Search results

In this article, we report on an empirical study conducted in the USA to determine the performance measures project managers commonly use to evaluate the success of their projects. Specifically, we identify project managers’ orientations toward using internal and/or customer driven measures of performance. We also investigate the priority given to these measures at different stages of a project by identifying the primary objective at those stages. In general we find that project managers’ primary success measure is quality and their most important objective is meeting customer needs. The priority given to this objective does not change during various stages of a project regardless of the project type and industry classification. The choice of performance measures, however, is influenced by project type and industry classification.

Empirically examines the relative importance of technical and organizational factors in the implementation of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Identifies a list of eight technical and organizational factors. Describes a stepwise regression analysis which was performed with the level of perceived success of FMS implementation as the dependent variable. All organizational and technical factors were used as explanatory variables. In the stepwise regression analysis, three of the five organizational factors (i.e. team approach, employee commitment and top management involvement) entered the model, suggesting that they are significant factors to successful FMS implementation. Based on the results of the statistical analysis, three focus groups were further organized to develop a framework for an effective training and management development, to help managers better understand the scope of both the problems and opportunities associated with the human issues which arise while firms are undergoing technological changes.

Studies the relationship between perceived price and perceived quality for the three types of services, namely, pure, mixed, and quasi‐manufacturing classified by Chase and Tansik, and the relative importance of five dimensions of service quality identified by Parasuraman et al. Finds that the relationship between perceived price and the five dimensions of service quality appears to be very weak for pure and quasi‐manufacturing services, but is statistically significant for mixed service. Reliability dimension is statistically significant for all three types of service. Tangible dimension is a critical variable for mixed service while the empathy dimension is important for quasi‐manufacturing service. On the other hand, the relationship between perceived price and overall service‐quality is significant for quasi‐manufacturing service, but is weak for pure and mixed services.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of learning in a project‐driven organization and demonstrate analytically how the learning, which takes place during the execution of successive projects, and the forgetting that takes place during the dormant time between the project executions, can impact performance and productivity in the future.

A learn‐forget model was developed using the learning curve concept prevalent in many manufacturing processes. The model assumes that learning occurs while project tasks are being performed and forgetting takes place during dormant times between the successive implementations. The log‐linear model was adapted, with both learning and forgetting rates being a function of the doubling or tripling of output. Forgetting is inhibited through the use of knowledge transfer tools such as use of close‐out documents or content management platforms. The model is applied to a simulated project environment where a number of projects are executed sequentially, and the results are evaluated using the reduction in total duration and return on investment.

Computational results demonstrate that the learning and forgetting rates and level of project close‐out effort impact project performance, in the form of reduction in duration, much more significantly compared to the impact of the length of dormant times between the project initiations. Furthermore, even in a slow learning environment, using close‐out reports as a knowledge transfer tool, managers can achieve more than a 40 percent reduction in duration after several successive implementations.

Although the theoretical development is applicable to a general organizational setting, the empirical testing of the model is done in project‐driven organizations where projects are implemented on an ongoing basis.

Managers can significantly benefit from the findings of this study. It is shown that the accumulated learning which represents knowledge generated during the implementation of a project, if transferred successfully, improves productivity and enables faster implementation. In a project‐driven organization an almost 80 percent reduction in total duration is achievable with the use of close‐out documents. This result promotes the importance of the learning process and managers should enable their team members to learn as much as they can while implementing a task and to document it methodically.

This study constitutes an initial effort to illustrate quantitatively how the level of learning and forgetting impact performance in a project‐driven organization. This study is also original in that it methodically demonstrates the importance of spending time during the phase‐out, documenting the project artifacts, that enables knowledge transfer, and thus improves performance.

The purpose of this study is twofold. The first is to provide a structured review of the vast amount of outsourcing literature that has accumulated in the past two decades using a decision support framework. The second purpose is to statistically analyze the contents of the studies to identify commonalities as well as gaps, in order to suggest directions for future research.

The contents of more than 200 publications are analyzed using a variety of approaches. A decision support framework is used to first classify whether the studies address outsourcing benefits, risks, motivations or factors. Next, each classification is further described by the type of benefits, risks, etc. Additional relevant contents such as type of organization, and the location of the outsourcing practice are also considered. Multivariate analyses consisting of cross tabulations, chi‐square testing and cluster analysis are used for categorizing the studies with the aim of identifying relationships among the studies which are not apparent when they are considered individually.

A number of trends and relationships are identified. For example, most studies focus on US for‐profit organizations and are typically theoretical, discussing benefits, risks and motivators. On the other hand, the research on outsourcing practices of non‐profit organizations, where objectives for outsourcing are typically politically driven, is found to be scarce. Furthermore, the results of the cluster analysis indicate that the studies can be grouped into six clusters where the five small clusters are characterized by strong relationships with a few variables while the large cluster is characterized by variables that are not addressed in the studies.

Outsourcing has become commonplace in today's businesses. In addition to outsourcing in profit seeking organizations, there is considerable outsourcing effort in governmental and non‐profit organizations also. It is not easy for managers who are exploring outsourcing opportunities for the very first time and academicians who want to build upon existing studies to search the literature to find what they are looking for. This study addresses this difficulty by providing different classifications of the literature based on a variety of research criteria.

This study is a first attempt to organize the outsourcing literature using statistical as well as decision support tools. Using cluster analysis and discriminant analysis to explore the relationships among the contents of the studies is a new approach.

Fremdenverkehr ist ein Teil einer weltumfassenden Entwicklung zu immer engerem, immer bewussterem menschlichem Zusammenleben und wurde zu einer Erscheinung unseres sozialen Systems. Fremdenverkehr ist also nicht zuletzt eine gesellschaftliche Erscheinung und, wie dies in der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung unserer Zeit begründet und allgemein feststellbar ist, tendiert er dazu, sich auszubreiten, immer weitere, breitere Gesellschaftsschichten zu erfassen, Allgemeingut zu werden. Auch hier erfolgt also eine Ablösung des strengen Individualismus durch ein auf Breitenwirkung abgestelltes, marktwirtschaftliches und gesellschaftliches System.

This paper seeks to redress the lack of academic attention being given to the relationship between academia and industry in the competitive environment of international higher education‐related service delivery and use. It adopts a relational marketing approach to value creation in service interactions and explore the expectations and perceptions of employers and university academics and practitioners. The research focuses on a comprehensive mapping of gaps in the international higher education service at large, and specifically in the context of degree programme development, recruiting international students and associated service interactions with industry. It highlights some of the issues pertaining to service quality, customer orientation and sustainability in international higher education and associated service delivery.

This paper is an exploratory case study set in the context of Finnish higher education. It relies on qualitative research methods and applies the GAP model for the analysis of the empirical data.

Five gaps and a surplus gap are identified in the delivery of high‐quality customer service in the context of university‐industry interactions in international higher education. To close the gaps between academia and industry, the relationship marketing approach is proposed.

The paper contributes to the research stream on university‐industry relationships. The results should help to enhance understanding of customer service delivery in the linkage between academia and industry. The novelty of the paper lies in the integration of the language and logic associated with customer‐oriented service delivery into the operational context of higher education service interaction between academia and industry.

TERMDOK is a multilingual technical dictionary on CD‐ROM created by the Swedish Centre for Technical Terminology (TNC), published by Walters Lexicon (a newly established family company within the electronic publishing field which concentrates on dictionaries), and produced by Archetype Systems Ltd using the Dataware 2000 CD‐ROM retrieval software. TNC is a non‐profit organisation, supported by the Swedish government, engaged in the standardisation of technical terminology and the terms found in the multilingual dictionaries TNC publishes are included after careful investigation and co‐operation with the relevant bodies in the subject fields. A TNC glossary is comparable with a national standard as regards authority, consensus and quality. Termdok contains over 25,000 single and multi‐word terms taken from some twenty‐six different glossaries published by TNC. Corresponding terms and synonyms to the Swedish main entries are given, where available, in English, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Russian and Spanish. There are over 100.000 such equivalent terms. Table 1 gives an overview of the subject of each glossary, the number of Swedish entries, and the availability of translated equivalents.

TERMDOK is a multilingual technical dictionary on CD‐ROM created by the Swedish Centre for Technical Terminology (TNC), published by Walters Lexicon (a newly established family company within the electronic publishing field which concentrates on dictionaries), and produced by Archetype Systems Ltd using the Dataware 2000 CD‐ROM retrieval software. TNC is a non‐profit organisation, supported by the Swedish government, engaged in the standardisation of technical terminology and the terms found in the multilingual dictionaries TNC publishes are included after careful investigation and co‐operation with the relevant bodies in the subject fields. ATNC glossary is comparable with a national standard as regards authority, consensus and quality. Termdok contains over 25,000 single and multiword terms taken from some twenty‐six different glossaries published by TNC. Corresponding terms and synonyms to the Swedish main entries are given, where available, in English, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Russian and Spanish. There are over 100,000 such equivalent terms. Table 1 gives an overview of the subject of each glossary, the number of Swedish entries, and the availability of translated equivalents.