Search results

The objective of stadium owners is to attract visitors to their stadiums and by this optimally use their business potential. Stadiums face increasing competition from home-viewing options, with which especially aging stadiums have trouble competing. This paper aims to study the concept of smart stadiums as a solution to this problem, adding the corona age as an additional challenge.

First, (smart) stadium literature and theories are reviewed. Then, a case study is conducted, consisting of document review, observations and semi-structured interviews with specialists. The case that is studied is the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam – the stadium has the ambition to be the most innovative stadium in 2020.

Nine different smart tools were identified in the case study, which supports the optimization of various processes in the stadium such as ticketing and crowd control. The findings from this case study showed the potential of the smart stadium concept and how it can add value for the stadium’s stakeholders. The use of smart tools can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of stadium operations, and it can be used to improve the visitors’ experience. However, concrete numbers of progress were difficult to obtain because the smart tools were only recently implemented.

As seen in the past few years, more and more stadiums are branding themselves as a smart stadium. However, research on this subject is still scarce: existing research focused on other types of real estate. By exploring the work done in theory and practice, the authors hope to increase research on the subject of smart stadiums.

The purpose of this study is to generate knowledge about the use of smart campus tools to improve the effective and efficient use of campuses. Many universities are facing a challenge in attuning their accommodation to organisational demand. How can universities invest their resources as effectively as possible and not in space that will be poorly utilized? The hypothesis of this paper is that by using smart campus tools, this problem can be solved.

To answer the research question, previous survey at 13 Dutch universities was updated and compared with a survey of various universities and other organizations. The survey consisted of interviews with structured and semi-structured questions, which resulted in a unified output for 27 cases.

Based on the output of the cases, the development of smart campus tools at Dutch universities was compared to that of international universities and other organizations. Furthermore, the data collection led to insights regarding the reasons for initiating smart campus tools, user and management information, costs and benefits and foreseen developments.

Although the use of smart tools in practice has gained significant momentum in the past few years, research on the subject is still very technology-oriented and not well-connected to facility management and real estate management. This paper provides an overview of the ways in which universities and organizations are currently supporting their users, improving the use of their buildings and reducing their energy footprint through the use of smart tools.

The objective of corporate real estate management is to optimally attune corporate accommodation to organisational performance. At universities, the dynamic process to match supply and demand is often hindered by difficulties in the allocation and use of space. This is a challenge for the Dutch universities and perhaps also European universities, which own large and ageing real estate portfolio’s in need of (re)investment: how can universities invest their resources as effectively as possible and not in space that will be poorly used? The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of smart campus tools to improve space use on campus.

First, a survey at 13 Dutch universities is conducted, consisting of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with Dutch campus managers. Then, semi-structured interviews are held with a number of parties in other industries to explore the use of smart tools in other contexts.

The universities’ demand for smart tools is mainly directed at the automatic and continuous collection of real-time space use data for education spaces and giving students insight into the availability of study places on campus. The tools at the Dutch universities focus largely on effectiveness: helping their users in their search to find a space that supports their activities. In other industry sectors, the results suggest that the use of smart tools is more directed towards efficiency: maximizing the use of existing space or optimising the operations of the organisation.

Although the use of smart tools in practice has gained significant momentum in the past few years, research on the subject is still sparse. By providing a framework for smart tools, as well as exploring the work done in theory and in practice, the authors hope to increase discussion and research on the subject from the perspective of corporate real estate.

Across the world, many universities are dealing with a pressure on resources, caused by both organisational developments and ageing campuses. Space utilization studies have a strategic role, providing information on how space is being used, thereby informing decisions about the type and scale of facilities that are needed.

This study reports on the space use measurements conducted at TU Delft over the past five years, complemented by their use to make decisions about the university's real estate portfolio.

The education spaces of the university are found to perform well in terms of frequency rates and can be improved in terms of occupancy rates. The information helped to support short- and long-term decision-making. The study places of the university have a satisfactory occupancy in some types of study places, while in others there is room for improvement. More research is needed here to understand the relationship between space norms and space use.

The space utilization studies have supported discussions with the student council and decision makers on which interventions are required and which current facilities meet students' needs best.

Not much space utilisation studies are reported in the academic literature, and those that do have several limitations. This study may serve as a best practice for benchmarking by other universities and as evidence in other research for the planned and actual use of university facilities.

This paper aims to describe the development and test of such a design method to achieve alignment, which utilises the preference-based accommodation strategy (PAS) design procedure. One of the long-standing issues in the field of corporate real estate management is the alignment of an organisation’s real estate to its corporate strategy. A classification of alignment models shows that no model yet exists that is able to design a real estate portfolio and makes use of scales for direct measurement of added value/preference, and allows the aggregation of individual ratings into an overall performance rating.

To perform the steps in the PAS design procedure, a mathematical model is designed and tested according to formal design principles. The PAS design procedure is iteratively repeated with the participants in a series of interviews and workshops. In the interviews, the participants determine their preferences and constraints as prescribed in the procedure; in the workshops, they design alternative portfolios using the mathematical model. The objective of the research is to formulate, test and evaluate if participants are able to perform the PAS design procedure.

A methodology is developed for designing a real estate strategy that uses explicit scales for measuring value/preference and enables aggregating individual preference ratings into an overall rating taking into account both quantitative and qualitative portfolio properties. The tests of this design method with the participants reveal that by completing the steps in the PAS design procedure, users are able to determine their preferences accordingly. They were also able to design an alternative portfolio with a higher overall preference score than the current real estate portfolio. In addition, the design method is evaluated positively by the participants based on their experiences, the attractiveness of the method and perception of effectiveness of the method.

The positive results suggest that designing a strategy by using the PAS design procedure is a suitable approach to alignment.

The PAS design procedure enables corporate real estate (CRE) managers to determine the added value of a real estate strategy. Because the PAS design method is generic, it can be used for a wide range of real estate portfolios.

The first CRE alignment model uses stakeholders preferences to design a more optimal real estate strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to identify drivers and barriers for adopting Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000), a leading global social management standard.

The approach involves combining insights from Institutional Theory with a focus on economic performance to study SA8000 adoption by suppliers operating in a developing economy (i.e. India). Data collection involves interviews with adopters and non-adopters, social standard experts and auditors, and archival data on local working conditions.

This study confirms that customer requests are the major reason for adopting SA8000 in order to avoid loss of business. It is noteworthy, however, that those customer requests to adopt SA8000 are often symbolic in nature, which, in combination with the lack of a positive business case, hinders effective implementation.

The findings imply that symbolic customer requests for SA8000 adoption induce symbolic implementation by suppliers, a “supply chain effect” in the symbolic approach. Substantive requests in contrast lead to more substantive implementation and require customer investment in the form of active support and an interest in the standard’s implementation, context and effects.

This study is original in that it addresses social sustainability from a supplier’s perspective, using the lens of Institutional Theory. The value lies in demonstrating the “supply chain effects” that arise from the “quality” of customer requests: a purely symbolic approach by customers leading to symbolic implementation vs the merits of substantive customer requests which stimulate substantive implementation.

One of the long-standing issues in the field of corporate real estate management is the alignment of an organisation’s real estate to its corporate strategy. To date, 14 models for corporate real estate (CRE) alignment have been made, as well as four comparative studies about CRE alignment. Some of the CRE alignment models indicate that they strive for maximum or optimum added value. However, because most models take a so-called procedural rationality approach, where the focus is not on the content of the decision but on the way that the decision is made, “how a CRE manager can select an (optimum) alternative” stays a black box. The purpose of this paper is to open the black box and offer a Preference-based Accommodation Strategy (PAS) design procedure that enables CRE managers to design a real estate portfolio, makes use of scales for direct measurement of added value/preference, and allows the aggregation of individual ratings into an overall performance rating. This procedure can be used as add-on to existing alignment models.

The objective of this paper is to test if participants are able to successfully perform the PAS procedure in practice. The PAS procedure is in essence a design methodology that aims to solve strategic portfolio design/decision-making problems. In accordance with problem-solving methodology, mathematical models are made for two pilot studies at the Delft University of Technology. This paper describes a second test of the proposed procedure for designing a real estate strategy. The application of real estate strategy design methods in practice is very context-dependent. Applying the PAS procedure to multiple context-dependent cases yields more valuable results than just applying it to one case.

The PAS design procedure enables CRE managers to select the (optimal) solution and thereby enhances CRE decision-making. The pilot study results reveal that, by completing the steps in the PAS procedure, the participants are able to express their preferences accordingly. They designed an alternative portfolio with substantially more added value, i.e. a higher overall preference score, than their current real estate portfolio. In addition, they evaluated the design method positively.

The positive results suggest that designing a strategy by using the PAS design procedure is a suitable approach to alignment.

The PAS design procedure enables CRE managers to determine the added value of a real estate strategy and quickly and iteratively design many alternatives. Moreover, the PAS design method is generic, it can be used for a wide range of real estate portfolio types.

The PAS procedure is original because it considers CRE alignment as a combined design and decision problem. The use of operational design and problem-solving methodologies along with an iterative procedure, instead of empirical/statistical methods and procedures, is a novel approach to CRE alignment. The PAS procedure is tested in a second pilot study to provide an assessment of the methodology through the study by testing it under different conditions to the first study. The novelty of this pilot is also that it allowed testing the procedure in its purest form, as the problem structure did not require the additional use of linear programming.

Focal service providers increasingly involve customers in the decision-making about outsourcing parts of the service delivery process to third parties. The present study investigates how customers' outsourcing decisions affect the formation of the waiting experience with the focal service provider, by which the objective waiting time, environmental quality and interactional quality act as focal drivers.

To test our hypotheses in the context of cancer care, we gathered process data and experience data by means of a patient observation template (n = 640) and a patient survey (n = 487). The combined data (n = 377) were analyzed using Bayesian models.

This study shows that opting for a service triad (i.e. outsourcing non-core services to a third party) deduces customers' attention away from the objective waiting time with the focal service provider but not from the environmental and interactional quality offered by the focal service provider. When the type of service triad coordination is considered, we observe similar effects for a focal service provider-coordinated service triad while in a customer-coordinated service triad the interactional quality is the sole experience driver of waiting experiences that remains significant.

By investigating the implications of customer participation in the decision-making about outsourcing parts of the service delivery process to third parties, this research contributes to the service design, service triad and service operations literature. Specifically, this study shows that customer outsourcing decisions impact waiting experience formation with the focal service provider.

This chapter aims to share the Dutch experiences with the transformation of urban and regional planning practices towards sustainability.

The chapter does so by answering the following research question: What were the main problems with the integration of environmental considerations in Dutch urban and regional planning practices, and how have these been overcome? This question is answered through a historical analysis of policy changes in the Netherlands, and through the presentation of two case studies.

The chapter shows that initial attention for sustainability resulted in the enactment of competing practices for environmental planning and water management planning, next to existing practices for urban and regional planning. The coordination of the resulting planning practices proved difficult due to opposing cultures of thought, and attempts to overcome these differences through comprehensive plans turned sour. The chapter illustrates how alternative solutions at the regional and urban level were eventually successful. In the Gelre Valley region, an open project approach translated in a sustainable regional plan. And in Schalkwijk neighbourhood in Haarlem, an environmentally sensitive conceptual framework – the Strategy of the two Networks – let to the incorporation of environmental considerations in urban planningpractices. In both cases, the insistence of the principal actor – provincial and municipal government – on sustainability issues was crucial.

This chapter introduces experiences with a transformation to sustainable urban and regional planning in the Netherlands. It will be interesting for practitioners and researchers of urban and regional planning practices and sustainable cities around the world.