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Cost overruns have been identified as the most significant challenge for construction sector stakeholders. Like many developing countries, the Iranian construction industry suffers from poor cost performance. So, the current research aims to investigate the causes of cost overrun in Iranian construction projects. This paper also reviews the findings of similar studies conducted in several Asian countries.

This paper includes a literature review and a quantitative method with a questionnaire survey. The review is limited to the studies investigating the causes of cost overrun in an Asian country in the last decade. Moreover, the current research was conducted through a questionnaire prepared based on 43 common factors identified through the literature review. The required data were gathered from the representatives involved in handling construction activities in Iran. The collected data were analyzed based on relative importance index (RII), using the SPSS software package.

The results showed that poor site management, improper planning, fluctuation of prices of materials, lack of experience, and poor economic condition are the critical reasons for cost overrun in Iranian construction projects. The findings also indicated that among the studies conducted in Asian countries, the first three factors have the highest frequency.

This paper highlighted most studies concerning the cost overrun factors in construction projects in different Asian countries in recent years. Up-to-date knowledge helps to understand the complexity of this field in various periods and therefore minimizes the risk of cost overrun. This research can also be used as a benchmark for further studies to clarify similar issues in other developing countries.

The study aims to facilitate the medical tourists visiting emerging countries for various kinds of ailments by ranking the possible destinations to avail medical treatments.

A Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) with a mixed-method approach is applied to analyze data collected from patients and substantiate it with medical tour operators in India to gain managerial insights on the choice-making patterns of the patients.

India is a preferred emerging market location due to the low cost and high medical staff quality. India offers value for money, whereas Singapore and Thailand are preferred destinations for quality and technology.

The study will facilitate the emerging markets' governments, hospitals and medical tourists to understand the importance of various determinants responsible for availing medical treatment outside their country.

The study recommends that cost and quality care are the patients' prime focus; government policies must provide clear guidelines on what the hospitals and country environment can offer and accordingly align the marketing strategies.

This study is the first attempt to rank various factors affecting medical tourism using the FAHP approach.

This study aims to examine living preference and tenure among millennials, with a particular focus on the impact of ethnic and cultural diversity on housing outcomes including observed homeownership inequalities.

Using the individual panel data from three waves in American Housing Survey, 2015–2019, this study compares the likelihood of co-residing among Asian and Hispanic millennials with non-Hispanic white millennial peers. Furthermore, this study estimates the effect of co-residence on homeownership across generational and ethnic backgrounds.

This study finds a preference for coresident adult familial households among foreign-born Asian and Hispanic millennials, and US-born Hispanic millennials when compared to their non-Hispanic white millennial peers. The results are robust after considering neighborhood selection bias, affordability and education. The effect of co-residence on ownership is significant and positive, suggesting this living arrangement contributes to homeownership across all generational and ethnic groups.

Housebuilders should be aware of Asian and Hispanic millennials’ increased appetite for extended family living arrangements and consider increasing the physical size of affordable or workforce-oriented rental housing and new single family construction to accommodate more adult co-living arrangements.

This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the role ethnic and cultural diversity has on millennial adult living preferences and its generational differences, which is not just “boomeranging” as identified by previous literature, contributing to the growing interest in the housing research on the effect of ethnic diversity and culture on millennials’ homeownership rates.

Although the fitness switching costs scale (FSCS) was shown to have sound psychometric properties, the length of the 54-item may impose burdens on survey participants and present methodological and analytic challenges for researchers and practitioners. Therefore, the present study shortened and validated two versions of the FSCS, namely the 33-item FSCS (FSCS-33) and the 11-item FSCS (FSCS-11).

In Study 1 (n = 411), the most useful items from the FSCS for the FSCS-33 and FSCS-11 were identified using item response theory (IRT). Study 2 (n = 391) and Study 3 (n = 400) assessed the psychometric properties of the FSCS-33 and FSCS-11, respectively, using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The FSCS-33 and FSCS-11 demonstrated strong reliability and validity in assessing switching costs in fitness centers.

The psychometrically sound short-form scales provide researchers and practitioners with convenient and accurate means of measuring switching costs in fitness centers.

This study aims at presenting deeper insights regarding the understanding and application of the quality costs (CoQ) in the automotive manufacturing industry. The empirical research included three general determinants: reasons for, difficulties during and benefits from implementing quality costs, as well as two specific determinants: measuring and evaluating quality cost elements.

The empirical research methodology employs the expert evaluation method – the Delphi method, using a survey questionnaire comprising a total of 200 questions, and answered by 9 companies.

The survey results showed that companies do recognize the reasons for implementing quality costs as a need arising from the quality management standards, the lack of knowledge of quality costs by employees and management as the biggest difficulty while the biggest benefit includes the quality costs enhance the company competitiveness. The costs competence and qualification, the quality management system costs, the costs for improvement, the production control costs, the input control costs, the new measuring and control equipment calibration costs, the costs related to scrap, repairs and product finishing are the most significant elements of the quality costs.

This study is limited by the small number of surveyed companies from the automotive cluster.

The proposed quality costs model provides to the management to conceive CoQ elements as possible drivers in the improvement process of product quality. The structure and the nature of the CoQ elements is expected to advance the process of detailing the quality costs elements.

The novelty of this paper refers to development of a generic quality cost model, whose relevance is confirmed by the structuring of the model with elements published in literature and validating in research companies.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a correlation between mobilization costs and project schedule performance of highway projects. In addition to this, the study will also determine if the mobilization costs are helping small or large highway projects in terms of improving the schedule performance.

The data of 206 highway projects were collected from the Department of Transportation of two states with the help of questionnaire survey. The cost, schedule and mobilization costs data were collected. The performance metrics related to construction schedule growth and construction intensity were developed in order to test the research hypotheses: mobilization costs will increase the schedule performance of highway projects. The data were also divided into two groups based on project cost and analyzed to check whether the mobilization costs impact the schedule performance of these highway projects. Spearman's correlation test was conducted to determine the correlation between dependent and independent variables. In addition, a Mann–Whitney test was conducted to determine the difference in medians of construction schedule growth and the construction intensity of these two groups of projects.

One major study finding was that there was no strong linear correlation between the mobilization cost percentage and the construction schedule growth and construction intensity of highway projects. However, the study found the projects that have 9% or more mobilization costs had significantly better schedule growth compared to the projects that have less than 9% mobilization costs. When data were analyzed based on the project size, it was found that this pattern was seen only in large projects costing equal to or more than $5 million.

This study's findings have very crucial practical implications to state DOTs contract engineers. This study shows that the highway contract engineers need to provide the right amount of mobilization costs to complete their projects on and before schedule. If the correct amount of mobilization costs is not provided to the contractors, the impact of these mobilization costs on reducing the schedule growth will be negligible. The findings of this study will assist public agency decision makers to complete their projects on or before time by including the mobilization costs provision in the contract. The state DOTs can improve their schedule performance by providing enough financial help to the contractors so that they can improve their cash flows and complete projects successfully within the given timeframe.

This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by validating the impact of mobilization costs on the schedule performance of highway projects. There has been no empirical study conducted prior to this to identify the role of mobilization costs on reducing the schedule growth of highway projects.

Globalization and the importance of emerging markets have increased the pressure of high-cost manufacturing locations to sustain operations. However, there are still some countries in which manufacturing is prospering despite high costs (like Germany, Sweden and Switzerland). This study examines seven competitive priorities through 24 different capabilities, using a case survey of four manufacturing companies located in Sweden. This study aims to develop a contemporary understanding from vital priorities and capabilities.

A case survey was conducted in four different-sized manufacturing companies in Sweden during the autumn of 2018. In total, the survey attracted 89 responses. Respondents were mainly middle managers and other management team members.

In general, companies assess the importance of manufacturing capabilities higher than performance and improvement. The authors’ analysis shows that quality priority through product and process capabilities is ranked highest in terms of importance, performance and improvement. In addition, delivery capability shows a similarity with quality. At the other end, being lowest ranked are typically different flexibility and advertising capabilities. This study demonstrates with correlation analysis that most often capabilities have a positive correlation in terms of their importance, performance and improvement needs. Some capabilities show potential correlations across importance, performance and improvement.

This research is limited to one high-cost environment and to four companies within that environment. Further research should examine the impact of the pandemic era on manufacturing priorities and capabilities.

In general, case surveys have relatively rarely been used in management studies. This research offers an alternative and deeper perspective from high-cost country manufacturing, as the responses are from numerous persons in management positions.

Background: Rising food bank usage in the UK suggests a growing prevalence of food insecurity. However, a formalised, representative measure of food insecurity was not collected in the UK until 2019, over a decade after the initial proliferation of food bank demand. In the absence of a direct measure of food insecurity, this article identifies and summarises longitudinal proxy indicators of UK food insecurity to gain insight into the growth of insecure access to food in the 21st century.

Methods: A rapid evidence synthesis of academic and grey literature (2005–present) identified candidate proxy longitudinal markers of food insecurity. These were assessed to gain insight into the prevalence of, or conditions associated with, food insecurity.

Results: Food bank data clearly demonstrates increased food insecurity. However, this data reflects an unrepresentative, fractional proportion of the food insecure population without accounting for mild/moderate insecurity, or those in need not accessing provision. Economic indicators demonstrate that a period of poor overall UK growth since 2005 has disproportionately impacted the poorest households, likely increasing vulnerability and incidence of food insecurity. This vulnerability has been exacerbated by welfare reform for some households. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically intensified vulnerabilities and food insecurity. Diet-related health outcomes suggest a reduction in diet quantity/quality. The causes of diet-related disease are complex and diverse; however, evidence of socio-economic inequalities in their incidence suggests poverty, and by extension, food insecurity, as key determinants.

Conclusion: Proxy measures of food insecurity suggest a significant increase since 2005, particularly for severe food insecurity. Proxy measures are inadequate to robustly assess the prevalence of food insecurity in the UK. Failure to collect standardised, representative data at the point at which food bank usage increased significantly impairs attempts to determine the full prevalence of food insecurity, understand the causes, and identify those most at risk.

The objective of this paper is to propose a methodology to estimate the benefits and costs of stakeholder engagement (SE). Indeed, in the transport sector, it is consolidated that a good decision-making process foresees the involvement of the main stakeholders, but what are the benefits and costs of the SE? How to quantify these impacts and explicitly take them into account in a cost-benefit analysis? In this paper, an attempt to answer these questions is provided.

In this paper, a methodology is proposed to estimate the benefits and costs of SE. Moreover, the proposed methodology is applied to a case study with an attempt to identify direct and indirect cost and benefit drivers within the context.

A range of examples of the monetary costs and benefits of SE is provided through the case study of the high-speed rail corridor connecting Bari and Naples in Italy.

Limits in quantifying all the aspects of engagement.

To be adopted by public administrations when deciding whether carrying out a project.

Social inclusion is a must in any decision-making process concerning big projects affecting the community.

The original value of this paper is to provide a contribution to the current literature on the quantitative representation of the impacts of SE. Indeed, a methodology to quantify and monetize the costs and benefits of SE is proposed.

This paper aims to focus on scrutinizing the economics of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Vietnam's rice production sector.

Using surveyed data from household rice producers, the smallest available production scale, the author delves into the economics of GHG emissions, constructs a data-driven bottom-up marginal abatement cost curve for Vietnam’s rice production, and evaluates the impacts of carbon pricing on production outputs and GHG emissions.

The author’s estimates reveal that the average profit earned per tonne of GHG emissions is $240/tCO2. Notably, the profit earning per tonne of GHG emissions varies substantially across producers, indicating significant opportunities for improvement among low-efficiency producers. The analysis suggests that a reasonable carbon price would yield a modest impact on the national rice output. The quantitative analysis also reaffirms that the primary driver of GHG emissions in Vietnam’s rice production stems from non-energy inputs and industrial processes rather than the utilisation of energy inputs, emphasizing the importance of improving cultivation techniques.

This research is original.