Reviews the use of three defect diagnosis options available to surveyors and engineers, with particular regard to high‐rise buildings in Hong Kong. Draws comparisons between the…
Abstract
Reviews the use of three defect diagnosis options available to surveyors and engineers, with particular regard to high‐rise buildings in Hong Kong. Draws comparisons between the various defect diagnosis techniques , such as traditional manual hammer tapping, impact‐echo system and thermography.
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Maulidi A. Banyani and Danny S. S. Then
This paper aims to present and discuss the results of the assessment of maturity of facilities management (FM) industries (FMi) in five countries, namely, Denmark, Hong Kong…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present and discuss the results of the assessment of maturity of facilities management (FM) industries (FMi) in five countries, namely, Denmark, Hong Kong, Norway, Tanzania and the UK. The analysis is based on the “Integrated Feeder Factors Framework (I3F)”. I3F analyses maturity by assessing the progression and integration of the key factors essential for the maturity of the FMi, which are organisations practice, supply market, education, professional bodies, research and business environment.
Design/methodology/approach
FM experts in respective countries were interviewed. Data were also gathered from official documents and websites. The collected evidences were analysed using pattern matching.
Findings
The FM industry in the five case study countries are found at various levels of maturity. The UK exhibited high levels of maturity compared to other countries. Norway, Hong Kong and Denmark were at the same level with some notable differences, while Tanzania was at the lowest level.
Practical implications
The research successfully tested the I3F. This sets foundation for assessing maturity of the FM industry at a country level. The assessment of maturity at a country level is important to FM stakeholders in charting out plans for its development and longevity.
Originality/value
This is the first research which has assessed the maturity of FMi in five countries using an I3F. The results show the strength and weaknesses of the FMi in the five countries and point out areas which require stakeholders’ efforts to be improved or maintained.
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Elisa Martinelli, Giulia Tagliazucchi and Gianluca Marchi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the formative dimensions of organizational resilience – namely dynamic capabilities (DCs) and social capital – displayed by retail…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the formative dimensions of organizational resilience – namely dynamic capabilities (DCs) and social capital – displayed by retail entrepreneurs in the face of natural disasters (i.e. the 2012 Emilia earthquake). The paper evaluates social capital and the various types of DCs that support small entrepreneurs’ resilience during three temporal units of analysis: before the earthquake, during the emergency period, and during the recovery process.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was performed by applying a qualitative approach based on two focus groups and a double set of semi-structured interviews administered to a sample of eight small retail entrepreneurs hit by the 2012 Emilia earthquake. Content analysis was then applied.
Findings
The findings show that DCs and social capital are instrumental to enhancing organizational resilience; moreover the contribution of each category of DCs (reconfiguration, leveraging, sensing and interpreting, learning and knowledge integration) and social capital to entrepreneurs’ resilience changes according to the temporal phase of the natural disaster under analysis.
Research limitations/implications
This study will provide small retailer entrepreneurs and public authorities with useful insights on how DCs and social capital can practically support recovery paths at different times in the occurrence of a natural disaster.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the scientific debate on organizational resilience in disaster management, studying it through the lens of DCs and social capital, and analyzing the role of different types of DCs in developing entrepreneurs’ resilience during the various periods of a natural disaster. Moreover, it contributes by applying the concepts of resilience and DCs to a poorly investigated entrepreneurial context such as the retail one.