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To review the key facets of a performance measurement system (PMS) and report on the development of a new model based on the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model.

The research involved detailed literature reviews and action research within the case study organisation. It involved the design of an integrated business improvement system (IBIS) that enables proactive performance measurement within an organisation.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are now widely used in the construction industry but there is little evidence that they are being used as an integral and systematic part of an overall PMS. The approach proposed here and encapsulated in IBIS is intended to improve current practice.

The research found that the active engagement of both senior management and potential end‐users is vital for the successful design and implementation of a PMS.

The novelty of the paper lies in the detailed description of the stages followed in the development of the IBIS, and the model itself. It will be of value to researchers and business improvement managers both within and outside the construction industry

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the scope for improving the delivery of FM services through the use of wireless web‐based communications infrastructure, delivered via an application service provider (ASP) business model. This paper discusses the findings from case studies of three organisations and their approach to the management of facilities.

An investigation was undertaken to ascertain the current state of play in terms of managing and tracking processes within the facilities management department of three different organisations. These case studies were chosen from distinct sectors, namely health care, higher education, and banking. Emphasis is placed on analysing how the organisations currently operate with their existing FM systems and the degree of influence technology has on existing processes. This was considered mainly in terms of computer‐aided facilities management (CAFM) and computer‐integrated facilities management (CIFM).

The study found that a new wireless web‐based service for FM systems would be considered useful. Although notoriously slow adopters of new technology, there was an acceptance by the facilities managers interviewed that a wireless web‐based approach would improve current practice, especially with respect to real‐time job reporting and tracking and in the determination of FM operative working time utilisation.

Further work by the author is focusing on the development of a suitable demonstrator to illustrate the key concepts of a wireless web‐based FM service which will then be tested and evaluated. For further information, visit the research project web site at www.wirelessfm.org Originality/value – The paper hopefully stimulates discussion in the area of emerging wireless technologies that have the potential to streamline and improve current practices for the management of facilities, in particular that of real‐time job reporting and tracking.

The need for performance improvement has led to the implementation of industry‐specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and greater awareness of the benefits of measurement in construction engineering organisations. This paper aims to present and discuss the findings of a survey based on the practical experiences of leading UK construction engineering organisations.

The paper is based on a questionnaire survey, the findings of which are discussed and analysed. The survey focused on establishing current industry practice and forms part of a larger study, which involved detailed case studies and led to the development of an innovative framework for links knowledge management initiatives with business performance measurement.

The survey shows that a significant proportion of organisations are now using a range of financial and non‐financial measures to assess business performance, and a growing number are adopting the excellence model and/or the balanced scorecard to facilitate a structured approach to implementing continuous improvement strategies. The paper identifies the barriers to the use of performance measurement models and discusses the differences between the practices in smaller and larger construction engineering firms.

The paper concludes with some practical considerations for implementing performance measurement models, which will be of value to business improvement managers and other senior managers in construction and other project‐based industries.

This paper aims to investigate how large UK construction organisations manage their knowledge assets. It then proposes STEPS, a mechanism for benchmarking organisation's knowledge management maturity.

This paper adopts a case study methodology using four large UK construction organisations.

The investigation shows that the UK‐based companies with international operations are ahead of their national counterparts in their KM implementation efforts. The paper concludes that construction organisations are likely to be successful in implementing KM if appropriate considerations are given to strategy formulation, implementation issues addressed and the link between KM and business strategy is strengthened.

The paper proposes a mechanism, entitled STEPS, for benchmarking the maturity of large construction organisations' knowledge management practices. It then uses case study organisations to demonstrate how the STEPS model should be used.

This paper seeks to propose a conceptual framework to promote value‐enhanced collaborative working (VECW) for a small management advisory firm.

The research methodology was qualitative. It involved a comprehensive review of literature leading to a better understanding of collaborative working requirements in a small firm context and the barriers to derive value from collaborative working. Initially, exploratory observations helped to identify issues of collaborative working in the case study organisation. Following the exploratory observations, a detailed case study was undertaken. The emphasis was on semi‐structured interviews under a guiding questionnaire along with field observations to produce a conceptual framework for VECW.

The research enables an understanding of the apparent failure of a particular small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) management advisory firm (case study organisation) to derive value from its collaborative working model. The study identifies major issues that affect the long‐term relationships of the organisation with their collaborating stakeholders and recognises the common understanding required by the stakeholders working in collaboration. Further, in order to solve these issues, the research develops a conceptual VECW framework within the current context. The major components of the conceptual VECW framework consist of process, people and tools factors to give a structured approach to agree common goals, share risks and rewards, provide faster and clearer communications and information transparency between collaborating stakeholders.

Owing to the nature of the study (case study), current paper is based on the findings of a single SME management advisory firm. Hence, further research for organisations of similar size and providing similar services would be required to investigate the robustness of the approach.

Most studies on collaboration are concentrated on either larger organisations or product organisations. Here, the attempt is to understand the collaboration among small firms providing professional services. The research paper is an important milestone on an ongoing research to produce a detailed framework eventually to be presented to the industry for evaluation to ensure its contribution to the industry as well as increasing the knowledge on the subject.

The successful implementation of an optimal online system for specification and procurement has been impeded by the existence of semi‐structured or non‐structured product information held in catalogues in various formats. Consequently, a significant amount of time is spent in gathering relevant information. Proposes introducing a successful optimal online specification and procurement system for construction products.

The design and specification of the prototype were based on the analysis of closely related agent‐based implementations in various domains.

In the development phase it emerged that agent infrastructure is still maturing, even when a stable development environment is finally available. This is consistent with the latest research in this area which places the highest value on internet agents within the context of the semantic web.

This research demonstrated how agent technology can be used alongside other paradigms such as web services and XML to make the specification and procurement of construction products more effective and more efficient.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive and coherent approach for managing risks in supply chains.

Building on Tummala et al.'s Risk Management Process (RMP), this paper develops a structured and ready‐to‐use approach for managers to assess and manage risks in supply chains.

Supply chain risks can be managed more effectively when applying the Supply Chain Risk Management Process (SCRMP). The structured approach can be divided into the phases of risk identification, risk measurement and risk assessment; risk evaluation, and risk mitigation and contingency plans; and risk control and monitoring via data management systems. Specific techniques for conducting this process are suggested.

While supply chain risk management is an emerging and important topic in our dynamic and interconnected world, conceptual frameworks providing a clear meaning and normative guidance are scarce (Manuj and Mentzer, 2008). This paper presents such a framework, offering structure and decision support for managers.

“Back-to-back” contracts are widely used in the engineering and construction industry and are recently spreading into the telecommunication industry. In back-to-back contracts, the principals require the main contractors to assume majority of the liability in delivering a project and in turn, the main contractors try to allocate most of that liability to their subcontractors. The successful delivery of the projects hinges on how the contracts are drafted and risks are allocated between the parties involved. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a comparative analysis of “back-to-back” subcontracts in the telecommunication and construction industries.

By examining contracting practices and texts from contract documents for the telecommunication and construction industries, this paper reveals how certain aspects of “back-to-back” contracts lose their meaning when seen out of context. Using comparative research method, this paper discusses reasons why the adoption of “back-to-back” contracts should be a matter of degree, based on the business strategy and relevance to the intended transactions rather than on the typical model of “back-to-back” contracts.

Good contracting practices should be such as to enable parties negotiate the contract terms to ensure clarity and common understanding before commencing the project. Construction universally adopts back-to-back even for minor straightforward works, an approach supported by readily available industry model contracts as well as the traditional tender process (design before construction). In telecoms, back-to-back is mainly desired where the subcontractor has a major part of the scope, whereas minor subcontractor scope is considered “leverage commodity” where suppliers are engaged using in-house contract templates, often in a frame contract arrangement, to satisfy corporate strategies for supplier management and pricing.

This paper provides value by presenting an insightful review of the nature of back-to-back contracting practices in the telecommunication and construction industries. The paper outlines advantages, disadvantages and opportunities for improving “back-to-back” contracting practices in the telecommunication and construction industries.

On one side, the purpose of this paper is to numerically analyze the emergency order allocation mechanism and help managers to understand the relationship between the emergency coefficient, uncertainty and emergency cost in two‐echelon logistics service supply chain. On the other side, the purpose of this paper is to help managers understand how to deal with the problem of order allocation in the two‐echelon logistics service supply chain better in the case of emergency.

The paper presents a multi‐objective planning model for emergency order allocation and then uses numerical methods with LINGO 8.0 software to identify the model's properties. The application of the order allocation model is then presented by means of a case study.

With the augment of uncertainty, the general cost of logistics service integrator (LSI) is increasing, while the total satisfaction of all functional logistics service providers (FLSPs) is decreasing, as well as the capacity reliability; at the same time the emergency cost coefficient is closely correlative with the satisfaction and general penalty intensity of FLSPs; finally, the larger the emergency cost coefficient is, the more satisfaction of FLSPs, but the capacity reliability goes up first and down later.

Management should note that it is not better when emergency cost coefficient is bigger. The general satisfaction degree of FLSP increases with the augment of emergency cost coefficient, but there is an upper limit of the value, i.e. it will not increase indefinitely with the augment of emergency cost coefficient. This paper also has some limitations. The optional emergency cost coefficient only adopted a group of data to analyze while the trend of the reliability of logistics capacity needs to be further discussed. In addition, the algorithm of emergency order allocation model in the case of multi‐objective remains to be solved.

Under emergency conditions, LSIs can adopt this kind of model to manage their FLSPs to obtain the higher logistics performance. But LSIs should be careful selecting emergency cost coefficient. In accordance with different degrees of emergency logistics demand, LSIs can determine reasonable emergency cost coefficient, but not the bigger, the better, on the premise that LSIs acquire maximum capacity guarantee degree and overall satisfaction degree of FLSPs. FLSPs can make contract bargaining of reasonable emergency coefficient with LSIs to make both sides get the best returns and realize the benefit balance.

Many studies have emphasized the capacity allocation of manufactures, order allocation of manufacturing supply chain and scheduling model of emergency resources without monographic study of supply chain order allocation of logistics service. Because the satisfaction degree of FLSPs the cost of integrators needs to be considered in the process of order allocation, and the inventory cost of capacity does not exist, it is different from the issue of capacity allocation planning of manufacture supply chain. Meanwhile, the match of different kinds of logistics service capacity must be considered for the reason of the integrated feature of logistics service. Additionally, cost is not the most important decision objective because of the characteristics of demand uncertainty and weak economy. Accordingly, this paper considers these issues.