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This research paper aims to present the critical managerial issues and a self‐assessment system of conflict management in client‐supplier collaborative new product development (NPD) environment.

Critical managerial issues and success factors for conflict management in client‐supplier collaborative NPD were first identified. A self‐assessment process and associated methodologies were then established. With the development of a prototype self‐assessment system, the proposed self‐assessment methodologies and process were validated in industry.

A total of 13 critical factors for conflict management in client‐supplier collaborative NPD environment were identified. Based on the hierarchy model of the factors, a self‐assessment system and process, called PAIR, was established. The proposed self‐assessment system and process was developed and validated with six companies with positive results.

Conflict is an inevitable phenomenon in client‐supplier collaborative NPD, which affects NPD performance in terms of product quality, meeting of target delivery schedule and development cost. The developed system and process enables clients and suppliers to assess their conflict management practices and identify improvement areas. It provides a platform for the collaborating parties to continually improve their conflict management and in turn NPD performance.

Selecting the ‘best’ main contractor is a complex decision process for construction clients. It requires a large number of criteria to be simultaneously measured and evaluated. Many of these criteria are related to one another in a complex way and therefore, they very often conflict insofar as improvement in one often results in decline of another(s). Furthermore, as contractors' attributes are expressed in both quantitative and qualitative terms, decision‐makers have to base their judgements on both quantitative data and experiential subjective assessments. In this paper, the evidential reasoning (ER) approach (which is capable of processing both quantitative and qualitative measures) is applied as a means of solving the contractor selection problem (CSP). The process of building a multiple criteria decision model of a hierarchical structure is presented, in which both quantitative and qualitative information is represented in a unified manner. The CSP is then fully investigated using the ER approach. Both the advantages of applying this model in practice and the analysis process itself are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the historical pattern of environmental cost due to grain production in China and to provide further implications of technologies and policies for the transformation of China’s agricultural development toward sustainable intensification.

The data sets about grain production, arable land and chemical fertilizer use in China were collected from FAO, NBSC, and IFA. Greenhouse gas emissions were estimated using life cycle assessments. The policies concerning grain production and the environment were collected from the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Council of China.

China has produced enough food to feed its growing population, but has neglected the resource-environmental costs of grain production since 1978. Consequently, China’s grain production is always accompanied with a high cost of resource and environment sustainability. However, from 2006 to 2015, the growth rate of grain production has surpassed that of chemical fertilizer consumption, resulting in improvement in nutrient use efficiency and decreasing trends of environmental cost for grain production. This could be partially attributed to technology innovations, such as Soil-Testing and Fertilizer-Recommendations (STFR), soil quality and crop management improvement, and so on, and policy supports (policies of STFR, soil quality improvement, and high-yield construction). This indicated that China’s grain production is starting to transform from high-input and high-output model to “less for more.”

This study is the first to determine the detailed, historical role of technological innovation and agri-environmental policy on the sustainability of grain production in China. The findings should have significant implications for technology and policy for the transformation of China’s agriculture development to sustainable intensification.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a system dynamic simulated process model for maintenance work management incorporating the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.

The extant literature in physical assets maintenance depicts that poor maintenance management is predominantly because of a lack of a clearly defined maintenance work management process model, resulting in poor management of maintenance work. This paper solves this complex phenomenon using a combination of conceptual process modeling and system dynamics simulation incorporating 4IR technologies. A process for maintenance work management and its control actions on scheduled maintenance tasks versus unscheduled maintenance tasks is modeled, replicating real-world scenarios with a digital lens (4IR technologies) for predictive maintenance strategy.

A process for maintenance work management is thus modeled and simulated as a dynamic system. Post-model validation, this study reveals that the real-world maintenance work management process can be replicated using system dynamics modeling. The impact analysis of 4IR technologies on maintenance work management systems reveals that the implementation of 4IR technologies intensifies asset performance with an overall gain of 27.46%, yielding the best maintenance index. This study further reveals that the benefits of 4IR technologies positively impact equipment defect predictability before failure, thereby yielding a predictive maintenance strategy.

The study focused on maintenance work management system without the consideration of other subsystems such as cost of maintenance, production dynamics, and supply chain management.

The maintenance real-world quantitative data is retrieved from two maintenance departments from company A, for a period of 24 months, representing years 2017 and 2018. The maintenance quantitative data retrieved represent six various types of equipment used at underground Mines. The maintenance management qualitative data (Organizational documents) in maintenance management are retrieved from company A and company B. Company A is a global mining industry, and company B is a global manufacturing industry. The reliability of the data used in the model validation have practical implications on how maintenance work management system behaves with the benefit of 4IR technologies' implementation.

This research study yields an overall benefit in asset management, thereby intensifying asset performance. The expected learnings are intended to benefit future research in the physical asset management field of study and most important to the industry practitioners in physical asset management.

This paper provides for a model in which maintenance work and its dynamics is systematically managed. Uncontrollable corrective maintenance work increases the complexity of the overall maintenance work management. The use of a system dynamic model and simulation incorporating 4IR technologies adds value on the maintenance work management effectiveness.

Industrial land renewal is a significant constituent of urban environment and sustainable development. Most implementation in planning of renewal of industrial land has been mainly conducted at the site level of industrial zones or parks and the larger scale of township planning deserve further attention in China. To fill this gap, this paper aims to investigate the implementation of industrial land renewal for a whole urbanized area under the township master planning.

This study introduces a progressive approach to identify and evaluate the renewal of industrial land in township master planning to move toward a more practical understanding of industrial transition. The authors chose a typical industrialized town, Lijia in Changzhou City, under the development model of “Southern Jiangsu” to explain the measurement and assessment framework to identify and evaluate the renewable industrial land. Synthesizing the idea of sustainable development, the authors investigated the renewable industrial land with an econometric model including multiple-indexes of economic, social and ecological aspects, field observations and depth interviews.

The analysis demonstrated the spatial heterogeneity and complex generous structure of industrial land renewal in developing countries. It pointed out the major responsibility of enterprises as main industrial land users and indispensable responsibility of government and society. Following the idea of organic concentration and avoiding one-size-fits-all kind of deal, the master planning of Lijia emphasized the connection of industrial land and the combination of market force, social force and government regulation.

With original data and discussion, the authors provide more scientific renewal strategies for planners in sustainable development.