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1 – 10 of over 1000In addressing the housing deficits for the less privileged citizens, the South African government began constructing social housing after coming to power in 1994. However, the…
Abstract
Purpose
In addressing the housing deficits for the less privileged citizens, the South African government began constructing social housing after coming to power in 1994. However, the construction of these houses is bedevilled with many issues; prominent among them are poor quality of the constructed houses. This study seeks to develop a quality management framework for achieving quality and efficiency in public-sector housing construction, a hallmark of the country's procurement goals.
Design/methodology/approach
Telephone interviews were conducted with construction professionals involved in constructing government social houses across South Africa, chosen randomly. The data gathered were analysed using the content analysis method.
Findings
The study found that the most significant cause of poor quality government-constructed social housing is multifaceted, categorised into project management-related, procurement-related, contractor-related, corruption-related and political-related.
Practical implications
Failure to develop and implement a quality management framework on government-constructed social housing leads to poor quality social housing.
Originality/value
The study has identified quality-related issues and has developed a Quality Management (QM) framework for the stakeholders involved in the construction of the houses to guide them in the project implementation process to ensure project success and quality standards.
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Rianne Appel-Meulenbroek and Vitalija Danivska
Business case (BC) analyses are performed in many different business fields, to create a report on the feasibility and competitive advantage of an intervention within an existing…
Abstract
Purpose
Business case (BC) analyses are performed in many different business fields, to create a report on the feasibility and competitive advantage of an intervention within an existing organisation to secure commitment from management to invest. However, most BC research papers on decisions regarding internal funding are either based on anecdotal insights, on analyses of standards from practice, or focused on very specific BC calculations for a certain project, investment or field. A clear BC process method is missing.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper aims to describe the results of a systematic literature review of 52 BC papers that report on further conceptualisation of what a BC process should behold.
Findings
Synthesis of the findings has led to a BC definition and composition of a 20 step BC process method. In addition, 29 relevant theories are identified to tackle the main challenges of BC analyses in future studies to make them more effective. This supports further theoretical development of academic BC research and provides a tool for BC processes in practice.
Originality/value
Although there is substantial scientific research on BCs, there was not much theoretical development nor a general stepwise method to perform the most optimal BC analysis.
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This paper aims to provide an overview of South African perspectives on preventing, monitoring and combating hate victimisation, towards informing international understandings.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an overview of South African perspectives on preventing, monitoring and combating hate victimisation, towards informing international understandings.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a general review approach, this paper provides a historical examination of measures proposed by the South African Government and civil society since 1994, to prevent, monitor and combat hate crime, hate speech and intentional unfair discrimination.
Findings
Regardless of a constitutional commitment to social inclusion, diversity and minority rights, significant progress remains lacking after almost three decades of related advocacy, lobbying and limited government intervention. Findings of the South African Hate Crimes Working Group (HCWG) longitudinal Monitoring Project emphasise the need for decisive legal responses to hate victimisation.
Social implications
A Bill, recognising hate crime and hate speech as distinct criminal offences, has been in development for almost 15 years and will soon serve before Parliament. Enactment of this legislation will be ground-breaking in Africa.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the field of hate studies by providing an overview of the journey towards current conceptual understandings of hate in (South) Africa. It sets the stage for evaluating the potential of the redesigned HCWG monitoring tool, which holds promise for early identification and intervention in hate hotspots and targeted sectors. This instrument can establish trends not only in South Africa but also across the African continent.
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Giulia Piantoni, Laura Dell'Agostino, Marika Arena and Giovanni Azzone
Measuring shared value (SV) created in innovation ecosystems (IEs) is increasingly relevant but complex, given the multidimensional and multiactor nature of both concepts, which…
Abstract
Purpose
Measuring shared value (SV) created in innovation ecosystems (IEs) is increasingly relevant but complex, given the multidimensional and multiactor nature of both concepts, which challenges traditional performance measurement systems (PMSs). Moving from this gap, the authors propose an integrated approach to extend the balanced scorecard (BSC) for measuring and monitoring SV creation at IE level.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed approach combines the most recent contributions on PMS in IEs and SV to define perspectives and dimensions that are better suited to deal with the nature of both IEs and SV. The approach is also applied to the real case (Alpha) of an Italian IE through a step wise method. Starting from the IE vision, the authors identify in the strategy map the specific objectives related to each perspective/dimension combination and then associate a performance indicator with each objective.
Findings
The resulting SV BSC is composed of indicators interconnected along different perspectives and dimensions. The application of the approach to the real case proves its feasibility and highlights characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the SV BSC when used at IE level. The authors also provide guidelines for its application to other IEs.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the research on PMS by introducing and applying to a real case an integrated approach to assess SV in IEs, overcoming the shortcomings of PMS framed for single firms. It can be of interest for both researchers in the field of ecosystems value creation and practitioners managing or promoting such complex structures.
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Maria Carmela Annosi, Elena Casprini and Hector Parra
The aim of the paper is to analyze how actors in foodservice companies organize for inbound open innovation (OI).
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to analyze how actors in foodservice companies organize for inbound open innovation (OI).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducted a case analysis of a large and successful foodservice company operating in the Dutch market. Furthermore, drawing on 18 interviews and archive data, we identified the main organizational practices involved in the implementation of inbound innovation activities and the ways they are embraced are defined.
Findings
The results provide a holistic view of the main organizational practices a foodservice company implemented at different organizational levels, to exploit external knowledge coming from third parties and to promote the sharing and recombination of knowledge resources within the organization. The identified organizational practices reveal the main interaction patterns between relevant internal actors and other external parties in the company network, as well as between actors on different hierarchical organizational levels which allows processing relevant innovation information and make relevant decisions about it.
Research limitations/implications
Implications are provided in terms of both theory and practice. This paper helps foodservice companies to create an internal organizational environment that supports the exploitation of customer knowledge.
Originality/value
There are few studies on how companies organize themselves for OI in general, and especially in the foodservice sector.
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Anna-Therése Järvenpää, Johan Larsson and Per Erik Eriksson
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.
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Abstract
Purpose
Coastal zone ecological restoration project is of great significance to alleviate marine ecological degradation. Evaluating the effect of coastal ecological restoration projects and identifying the obstacle factors affecting their restoration level can provide an empirical basis for future Marine ecological restoration projects.
Design/methodology/approach
However, due to the initial stage of coastal zone ecological restoration projects, the actual monitoring data of coastal zone ecological restoration is relatively lacking. Based on the CRITIC-TOPSIS (combination of CRITIC method and TOPSIS method) method, combined with the subjective perception of the public and the actual data of the restoration project, this paper proposes an evaluation method of the coastal zone ecological restoration effect to obtain the specific implementation effect of the coastal zone ecological restoration project. The main obstacle factors affecting the evaluation of coastal ecological restoration effect are identified by using the obstacle degree model.
Findings
This paper conducted an empirical study on the restoration of sandy shoreline and coastal wetland in Qinhuangdao city. Based on the data of restoration projects and the subjective perception of ecological restoration by the public in Qinhuangdao city, the research results showed that the coastal zone ecological restoration effect of Qinhuangdao city was general. The quality of the restoration project and the public perception have an important influence on the evaluation of the restoration effect. Improving the quality of the restoration project, strengthening the public's participation in ecological restoration and allowing the public to better participate in the ecological restoration of the coastal zone can improve the effect of ecological restoration of the coastal zone in an all-round way.
Originality/value
The research results of this paper have a guiding role in the ecological restoration of coastal cities in the future, and also have a demonstration and reference role for the assessment of the effect of ecological restoration of coastal zones.
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Oluseyi Julius Adebowale and Justus Ngala Agumba
Despite the significance of the construction industry to the nation's economic growth, there is empirical evidence that the sector is lagging behind other industries in terms of…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the significance of the construction industry to the nation's economic growth, there is empirical evidence that the sector is lagging behind other industries in terms of productivity growth. The need for improvements inspired the industry's stakeholders to consider using emerging technologies that support the enhancement. This research aims to report augmented reality applications essential for contractors' productivity improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
This study systematically reviewed academic journals. The selection of journal articles entailed searching Scopus and Web of Science databases. Relevant articles for reviews were identified and screened. Content analysis was used to classify key applications into six categories. The research results were limited to journal articles published between 2010 and 2021.
Findings
Augmented reality can improve construction productivity through its applications in assembly, training and education, monitoring and controlling, interdisciplinary function, health and safety and design information.
Originality/value
The research provides a direction for contractors on key augmented reality applications they can leverage to improve their organisations' productivity.
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Ricardo Chalmeta and Maria Ferrer Estevez
Business intelligence (BI) is a combination of computer systems and managerial processes to support decision-making. The balanced scorecard is a kind of business intelligence tool…
Abstract
Purpose
Business intelligence (BI) is a combination of computer systems and managerial processes to support decision-making. The balanced scorecard is a kind of business intelligence tool for performance measurement and management control aimed at balancing financial and non-financial as well as short- and long-term measures. The sustainable balanced scorecard is a modification of the original balanced scorecard developed to expressly consider governance, social, environmental and ethical issues, and therefore to allow sustainability concepts to be included within the strategy and the management of the organization. However, although the sustainable balanced scorecard is one of the most suitable tools for integrating sustainability within management, there are few examples of how to develop and implement it which can be used as reference models. To help solve this problem, this paper proposes a methodology for the development of a sustainable balanced scorecard, considering different phases such as planification, analysis, design or computer tool implementation, and describes the findings of three case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was conducted using the qualitative multiple-case study method. This made it possible to establish the methodological issues regarding the performance and reporting of this study. Therefore, the research method for the conceptualization and execution of the case studies was divided into seven phases: definition of research goals and questions; proposed theoretical model; identification of units of analysis; case selection; definition of research methods and resources; fieldwork; data collection, classification of information and triangulation; formulation of the enhanced theory, model or methodology; and verification of the rigour and quality of the study.
Findings
Paper shows a methodology organized in phases, activities and tasks that allow a sustainable balanced scorecard to be planned, designed, built, computerized and controlled in order to integrate sustainability within the management systems of organizations.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the currently emerging sustainable balanced scorecard literature and practice and, more generally, to research on sustainability measurement and management. The methodology for sustainable balanced scorecard development and implementation showed in this paper contributes to the management and information systems theory because it makes it possible to overcome the shortcomings identified to date: it considers all the sustainability dimensions; it describes all the project life-cycle activities; it encourages stakeholders' participation; and it has been proved to work in real situations.
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Ilse Valenzuela Matus, Jorge Lino Alves, Joaquim Góis, Paulo Vaz-Pires and Augusto Barata da Rocha
The purpose of this paper is to review cases of artificial reefs built through additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and analyse their ecological goals, fabrication process…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review cases of artificial reefs built through additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and analyse their ecological goals, fabrication process, materials, structural design features and implementation location to determine predominant parameters, environmental impacts, advantages, and limitations.
Design/methodology/approach
The review analysed 16 cases of artificial reefs from both temperate and tropical regions. These were categorised based on the AM process used, the mortar material used (crucial for biological applications), the structural design features and the location of implementation. These parameters are assessed to determine how effectively the designs meet the stipulated ecological goals, how AM technologies demonstrate their potential in comparison to conventional methods and the preference locations of these implementations.
Findings
The overview revealed that the dominant artificial reef implementation occurs in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Seas, both accounting for 24%. The remaining cases were in the Australian Sea (20%), the South Asia Sea (12%), the Persian Gulf and the Pacific Ocean, both with 8%, and the Indian Sea with 4% of all the cases studied. It was concluded that fused filament fabrication, binder jetting and material extrusion represent the main AM processes used to build artificial reefs. Cementitious materials, ceramics, polymers and geopolymer formulations were used, incorporating aggregates from mineral residues, biological wastes and pozzolan materials, to reduce environmental impacts, promote the circular economy and be more beneficial for marine ecosystems. The evaluation ranking assessed how well their design and materials align with their ecological goals, demonstrating that five cases were ranked with high effectiveness, ten projects with moderate effectiveness and one case with low effectiveness.
Originality/value
AM represents an innovative method for marine restoration and management. It offers a rapid prototyping technique for design validation and enables the creation of highly complex shapes for habitat diversification while incorporating a diverse range of materials to benefit environmental and marine species’ habitats.
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