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Developing a reliable cost estimate at the early stage of construction projects is challenging due to inadequate project information. Most of the information during this stage is qualitative, posing additional challenges to achieving accurate cost estimates. Additionally, there is a lack of tools that use qualitative project information and forecast the budgets required for project completion. This research, therefore, aims to develop a model for setting project budgets (excluding land) during the pre-conceptual stage of residential buildings, where project information is mainly qualitative.

Due to the qualitative nature of project information at the pre-conception stage, a natural language processing model, DistilBERT (Distilled Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), was trained to predict the cost range of residential buildings at the pre-conception stage. The training and evaluation data included 63,899 building permit activity records (2021–2022) from the Victorian State Building Authority, Australia. The input data comprised the project description of each record, which included project location and basic material types (floor, frame, roofing, and external wall).

This research designed a novel tool for predicting the project budget based on preliminary project information. The model achieved 79% accuracy in classifying residential buildings into three cost_classes ($100,000-$300,000, $300,000-$500,000, $500,000-$1,200,000) and F1-scores of 0.85, 0.73, and 0.74, respectively. Additionally, the results show that the model learnt the contextual relationship between qualitative data like project location and cost.

The current model was developed using data from Victoria state in Australia; hence, it would not return relevant outcomes for other contexts. However, future studies can adopt the methods to develop similar models for their context.

This research is the first to leverage a deep learning model, DistilBERT, for cost estimation at the pre-conception stage using basic project information like location and material types. Therefore, the model would contribute to overcoming data limitations for cost estimation at the pre-conception stage. Residential building stakeholders, like clients, designers, and estimators, can use the model to forecast the project budget at the pre-conception stage to facilitate decision-making.

This study aims to examine the interaction effects of chatbots’ language style and customers’ decision-making journey stage on customer’s service encounter satisfaction and the mediating role of customer perception of emotional support and informational support using the construal level theory and social support theory as conceptual frameworks.

This study used a scenario-based experiment with a 2 (chatbot’s language style: abstract language vs concrete language) × 2 (decision-making journey stage: informational stage vs transactional stage) between-subjects design.

Findings show that during the informational stage, chatbots that use abstract language style exert a strong influence on service encounter satisfaction through emotional support. During the transactional stage, chatbots that use concrete language style exert a strong impact on service encounter satisfaction through informational support.

Findings provide some suggestions for improving customer–chatbot interaction quality during online service encounters.

This study offers a novel perspective on customer interaction experience with chatbots by investigating the chatbot’s language styles at different decision-making journey stages.

Despite the opportunities of digital twins (DTs) for smart buildings, limited research has been conducted regarding the facility management stage, and this is explained by the high complexity of accurately representing and modelling the physics behind the DTs process. This study thus organises and consolidates the fragmented literature on DTs implementation for smart buildings at the facility management stage by exploring the enablers, applications and challenges and examining the interrelationships amongst them.

A systematic literature review approach is adopted to analyse and synthesise the existing literature relating to the subject topic.

The study revealed six main categories of enablers of DTs for smart building at the facility management stage, namely perception technologies, network technologies, storage technologies, application technologies, knowledge-building and design processes. Three substantial categories of DTs application for smart buildings were revealed at the facility management stage: efficient operation and service monitoring, efficient building energy management and effective smart building maintenance. Subsequently, the top four major challenges were identified as being “lack of a systematic and comprehensive reference model”, “real-time data integration”, “the complexity and uncertainty nature of real-time data” and “real-time data visualisation”. An integrative framework is finally proposed by examining the interactive relationship amongst the enablers, the applications and the challenges.

The findings could guide facility managers/engineers to fairly understand the enablers, applications and challenges when DTs are being implemented to improve smart building performance and achieve user satisfaction at the facility management stage.

This study contributes to the knowledge body on DTs by extending the scope of the existing studies to identify the enablers and applications of DTs for smart buildings at the facility management stage and the specific challenges.

This study aims to further develop the CLC stage/path’s identification model that distinguishes between path’s emergence (emergence stage), path’s development (growth stage), path’s sustainment (maturity stage), path’s decline (decline stage) and path’s transformation (renewal stage), and by applying it, define the current stage/path of the Demarcated Douro Region (DDR) cluster. The Port wine industry, which is the dominant industry of the DDR cluster, is at the maturity/decline stage – is the same for the cluster itself?

It is a case study with a longitudinal perspective based on the analysis of the dynamics of the parameters of cluster evolution using available secondary sources (cluster identity/brand; number of firms; number of employees; network; innovation; policies and regulations; and external markets – exports), especially addressing the past decade, that represent the stage of maturity/decline of the cluster’s dominant Port wine industry.

The conclusion is that since the 1990s the Demarcated Douro Region has gone through a “path transformation” where during the following 20 years new “anchors” for the cluster were gradually introduced, such as Doc Douro Wines, new forms of consumption of Port wine, tourism and olive oil. Since 2010 the cluster has entered a growth stage/(new) path’s development, where these “anchors” are in steady growth. The Douro brand is becoming more internationally recognized and established, the number of firms and employees is increasing, the network is restructuring with the creation of cluster-specific official institutions, innovation is especially reflected with increasing heterogeneity through diversification of the clusters into new activities and regulations and policies are supportive for expansion – all these parameters are indicating the rise of the new cycle for the cluster. Thus, the DDR cluster represents an attractive business environment and requires attention from regional policymakers to support the cluster’s development. Especially institutions have been highlighted as internal factors driving clusters growth, European integration as an external factor and firms’ strategies of diversification and internationalization as an appropriate de-locking mechanism for new path’s development.

This research contributes to the CLC theory by further developing and applying a CLC stage/path identification model. It provides a better understanding of the dynamics of the DDR cluster that diverge from its dominant industry life cycle, which is relevant for regional policies and firms’ strategies. This study has its limitations. It provides an exploratory application of the theoretical framework proposed, and consequently, no general conclusions are possible yet. More empirical studies with different clusters in different stages are necessary to test the framework.

These findings are useful to policymakers when designing their policies for cluster development but also for clusters’ entities and actors when making their strategic decisions as it allows based on the verification of the established parameter of CLC to identify its current stage/path of development.

The paper presents a theoretically grounded model for CLC identification and for the first time to the best of the authors’ knowledge applies it to a cluster case – the DDR cluster. This case applies the proposed model and illustrates its usefulness. The model provides the tools for a better understanding of cluster dynamics.

Strategy Question: How do we successfully manage our product/service improvement projects?

Summary: The executive has a defined improvement need, and a well thought out specification toward a project to address it. Now the project needs to be done on time. The Milestone Project Management Tool is a structured project management format. It is formatted after classic “stage gate” approaches, with some clever additions that allow it to also serve as an overarching management tool. Each stage gate represents a major element of the development process. Individual tasks supporting the major stage gate item are listed within that heading. By defining these line item tasks, the executive can shape the management tool to fit the particular situation. Color coding completed, ongoing, and incomplete tasks provides a great visual management technique for multiple ongoing projects. The user will be given examples of stage gate milestones (such as Milestone 1 — Project Charter, Milestone 2 — Specification Development, Milestone 3 — Prototype Development, Milestone 4 — Proof of Concept, Milestone 5 — Development, Milestone 6 — Commercialization, etc.) as well as numerous task line suggestions for each stage gate. The user will be encouraged to construct the milestone headings and task line items that make the most sense for their individual situation.

The ability of firms to retain valued knowledge and skills possessed by accounting professionals depends, in part, on creating a work environment that positively affects accountants’ job-related attitudes and behaviors. A first step in achieving this objective is to identify those variables that are related to accountants’ work attitudes and behaviors. Previous research has examined antecedent causes of, for example, accountants’ job satisfaction, performance, organizational commitment, and role stress. Two limitations of the extant research are that subjects have almost always been auditors and no consideration has been given to the fact that accountants may react differently to their work environment depending on where they are in their careers.

This study addresses these two limitations of prior research by examining whether tax accountants’ work attitudes and behaviors differ across four common career stages: exploration, establishment, maintenance, and disengagement. The association of gender with tax accountants’ work attitudes was also tested. Results indicate that career stage is significantly related to tax accountants’ performance and job-related tension, but unrelated to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work alienation, and role stress. A significant gender effect was found. These results for tax accountants differ somewhat from results for auditors (Rebele et al., 1996), indicating that a one-size-fits-all approach to managing work environments within accounting firms may not be effective in developing and retaining professional staff.

In this paper, we investigate whether internal control and whether corporate life cycle would affect firm performance in the emerging markets of China.

We use Chen, Dong, Han, and Zhou’s (2013) internal control index on the effectiveness of internal control and Dickinson’s (2011) definition on firm life cycle. We use multivariate regression analysis.

We find that the internal control improves corporate performance. When dividing firm life cycle into five stages: introduction, growth, mature, shake-out and decline, we find that the impacts of internal control on firm performance vary with different stages. The positive impact of internal control on firm performance is more significant in maturity and shake-out stages than other stages.

Our findings would have implications for the regulators and policy makers with regards to the importance of internal control in corporate governance and the effectiveness of implementing standards and guidelines on internal control in public firms.

In addition, our findings on the various roles of internal control at different stages of firm life cycle would help managers and board of directors find more focus in risk management and board monitoring, respectively.

Although the prior literature have examined the link between internal control, information quality and cost of equity capital (Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, Kinney, & LaFond, 2009; Ogneva, Subramanyam, & Raghunandan, 2007), our study would be the first attempt to investigate the link between internal control and firm performance during different stages of firm life cycles.

In this article, we examine how person–possession relations vary across three stages of the role-identity cultivation processes. We explore stage-related variation in the accumulation of role-related consumption stimuli and their self-relevance in a cross-sectional sample of two freely chosen athletic role-identities. Results show that as individuals cultivate an identity they accumulate more role-related possessions, social ties, and media commitments, and evaluation of those elements becomes more positive, yet the impact of those stimuli on self-conception declines. Ultimately, the results suggest that a full understanding of person–possession relations must include consideration of how role-identity cultivation stage moderates relations between people and consumption stimuli.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

The purpose of presenting this chapter is to provide a summary understanding of the high-tech entrepreneurial process in the health care industry by providing a model with flow chart depiction for clarity. In building the Integrated Model, over twenty stage models in the academic literature were reviewed. The academic literature, the authors experience in entrepreneurial endeavors, and research in case studies are combined to derive the Integrated Model. Two case studies are utilized to illustrate certain key points as the model is explained in detail, as well as to suggest some effective ways to cope with the unusual demands of the new venture process.