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The purpose of this paper is to compare the cost and time performance of construction projects in public and private universities in Osun State, Nigeria.

Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select four universities (two public and two private) used for the study. Archival data on 40 completed construction projects (ten from each university) was used in the study. Data were analysed with percentile and t-test.

The study showed that only 35 per cent of the construction projects in public and 10 per cent of those in private universities were completed at the estimated cost. There were no construction projects completed within the planned time in public universities, but 20 per cent were completed within the planned time in private universities. The t-test showed there is no significant difference in performance of construction projects in public and private universities in Nigeria. The study concluded that time performance of public and private universities in Nigeria was still below acceptable international best practices.

The findings of this study are limited to universities’ construction projects and may be of little application to other construction projects outside university settings.

It is recommended that construction stakeholders be more proactive in ensuring that significant improvement is achieved in cost and time performance of construction projects both in public and private universities; the clients need to be more detailed in their briefs and requirements, the designers (architects and engineers) need to be more precise and avoid varying their designs, the quantity surveyors should use their professional competency in cost engineering adequately and the contractor should avoid spurious claims that result in increase in construction cost and time so that performance of construction projects can be improved.

The study is an attempt to compare cost and time performance of construction projects in public and private universities in Osun State, Nigeria.

The selection of a suitable contractor for a project has a significant impact on project success. In order to avoid the selection of an incapable contractor, the capabilities of contractors must be assessed prior to tendering through pre-qualification. However, the pre-qualification process is characterized by partiality and ambiguity. In view of this, numerous models have been developed to solve the pre-qualification problems. Prior to the development of such models, it is very important to assess how the pre-qualification criteria impact project success criteria so as to aid in the selection of pre-qualification criteria while considering the project and client’s objectives. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain the relationship between contractors’ pre-qualification criteria and project success criteria.

The study utilized explanatory research design in testing 35 hypotheses. The views of 121 practising quantity surveyors were solicited using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modeling to validate the hypothesis.

In all, 13 of the 35 hypotheses were not supported. The findings indicated a clear relationship between contractors’ pre-qualification and project success.

Therefore, it is evident that the practice of lowest evaluate bidder is not adequate for providing a satisfactory project outcome. It is, therefore, suggested that more emphasis should be placed on contractor’s technical abilities, health and safety and management capabilities as they have proven to have a significant correlation with the project success.

This study provides insights to the how various pre-qualification criteria can impact the project success criteria and further contributes to the symbiotic that exist in the literature on pre-qualification and project success.

This study aims to focus on the internal audiences of a nation brand, i.e. the citizens of a country and is built on the theoretical premise that migration intentions (MIs) prevalent among the skilled and educated elite of a home country signifies a weak nation brand.

Through the theoretical support of the migration motive theory of push and pull (Richmond, 1993), nation branding theory (Anholt, 2006) and the two-construct country image model (Roth and Diamantopoulos, 2009), the authors constructed a framework that incorporates the relationship between affective and cognitive country images of both home and migrant country and migration motives and intentions to migrate.

The findings reveal that push and pull factors are strongly affected by the images of the home country and the migrant country, respectively and strong home country images are associated with weak MIs, while the opposite is true if a strong migrant country image is possessed. Further, evidence of the dominance effect of cognitive images in complex decision-making environments such as migration was also provided. Moreover, the results also suggest significant differences between Chinese and Pakistani respondents.

This study guides nation branding researchers by opening up a debate on self-images and conceptually independent attitudinal constructs of country image. For policymakers in developing countries, the results reveal that they should primarily strengthen their internal brands and focus on cognitive images to stem the flow of brain drain.

This study takes the traditional country image debate to migration discourse, moves it forward, contextualizes it as a function of a nation’s brand strength and provides evidence that confluence of migration studies with the theoretical stream of nation branding can provide significant explanations for migrant behavior.

This paper aims to draw lessons for telecommunications (telecom) network deployment in India, from a study of policy and regulatory approaches taken by other federal administrations in streamlining processes for site clearances, grant of rights of way (RoW) and approvals for local infrastructure deployment and sharing. With the urgent need for setting up small cells and rapid fiberisation of networks in the 5G era, the importance of such processes has gained prominence.

The authors adopt qualitative thematic content analysis with three-tier coding and classification to identify themes in archival and current documentary data and information obtained from subject-matter experts in the countries studied.

Formulation and implementation of telecom policy is led by national governments. However, national telecom administrations, in recognition of new needs, have co-opted states and local authorities as partners in development of telecom networks, providing the overall framework, guidance and appropriate incentives where required.

This cooperative model could work well in India, where telecom policy making and regulation is the prerogative of the central government, but administration of RoW and local clearances for cable laying, tower siting and associated infrastructure activities for expanding telecom networks are left to decentralised decision-making in the states and local bodies.

This research attempts to sytematise, thematise and draw cross-country comparisons to inform regulatory and administrative policy for 5G infrastructure rollout in India.

In the manufacturing industry, there are a large number of small and medium‐sized manufacturers (M‐SMEs) which provide specialty manufacturing and support services to large corporations. M‐SMEs form the biggest group of manufacturing entities in many newly industrialized economies. The needs and operating requirements of these M‐SMEs are very different from those of large companies. Much research has been carried out in the area of mechanisms, techniques, heuristic designs, modeling, and usage of fuzzy logic in production planning, scheduling and production control. However, most research only addresses a particular area of the enterprise planning process. In addition, the majority of the large‐scale enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems created for large corporations’ manufacturers are sometimes ineffective in M‐SMEs. This research highlights the organizational, structural, operational and supply chain related interdependencies impacting the planning and management of the internal supply chain in M‐SMEs in the Southeast Asia region. Similar to the deployment of management and manufacturing information systems, the need to fully comprehend the operational dynamics of M‐SMEs is crucial for the successful implementation of ERP systems to manage the internal supply chain. The deployment of ERP systems in M‐SMEs is simpler in some aspects compared to large corporations, but can be more complicated in others.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the revenue efficiency of Islamic banks in the Southeast Asian countries. Specifically, the empirical analysis comprises Islamic banks operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. This paper also seeks to investigate the potential internal (bank-specific) and external (macroeconomic and industry-specific) factors which influence the revenue efficiency of Islamic banks operating in Southeast Asian countries.

This paper used a whole gamut of domestic and foreign Islamic banks operating in Southeast Asian countries, namely, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei during the period of 2006-2011. The level of revenue efficiency is computed by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. Following the procedure set in Banker and Natarajan (2008) and Gujarati (2002), this paper use a panel regression analysis framework based on the ordinary least square and generalized least square methods to examine the potential determinants of revenue efficiency of the Islamic banks in the sample. In addition, this paper also use a battery of parametric (t-test) and non-parametric (Mann–Whitney [Wilcoxon] and Kruskall–Wallis) tests to examine the difference in the revenue efficiency of the domestic and foreign Islamic banks.

The results indicate that the level of revenue efficiency on the domestic Islamic banks is higher compared to that of their foreign Islamic bank counterparts. The empirical findings seem to suggest that revenue efficiency has greater influence on the profit efficiency levels. It was found that the bank size, asset quality, capitalization, liquidity and management quality significantly influence the revenue efficiency of domestic Islamic banks operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei during the period under study.

Due to its limitations, the present study may be extended in variety of ways. First, if information on input prices is available, further analysis could be performed to investigate the cost, technical and allocative efficiency. Second, interested researchers may apply the Malmquist Productivity Index method to examine the sources of total factor productivity changes of Islamic banks operating in the ASEAN countries. Third, to obtain more robust results, empirical findings from the present study could be compared to the results derived from improved statistical methods, i.e. Bootstrap DEA.

The empirical findings of this paper clearly call for regulators and decision-makers to review the revenue efficiency of banks operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Islamic banking sectors. The results could also provide better information and guidance to the managers of Islamic banks, as they need to have a clear understanding on the impact of revenue efficiency on the performance of their banks. The empirical findings of this paper may also have implications for investors whose main focus is to gain higher profit from their investments.

The paper is the first to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of revenue, cost and profit efficiency of Islamic banks operating in Southeast Asian countries.

This work aims to report the effect of different inlet air velocity settings, and the position of the inlet areas under fire-induced conditions in stairwells.

The results are evaluated both experimentally and numerically. In sequence, the study also describes the results of three tests under different ventilation conditions, which were performed by simulating a fire of 0.9 m diameter in a stairwell access door. Detailed transient measurements of air temperature in the walls, air velocity settings at the ventilation outlet, smoke temperature through the fans and pressure through the exhaust fans were recorded for the study.

These data could be used as benchmark for future numerical validation studies. Based on computational fluid dynamics, the tests were performed using fire dynamics simulator codes, to compare the results of tests and simulations.

The numerical study was performed in confined floors close to the test areas of a typical stairwell, with different vents and a source of fire. The results show that the lack of symmetry in the air vents settings has greater influence on the plume than the total area of the air inlet.

The key teaching objectives of the case are the following:▪ to develop an awareness of a megaproject’s external environment (through PESTLE) in terms of challenges from each source;▪ to introduce theory that allows students to identify, characterise and describe factors that can lead to inter-organisational conflict during construction projects;▪ to develop the ability to apply the typology of causal factors (identified in Objective 2) to a given context, answering why each factor may have contributed to the given contractual dispute;▪ to develop an understanding of the procurement and contract management process wherein contracts are not only the logical outcome of the procurement process but also the primary vehicles for clarifying responsibilities (for task completion) and risk transfer; and▪ to understand specific dynamics of construction projects that make disputes inevitable and ways to overcome these.

Priced at US$1.63bn (in 2015), the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project in Lahore was one of Pakistan’s earliest (and costliest!) transport infrastructure megaprojects ever undertaken. Devised to ease congestion in Lahore, promote ecofriendly, efficient, modern and affordable transport systems and lead to improved mobility across Lahore, the OLMT was a socially, politically and economically important project.The case is seen through the eyes of the protagonist, Uzair Shah, a seasoned public servant and an experienced Transport Engineer. At the time of the decision, Shah was General Manager – Operations at the newly established Punjab Metrobus Authority (PMA – the project sponsor) and was also the project lead of OLMT’s Project Management Unit (PMU). Through Shah’s eyes, students approach the project at a juncture when the most serious contractual dispute in the project’s history has erupted. The parties at the interface were Lahore Development Authority (LDA), PMU’s technical interface with contractors and consultants and Maqbool-Colson Joint Venture (MCJV), one of the two civil work contractors hired for OLMT’s civil works.While quality issues had been emerging with MCJV for a few months, LDA had maintained unilateral communications and remained considerably adversarial in their dealings with MCJV. Eventually, in October 2016, this relationship had soured to such an extent that it appeared irreconcilable. It was only then that LDA had recommended Shah to take the contractor to court for non-performance.The decision that Uzair faced was whether to take LDA’s advice and take the contractor to court (terminate the contract, claim performance guarantee and appoint a new contractor) or negotiate and continue with the current contract. The decision had huge financial, legal, reputational, political and schedule-related implications. The decision needed to be taken by the protagonist in the context of all these factors.

The case was initially developed for use within a Procurement and Contracts Management course for a (business) executive audience. The case is intended for the business school audience or students enrolled in courses related to the construction management discipline.Courses where the case can be used include Construction Project Management, Public Sector Projects, Contracts and Procurement and Strategic Projects and Practice (or similar). The case can also be used within an MBA setting.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 9: Operations and Logistics.

Understand the process of purchasing and procurement in a commercial organization; describe the process of tendering, evaluation of bids, and the selection of the supplier; describe the commercial, technical and financial bids; understand the importance of vendor selection criteria and develop the same; and identify the parameters for the procurement of assets.

Mr Shaikh, working as Procurement Manager at Modern Public School Sukkur (MPSS), is facing the challenge of procuring the bunk beds for recently inducted students. He was asked by the management of the school and his financiers to procure the best quality bunk beds. These beds shall be used at hostels for the students of Class VI. Director academics had already rejected his initial proposal and requested him to source out some cheaper solution keeping in view the budgets. Mr Shaikh then arranged a sample, which was well within the budget, however, this sample was rejected by the owner of the school on the basis of quality. Mr Shaikh now had to source out not only the best quality product but also a budget-friendly solution. He visited the markets and finalized the best quality of pipes to be used for bunk beds. With limited funds, and very short time, shall he be able to select the vendor of his choice and arrange the best quality products? Shall he be able to motivate his key stakeholders and gain procurement committee approval this time?

Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration.

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CSS 11: Strategy

Looks in depth at Romania’s Labour Code and lists out in more detail all the relevant points, to show how employees and employers may work better together without conflict, Using guidelines from the European Union. Uses countries as a flagstaff for what could be done to improve matters for temporary employees.