tendering on the delivery of consulting engineering services; and interventions to prevent unsustainably “low” professional fees. Many consulting engineers in South Africa still determine fees using fee scales, while other considerations include resources, project complexity, risk, etc. Most participants asserted that design optimisation/value engineering, training, meetings and construction monitoring were adversely impacted by “low” fees.

This paper provides in-depth qualitative feedback from experienced consulting engineers (most having more than 20 years’ experience) on a topical issue in the South African construction industry. Thematic analysis was a novel method of analysis that was not used previously in this area of study.

The results of this study have significant policy implications for charting a new course toward enhancing agricultural productivity among Chinese farmers.

By establishing a rural household decision-making model based on the transfer market of farmland operation rights, this paper systematically analyzes the effects of land transfer-in and land transfer-out on the productivity (per labor income) of rural households. The authors conducted basic regression analysis and robustness tests using propensity score-matching and proxy variable approaches based on the micro survey data from rural households in 30 counties in 21 provinces/municipalities/autonomous regions in 2013.

After the completion of land transfer, the total productivity of rural households transferring in lands will increase with an increase in the agricultural productivity; the total productivity of rural households transferring out land will increase due to a rise in non-agricultural productivity and the absolute total productivity of rural households not involved in land transfer will remain unchanged.

Unlike previous literature, this paper discusses the impacts of land transfer-in and transfer-out on total productivity, agricultural productivity and non-agricultural productivity among various rural households (i.e. those transferring in land, transferring out land or which are self-sufficient).

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 paper aims to identify the effect of environmental management systems (EMSs), commitment to stakeholders and gender diversity on corporate environmental performance (CEP) and the extent to which an economic crisis moderates these relationships.

A regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 14,217 observations from 1,933 firms from 26 countries from 2002 to 2010. The estimator used is ordinary least squares with heteroscedastic panel-corrected standard errors (PCSEs), which allows us to obtain consistent results in the presence of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation.

The results show that EMSs and stakeholder engagement are mechanisms that drive CEP but lose their effectiveness in times of crisis. However, the presence of women on boards has a positive effect on CEP that is not affected by an economic crisis.

The study has some limitations that could be addressed in the future. We present board gender diversity as a governance mechanism because its role is strongly related to non-financial performance. Future studies could focus on other corporate governance mechanisms, such as the presence of institutional or long-term investors. In addition, other mechanisms could be found that can counteract poor environmental performance in times of crisis. Finally, it might be useful to contrast these results with the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The results obtained have important practical implications at the corporate and institutional levels. At the corporate level, they highlight, as essential contributions, that environmental management systems and stakeholder orientation are not effective in times of economic crisis, except for with the presence of women on the board.

Following the crisis, the European Commission has promoted gender diversity on boards as a mechanism to improve the governance of entities – improving, among other aspects, sustainability. In this sense, another one of the practical implications of the study is support for the policies that the European Union has implemented over the last two decades.

The paper analyses how a crisis affects the moral and cultural institutional mechanisms that promote CEP. Gender diversity on the board of directors not only promotes environmental performance but also appears to be a governance mechanism that ensures this performance in times of crisis when the other mechanisms lose their effectiveness. The study proposes specific policies that help maintain environmental performance in an economic crisis.

As a typical nature-based solution to climate change, forestry carbon sinks are vital to achieving carbon neutrality in China. However, regulations in China are insufficient to promote the development of carbon offset projects in forestry. This study aims to identify the regulatory obstacles impeding the development of forestry offsets under China’s certified emission reduction (CCER) and explore ways to improve the regulatory system.

This study conducts a qualitative analysis using a normative legal research method. This study conducted a synthetic review of national and local regulatory documents to gain insights into the regulatory landscape of forestry offsets in China. The main contents and characteristics of these documents are illustrated. Furthermore, related secondary literature was reviewed to gain further insight into forestry offset regulations and to identify significant gaps in China’s CCER regulation.

Forestry offset regulations under the CCER are characterized by fragmentation and a relatively lower legally binding force. There is no systematic institutional arrangement for forestry offset development, impeding market expectations and increasing transaction costs. The main challenges in China’s regulation of forestry carbon sinks include entitlement ambiguity, complicated rules for registration and verification, a lack of mechanisms for incentives, risk prevention and biodiversity protection.

Forestry carbon sinks’ multiple environmental and social values necessitate their effective development and utilization. This study assessed forestry offset regulations in China and proposed corresponding institutional arrangements to improve forestry carbon sink regulations under the CCER.

This paper aims to identify how a public client’s use of control systems (process, output and social control) affect innovation possibilities in construction projects.

Semi-structured interviews about six infrastructure projects were conducted to identify respondents’ views on innovation possibilities. These possibilities were then analyzed from an organizational control perspective within principal–agent relationships between the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) and their contractors.

How the client uses control systems affects innovation possibilities. Relying on process control could negatively affect innovation opportunities, whereas output control could have a positive influence. In addition, social control seems to have a weak effect, as the STA appears not to use social control to facilitate joint innovation. Public clients must comply with the Public Procurement Act and, therefore, retain the requirements specified in the tendering documents. Much of the steering of the execution is connected to the ex ante phase (before signing the contract), which affects innovation possibilities in the design and execution phases for the contractor.

This study was conducted with only one client, thus limiting its generalizability. However, the findings provide an important stepping stone to further investigation into balancing control systems and creating innovation possibilities in a principal–agent relationship.

Although public procurement has increasingly been emphasized as a major potential source of innovation, studying how a public client’s use of organizational control systems affects innovation possibilities in the construction sector has received scant attention.

Integrated project delivery (IPD) and building information modeling (BIM) have been discussed as prominent collaborative concepts in recent architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) literature, thus recommended for more advanced value creation. However, they have been studied predominantly as discrete even though they are typically highly interrelated. This study aims to enhance collaboration in AEC projects by tracing recent trends in IPD and BIM literature by making sense of trends and by exploring how their interplay has been discussed and conceptualized.

This systematic literature review draws on Scopus and Web of Science as the primary databases. In total, 120 academic papers and review articles were sourced. Yet, the final sample includes 71 sources from the past decade (2011–2020), focusing on both IPD and BIM.

This study identifies 11 interrelated and overlapping themes that are indicative of trends in the recent IPD and BIM literature. This research found that among the identified themes, the clusters of sustainability, transformation and increasing the competence level of staff in the AEC industry, in addition to the concept of quality, require more extensive research in the context of IPD and BIM. Additionally, this study identifies four different approaches to the interplay of IPD and BIM, indicating an absence of scholarly consistency.

Based on the systematic analysis of the recent literature, this study indicates that IPD and BIM have several joint fundamental cornerstones. It is evident that both concepts support the implementation of each other. The success of implementing either one is strongly related to the other. Additionally, we have not found earlier systematic literature reviews that examine the interplay between IPD and BIM in the recent AEC literature.

There is growing recognition that effective project control systems (PCS) are critical to the success of projects. The relationship between the individual elements of PCS and successfully achieving project objectives has yet to be explored. This research investigates the enablers and barriers that influence the elements of PCS success and drive project objectives.

This study adopts a mixed approach of descriptive analysis and regression models to explore the impact of six PCS elements on project outcomes. Petroleum and chemical projects in Saudi Arabia were selected as a case study to validate the research model.

Data from a survey of 400 project managers in Saudi’s petroleum and chemical industry reveal that successful PCS are the key to achieving all project outcomes, but they are particularly critical for meeting project cost objectives. Project Governance was identified as the most important of the six PCS elements for meeting project objectives. A lack of standard processes emerged as the most significant barrier to achieving effective project governance, while having skilled and experienced project team members was the most significant enabler for implementing earned value.

The study offers a direction for implementing and developing PCS as a strategic tool and focuses on the PCS elements that can improve project outcomes.

This research contributes to project management knowledge and differs from previous attempts in two ways. Firstly, it investigates the elements of PCS that are critical to achieving project scope, schedule and cost objectives; secondly, enablers and barriers of PCS success are examined to see how they influence each element independently.

This empirical study uses herd behavior model to explore the role of anchor investors in ensuring fundraising success and overfunding of crowdfunded ventures.

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is applied to find the configurational patterns describing how anchor investors' information disclosure leads to successful financing and overfunding.

Even when the anchor investor's resume is not detailed or the anchor investor has little experience in entrepreneurial investment, success or overfunding can be achieved, provided the anchor investor is a corporation rather than an individual. For individual anchor investors, a detailed resume matters. Overfunding can be achieved even when an individual anchor investor makes a small relative investment, if this small relative investment is compensated for by a detailed resume. Experience in entrepreneurial investment is crucial when individual anchor investors have few previous investments. Regardless of the anchor investor's identity, investment in absolute terms is crucial for crowdfunding success when experience in entrepreneurial investment is low. Such experience must be extensive if the anchor investor's resume is not detailed.

Both entrepreneurs and crowdfunding platforms can benefit from the findings in relation to the design of campaigns that use anchor investors' informational cues to achieve success and overfunding.

The study examines the importance of anchor investors' information disclosure in digital crowdfunding environments, differentiating between individual and corporate anchor investors.

本實證研究使用羊群行為模型, 去探究錨定投資者在確保眾籌活動可達成功籌資以及過多籌資方面所扮演的角色。

研究人員以定性比較分析法、去找出描述錨定投資者的資訊公佈如何帶來成功融資和過多籌資的配置模式。

研究結果顯示、只要錨定投資者不是個人、而是一間公司, 則即使他們的履歷不詳盡, 又或他們對企業投資的經驗淺薄, 也無礙籌資或過多籌資的成功完成。如錨定投資者為個人, 則詳盡的履歷會影響甚鉅。即使個人錨定投資者相對而言參與少量的投資, 但若這少量的投資給他們詳盡的履歷所彌補的話, 則過多籌資仍可成功達到。若個別錨定投資者原有的投資量不多的話, 則企業投資的經驗至為重要。不管錨定投資者的身份是什麼, 若他們對企業投資所持的經驗淺薄, 則按絕對值計算的投資額對眾籌能否成功至為重要。若錨定投資者的履歷不詳盡, 則這種經驗必須是豐富廣泛的。

本研究區分了個人錨定投資者與公司錨定投資者兩者對眾籌的影響, 就此而研究在數碼的眾籌環境裡, 錨定投資者信息公佈的重要性。

研究結果可幫助企業家和群眾募資平台去設計可使用錨定投資者的資訊提示來達至成功眾籌和過多籌資的活動。