Search results

Public investment programming is a complex exercise and involves a number of factors. These include social, economical, environmental, technological and political factors. In addition, each of the factors depends on many subfactors. For example, the economic factor depends on project impact on local and national economy, number of beneficiaries, and opportunity cost of work lost. The Public Projects Programming System (3PS) is mainly a decision support system aimed at helping senior decision makers in the public sector to program the implementation of public investment projects. A multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) approach was used based on the weighted average multi‐criteria analysis (WAMA) model. The structure (database, model base, and user interface) of the 3PS is presented. A case study, in the northern suburbs of Beirut, shows the implementation of the system in a real post conflict reconstruction environment in Lebanon.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of schedule compression under alternative project delivery methods (APDMs) on the design information release (DIR). The objectives are to understand the dynamics and the respective implications of the DIR under alternative design-construction (DC) modes (e.g. fast-track).

The methodology of work includes: (1) identifying the relevant factors that may impact the release of design deliverables under APDMs, (2) representing the selected APDMs with corresponding DC sequencing modes and (3) conceptualizing the possible alternative dynamics of the released deliverables.

The findings reveal that in contrast to the traditional one-time packaging of design deliverables, multiple DIR – with less certainty on their scope, timing, frequency and coordination quality – are released under alternative DC modes. This uncertainty mainly emanates from the deduced impact of the identified factors (e.g. DC overlapping intensity and degree of pressure by the builder) on the design deliverables dynamics.

This study can be of benefit to Architecture/Engineering (A/E) professionals as well as to project owners in better planning for their roles and responsibilities under each of the identified modes, as it helps raising their awareness on new issues brought about by APDMs. For instance, the presented analysis indirectly informs designers, design review professionals and project owners about a potentially increased liability exposure emanating from the reduced certainty on the DIR's coordination quality. Moreover, it informs design managers about the need for a design team's re-formation and/or re-structuring (i.e. of the involved staff) in order to accommodate for the hypothesized DIR dynamics.

This work offers a novel study that theorizes the impact of time-reduction-related factors, under alternative DC modes, on the release of design deliverables.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of adopting knowledge management systems (KMSs) on firms’ performance. Although many organizations have adopted the notion of KMS, there is little evidence on the effect of KMS on a firm’s performance, especially in an emerging economy like the Egyptian one. An intensive literature review is conducted not only to synthesize but also to establish the conceptual foundations for the systemic perspective of knowledge management and its potential impact on knowledge management performance in an emerging information and communication technology (ICT) industry. This systemic perspective fits with the evolutionary nature of such an emerging industry in Egypt.

The empirical study of this work is conducted on knowledge-intensive firms operating in the field of ICT. The paper is descriptive in nature where a quantitative research design is adopted to survey senior managers’ perceptions – from both national and multinational enterprises operating in Egypt – on the pay-off maintained from creating an integrative KMS. The primary data are collected from 90 managers holding significant top positions related to the knowledge management area. A linear simple regression test is conducted to discover the initial association between the conceptual model’s key variables.

The results of this work reveal that there is a positive association between each of the six elements that constitute a KMS, namely, knowledge: creation, acquisition, codification, sharing, transfer and measurement, and the perceived knowledge management performance. Besides, there is a significant positive association between the adopted total KMS and perceived knowledge management performance. This study provides strong evidence that KMSs are essential to improve firms’ performance. The results of t-test and analysis of variance assert that the gender, types of business, year of experience and age of respondents have no significant difference to perceived knowledge management performance resulting from KMS.

The findings reflect the fact that informants have to deploy six components that constitute a KMS to realize improvements in knowledge management performance. This work also highlights a number of findings of great value to managers in the ICT sector. Yet, the empirical study does not cover all the issues which are linked to KMS implementation. Issues such as culture, trust and leadership role in building a significant KMS are not examined in this work. Also, the generalizability of the findings to other industries must be considered carefully. Although the findings are statistically significant, the framework developed may be quite specific to the ICT organizations.

This paper enhances managers’ understanding in deploying the notion of KMSs to leverage their corporate performance. It also provides managers in emerging markets with an integrative perspective to fundamental issues that encounter them when they put those KMSs into practice.

This research advances understanding of the application and benefit of KMS in ICT firms in several ways: it provides a better understanding of KMS and practices currently being applied in the Egyptian ICT firms. There had been little or no industry-wide empirical research on this topic to date, it provides a better understanding of knowledge processes in the ICT sector; specifically, the links between knowledge acquisition, creation, codification, sharing, transfer and measurement, and their links to performance, the measurement instruments developed for this research constitute a reliable set of construct measures that provide a basis for future research.

This paper advances the knowledge management subject by synthesizing past studies into an integrative KMS that directs scholars’ attention on how to examine the notion. It is claimed that KMS help those managers improve core business processes, management decisions and, accordingly, firms’ performance. Besides, this study suggests a set of implications for managers in an emerging market that has recently adopted the notion of KMSs. This study also reflects the viewpoints and perceptions of key managers in a strongly evolving knowledge-intensive industry that has an increasing impact on the GDP of an entire nation throughout the past two decades.

Conflicts, claims and disputes are inherent in most construction projects. Acceptable degree of commonality in the interpretation of contract provisions is critical in effective contract administration. This study aims to assess the effects of contract ambiguity factors on construction conflicts, highlighting the causes of divergent interpretations using fuzzy technique for order of preference by the similarity-to-ideal-solution (TOPSIS) method.

Fuzzy TOPSIS framework with 27 ambiguity factors is constructed by conducting a comprehensive literature review, accompanied by a pilot study. Questionnaire survey is formed, and one-to-one interviews are arranged with 35 contract administration experts.

The findings indicate that (1) ambiguity due to excessive changes in the bill of quantity (BOQ) (including ambiguous provisions related to BOQ changes), (2) incomplete clauses that do not describe the scope of the intended work purely, (3) ambiguity due to excessive amendments in the scope of works (including ambiguous provisions related to scope changes), (4) ambiguous enforceability including excessive demands and (5) ambiguous goal and performance requirements are the top five ambiguity factors affecting construction conflicts.

Presented framework is performed referring to ambiguity factors in all type of construction contracts in the general sense. However, the identified factors may vary depending on the project type, contract type, procurement method or use of standard contract forms (such as NEC, FIDIC).

The literature lacks the investigation of ambiguity factors in construction contracts, yet the assessment of the effects of contract ambiguity is essential to minimize conflicts.

Construction projects commonly encounter complicated delay problems. Over the past few decades, numerous delay analysis methods (DAMs) have been developed. There is no consensus on whether existing DAMs effectively resolve delays, particularly in the case of complex concurrent delays. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to undertake a comprehensive and systematic literature review on concurrent delays, aiming to answer the following research question: Do existing delay analysis techniques deal with concurrent delays well?

This study conducts a comprehensive review of concurrent delays by both bibliometric and systematic analysis of research publications published between 1982 and 2022 in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. For quantitative analysis, a bibliometric mapping tool, the VOSviewer, was employed to analyze 68 selected publications to explore the co-occurrence of keywords, co-authorship and direct citation. Additionally, we conducted a qualitative analysis to answer the targeted research question, identify academic knowledge gaps and explore potential research directions for solving the theoretical and practical problems of concurrent delays.

Concurrent delays are a critical aspect of delay claims. Despite DAMs developed by a limited number of research teams to tackle issues like concurrence, float consumption and the critical path in concurrent delay resolution, practitioners continue to face significant challenges. This study has successfully identified knowledge gaps in defining, identifying, analyzing and allocating liability for concurrent delays while offering promising directions for further research. These findings reveal the incompleteness of available DAMs for solving concurrent delays.

The outcomes of this study are highly beneficial for practitioners and researchers. For practitioners, the discussions on the resolution process of concurrent delays in terms of identification, analysis and apportionment enable them to proactively address concurrent delays and lay the groundwork for preventing and resolving such issues in their construction projects. For researchers, five research directions, including advanced DAMs capable of solving concurrent delays, are proposed for reference.

Existing research on DAMs lacks comprehensive coverage of concurrent delays. Through a scientometric review, it is evident that current DAMs do not deal with concurrent delays well. This review identifies critical knowledge gaps and offers insights into potential directions for future research.

The construction industry is a crucial industry for national development worldwide. Because the construction industry is tied to national and international economic activities, the COVID-19 outbreak has limited construction projects. Therefore, this study investigates the most influential factors regarding COVID-19 and their effects on the construction industry.

The potential impacts of COVID-19 on the construction industry were identified through a realistic literature review and interviews with professionals. A questionnaire was distributed via e-mail to architects, civil engineers and contractors who play vital roles during the construction processes. The data were analysed using SPSS 22 and LISREL 8.7 software to quantify the most influential pandemic-related factors faced by the construction industry.

Ten influential pandemic factors affecting the construction industry in Turkey were identified. Among them, “increased costs and price escalations due to shortage of raw materials and supply chain disruption” and “challenges with payment and cash flows” were determined as the most influential pandemic factors.

This research aims to advance comprehension of pandemic impacts and contributes an incipient assessment framework based on 10 determined pandemic factors. Therefore, contractors, architects and civil engineers may analyse their weaknesses and organise precise priorities so that their firms may remain competitive, thus minimising the adverse impact of COVID-19 and possible forthcoming waves.

Few studies have identified the effect of pandemics on the construction industry qualitatively, forcing management to make projections to the current situation. Moreover, no study has provided insights into the influential factors of pandemics using quantitative methods. Therefore, this study comprehensively and quantitatively determines the relevant COVID-19 pandemic factors using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and utilises confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling to present a structural model of how pandemic factors affect the Turkish construction industry.

This research uses the evolutionary game model theory to explore how to make decisions to maximize their own interests in the process of project claims from the perspective of small and medium-sized contractors in the construction industry.

This study defines the discount factor in the claim process based on the characteristics of construction claims and provides a specific calculation method. The paper analyzes the matching degree between the evolutionary game model and the process of construction claims. Further, the discount factor is introduced to construct an evolutionary game model of engineering claims with the goal of maximizing the contractor’s benefits.

The results of this study show that in the situation (C*d1-nC1*d1>0, v2-v1-g>0) and (C*d1-nC1*d1>0, v2-v1-g<0), the contractor claim decision-making strategy is a truthful claim, while in the situation (C*d1-nC1*d1<0, v2-v1-g>0) and (C*d1-nC1*d1<0, v2-v1-g<0), the contractor claim decision-making strategy is a high-price claim. The discount factor will affect the decision-making rate. It is noted that the fines and the explicit costs received during the contractor’s high-priced claim process exhibit a positive correlation with the rate of truthful claim decision-making by contractors. Meanwhile, the final revenue of high-priced claims by contractors shows a positive correlation with the rate of high-priced claim decision-making by the sensitivity analysis.

The author simulates the process of solving the actual claim problem through the evolutionary game model in engineering claims. It is hoped that researchers will collect empirical cases and compare the actual case solutions with the model solutions to further revise the model in future studies, an evolutionary game model of engineering claim decision-making with interference factors can be constructed to analyze the evolutionary stability. Secondly, the single factor sensitivity analysis of individual parameters is carried out in this paper, and the influence of multiple factors on claim decisions can be further analyzed in the later research.

The analysis of the claim process based on the evolutionary game model is conducive to the contractor’s rapid claim decision-making. The introduction of the discount factor to analyze the claim process is more conducive to the accuracy of the contractor’s claim decision.

The proposed model provides a supplement to the existing studies on dynamic construction claim decision-making. The claim decision is conducive to controling cost for the contractor, improving the contractor’s management level and developing a healthy construction market.

Legal remedies are incorporated into international construction joint ventures (ICJVs) to mitigate contractual breaches. The effectiveness of remedies is predicated on two conditions; the comprehensiveness of the contract and its enforceability within the jurisdiction of interpretation. Relational-related weaknesses contribute to contracting parties placing a premium on the contract's capacity for mediating the relationship. However, contracts are not always enforceable. This study aims to examine means by which joint venture relational governance can be maintained under conditions of minimal legal recourse.

A relational contracting (RC) theory was used as the theoretical underpinning of the paper. Data were collected and analyzed following a multiple-case study approach from case projects in which ICJVs' was used.

The findings reveal (1) 17 relational and contractual governance problems; the main six being contractual flexibility, contractual joint venture system, contract reviewing, project conflict, national culture and leader–follower transgressions; (2) relational and contractual governance problems are managed differently, depending on financing sources and partners' national culture; and (3) that a developed RC-based framework comprising four stages is able to facilitate relational and contractual governance in ICJVs.

This study is novel in providing a guided approach to developing non-legal remedies for the mitigation of contractual breaches in ICJVs, grounded in theory and contextualized for the construction sector.

The number of construction dispute cases has maintained a high growth trend in recent years. The effective exploration and management of construction contract risk can directly promote the overall performance of the project life cycle. The miss of clauses may result in a failure to match with standard contracts. If the contract, modified by the owner, omits key clauses, potential disputes may lead to contractors paying substantial compensation. Therefore, the identification of construction project contract missing clauses has heavily relied on the manual review technique, which is inefficient and highly restricted by personnel experience. The existing intelligent means only work for the contract query and storage. It is urgent to raise the level of intelligence for contract clause management. Therefore, this paper aims to propose an intelligent method to detect construction project contract missing clauses based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and deep learning technology.

A complete classification scheme of contract clauses is designed based on NLP. First, construction contract texts are pre-processed and converted from unstructured natural language into structured digital vector form. Following the initial categorization, a multi-label classification of long text construction contract clauses is designed to preliminary identify whether the clause labels are missing. After the multi-label clause missing detection, the authors implement a clause similarity algorithm by creatively integrating the image detection thought, MatchPyramid model, with BERT to identify missing substantial content in the contract clauses.

1,322 construction project contracts were tested. Results showed that the accuracy of multi-label classification could reach 93%, the accuracy of similarity matching can reach 83%, and the recall rate and F1 mean of both can reach more than 0.7. The experimental results verify the feasibility of intelligently detecting contract risk through the NLP-based method to some extent.

NLP is adept at recognizing textual content and has shown promising results in some contract processing applications. However, the mostly used approaches of its utilization for risk detection in construction contract clauses predominantly are rule-based, which encounter challenges when handling intricate and lengthy engineering contracts. This paper introduces an NLP technique based on deep learning which reduces manual intervention and can autonomously identify and tag types of contractual deficiencies, aligning with the evolving complexities anticipated in future construction contracts. Moreover, this method achieves the recognition of extended contract clause texts. Ultimately, this approach boasts versatility; users simply need to adjust parameters such as segmentation based on language categories to detect omissions in contract clauses of diverse languages.

The publication presents an analysis of the cost and schedule performance of incentive/disincentive projects and case studies toward developing a systematic disincentive valuation process, with Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS) software integration that aids agencies in minimizing the likelihood of court challenges of disincentives.

From a California transportation database, the authors performed cost and schedule analyses of 43 incentive/disincentive (I/D) projects and case studies on four of those I/D projects. Interviewees included subject matter experts from transportation organizations to ensure applicability and maximum value-adding, and the process was implemented on ten California transportation projects and monitored for performance.

The presented process mitigates the contractor's ability to claim disincentives as penalties in a court of law through the following: (1) all calculations are performed using project-specific bases, backed by estimations of actual incurred costs; (2) the CA4PRS software allows for estimation transparency and (3) the clarity of cost inclusions reduces any chances of “double-dipping” between disincentives and liquidated damages.

Transportation agencies have historically faced legal challenges to their enforcements of disincentives. As agencies continue to apply disincentives on more megaprojects, contractors will likely attempt to pursue legal challenges more frequently. The presented process mitigates the likelihood of these challenges going to court and increases the accuracy and efficiency of disincentives.

While there have been publications that discuss the legal challenges of imposing disincentives, they mainly provide guidelines and lack applicable processes. Existing literature that does present incentive/disincentive valuation process focuses on incentive valuations and neglects the disincentives' legal challenges. The following publication fills this gap by presenting an applicable disincentive valuation process for transportation projects which incorporates the guidelines for legal mitigation.