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For decades now, industrial manufacturers’ complex product development (CPD) activities have seen various improvement approaches as well as product development (PD) support processes all in the quest to achieve shorter PD lead-times and higher return on investments. CPD process improvements, in terms of complex engineering design and delivery, still lack a lot more variance to be addressed on the “better, faster and cheaper” paradigm for efficient communication and information exchange flow processes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper presents employing social network theory analysis and statistical Pearson (r) correlation analysis in a triangulation approach to a proposed optimum conceptual information technology systems’ architecture and a “best practice” information flow process toward enhancing an industrial sustainable competitive advantage. Closed-end questionnaires were used to collect data for the scale or level of communication network from a sample size of eight Ship Power supply chain network complex engineering design and delivery systems-design teams with at least five members from each team.

Two extremely interesting findings and observations were identified from the analysis carried out (isolates and close-harmonic analysis) as well as the findings from the hypotheses’ testing. These essential analyses of the engineering systems-design teams were conducted by using the triangulation or mixed-method described in the abstract methodology identified above.

Effective and efficient real-time communication is seen as the vehicle for effective organization management. Although there may be some studies on effective technical communication in organizational and enterprise supply chain management settings, this research identifies a new robust and extensive analysis and feasible solutions to most of the communication bottlenecks and inefficient socio-industrial information flow processes, which need enhancement for industrial competitive advantage. Furthermore, the contribution of this paper further enhances the level 4 implementation aspect of the supply chain operation reference model in a replicable industry-specific perspective.

Project scope creep is a nightmare and nearly intolerable task. Most project managers struggle to curtail the expanse and degree of scope creep. This study examines different likely project scope creep factors associated with the construction industry projects.

After many brainstorming sessions with construction stakeholders, several project scope creep factors were identified. Then, a detailed survey was executed in big construction projects of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The results derived and validated five conspicuous factors leading to project scope creep. Respectively, the highest and the lowest impact on project scope appears to be imposed by tasks/specifications and complexity/uncertainty.

It offers crucial support to the project stakeholders in scrutinizing different factors that stand as hurdles to project success and allows them to seek remedies to resolve them.

It is among the first study in the region that identifies and validates the factors that hinder construction project success.

The purpose of this paper is to help organizational managers to keep track of the information management needed not only for product design and development but also to track between different organizational levels.

The research objectives are achieved through implementing the concept in a case company, where various measures of information management are taken into consideration. This empirical study is conducted with a view to formulating and validating the information flow among product development (PD) participants.

The strategic management of information exchange transforms the nature of competition through reducing complexities in product design and bringing flexibility into the production process. This achievement could orientate firms towards rapid and continuous growth of their PD strategies, which are essential for survival in a global business environment.

This research was conducted through a single case study approach, which limits its scope for generalizing the concept. It would be more authentic if the approach was validated over multiple case studies.

Managing the information flow among PD participants has been considered to be an important issue in today's competitive business environment. It helps to formulate the design architecture, both at the product and organizational level.

The strategic management of information exchange transforms the structure of product architecture, which helps to reduce the complexities in product design and bring flexibility into the production process. The presented approach shows the intrinsic relationships between firms' resources and customers' requirements, which could help product developers to improve their production flexibility, overcome bottlenecks and achieve product customization.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between customer order lead time (COLT) and the price sensitivity of an electrical equipment manufacturer company. In consequence, it examines two research questions in terms of COLT, price and profitability level and to ensure the validity and practical justification of these research questions.

In this research the authors have used a case study approach where three business measures, namely COLT, price and the profitability level of a case company were investigated and analyzed critically. These measures were implemented through four different customer segments with two production lines of the case company. Data were collected from the company's order delivery database from the period 2006 to 2008. In addition, different experimental data were collected through interviewing and reviewing the results of the data analysis with the unit managers.

In this paper the authors have observed the correlation between the price, profit and COLT with all four customer segments in both the production lines of the case company. From the case data, the authors concluded that the customer did not pay more when the COLT is shorter than with the average time. It is also noticeable that the profit margin is higher for the case company to handle COLT with shorter lead time than the average order delivery lead time.

More case examples might be helpful to motivate the managers to accept the research outcomes.

The concept of the company's COLT in relation to the price and profitability level supports organizational managers in their decision‐making process in terms of productivity level and the company's growth. It will motivate the managers to make tradeoffs among various developmental measures.

This paper implemented a unique approach for measuring the significant level of price and profitability level over COLT. From the outcomes of this study, it is observed that the price correlated positively with the COLT and has a direct and significant impact on it. When the price is increased the COLT is also increased. It is also noticed that the products of the case company which offered shorter lead times were on average also more profitable, even though there were no significant differences in average pricing between the customer segments.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the importance of information management in modular product architecture for customized product development.

The objective of this research is to analyze product architecture in terms of information exchange and show its influence in product customization. A case study is presented with a view to modelling the information tracking necessary for product architecture and customization.

In today's volatile business environment, appropriate ways of information management could be an added value for manufacturing firms. This paper deals with the importance of information flow in product architecture. The role of information exchange influences the basic architecture of the product development process, which also affects the general theme of product customization.

The importance of information flow highlights the design architecture and brings flexibilities to the product development process. This concept is illustrated through a single case example, which may not be translated as a generic output. Multiple case study approaches could be undertaken in future research to rigorously analyze the influence of information exchange on product architecture.

In order to comply with growing customization, firms are looking for flexible design architecture in their product development process. The presented approach will be beneficial for designers and organizational managers in developing flexible customized product or services.

This paper implements a unique approach to modular product architecture through information dependencies among components and sub‐assemblies. The basic principle of modular product architecture and how it affects product customization are also reported.

With considerable international awareness of circular economy (CE), the purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework, informed by institutional theory and upper echelon theory (UET), to explain how top management commitment (TMC) mediates the relationship between external pressures and supplier relationship management (SRM) practices for CE.

The authors test the hypotheses using cross-sectional data gathered using a survey of companies involved in sustainability practices.

The results of the hierarchical regression and mediating regression analyses suggest that TMC positively mediates the effect of external institutional pressures on SRM.

The authors advance existing theory by integrating institutional theory and UET to explain SRM practices in sustainable supply networks. Furthermore, the authors offer guidance to managers who would like to engage in leveraging SRM in sustainable supply networks and outline future research directions.

The growing international landscape of business has underlined the significance of multiculturalism and the novel challenges it brings to business implementation. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention of the readers toward how trust can be conceptualized and how trust-building process is affected in global business environments where more and more projects and businesses come into operation.

This research employs intensive literature review to conceptualize trust and develop a model of culture effects for trust building in global business environment. However, this study is presently explanatory in nature because no empirical evidence is provided.

Culture is a significant factor in building trust among global project stakeholders for the reason that trust is vital for developing a well-functioning long-term business relationship. The study highlighted that cultural differences among project teams can cause conflict, misunderstanding, and poor project performance.

Future empirical research should investigate various scenarios, types of projects, cultures, and countries. Cultural issues are pretty sensitive, which have immediate association with trust-building process among international project stakeholders. Diminutive systematic research has been done on the cultural effects for trust building in international business context. The probe of how culture affects trust building efforts in global business environments remains unrequited.

This study adds value by creating awareness in the research community for undertaking a detailed and comprehensive research on this topic, and because of its originality, it serves as a foundation for future studies.

This paper focuses on decision making related to the use of strategic inventory allocation in product platform design. The purpose of the paper is to present a novel approach to managing product variety by considering product and manufacturing strategy, and considering the supply chain benefits.

Discrete event simulation is used for analyzing product platform performance in terms of inventory level and throughput. Simulation parameters such as lead times and safety stock allocation are optimized by using an analytical model of strategic safety stock allocation.

The results show that strategic safety stock allocation supports product platform strategy by increasing production output, and reducing inventory level and customer order queues at a higher level of product variety.

Linking the safety stock allocation and product platform strategy facilitates simultaneous product and process design by providing the most optimum platform strategy at minimum safety stock allocation.

Strategic safety stock allocation facilitates decision making with regard to lean strategy by reducing inventory level, agile strategy by increasing the amount of product variety and outputs, and responsiveness by reducing the number of customer order queues.

The paper presents an innovative customer order decoupling point decision.

Sustainability has become an important objective for most organizations, as it is emerging as a competitive necessity. This study aims to develop a framework for the identification, categorization and prioritization of sustainable management practices (SMPs) in the hotel sector.

An extensive literature review was conducted to identify SMPs in the service sector, and a survey tool was used to categorize and prioritize the most important practices based on expert opinion. An analytical hierarchical process (AHP) was used to prioritize the main criteria and sub-criteria of SMPs. The study is composed of 8 main criteria and 33 sub-criteria relevant to the hotel sector.

It is observed that employee management and government management take top priority under the main criteria, and policy requirements, customer culture and education and training were determined to be the three most relevant sub-criteria as SMPs for hotels in UAE. The results indicate that hotels mostly focus on economic sustainability; however, the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability are ignored in management practices.

The results are derived from four- and five-star hotels and therefore cannot be generalized. In addition, future research on specific categories of hotels is needed in other countries. The current research model can be also applied in different types of companies in tourism and other sectors.

Hotel managers should exert greater effort with regard to the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability practices, as they are highly important. Internationally, there has been considerable debate with regard to these issues, and at present, customers are well aware of such social and environmental efforts.

This study offers original insights into the area of SMP in UAE, especially in the hotel sector.

The purpose of this paper is to discover the impact of different dimensions of organizational culture (mission culture, adaptability culture, involvement culture and consistency culture) on business excellence results criteria (customer results, people results, society results and business results) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and explore the moderating role of information and communication technology (ICT) use in both service and manufacturing industries.

Data were collected by questionnaire from 448 managers in nine companies that have won the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award in the last three years. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the data.

Organizational culture is significantly related to business excellence. However, these effects varied for different business excellence criteria. Three organizational culture types had a significant positive role in achieving excellent customer-related results. All four types of organizational culture had a positive role in achieving excellent people-related results. Only two culture types had significant role in achieving excellent society-related results. Business results were positively related to a balance between the four types of organizational culture. ICT use moderated the relationship between organizational culture and results related to customers, people and business, but not society.

This study had some conceptual limitations. In particular, it considered the organizational culture as four types in the research model, but without structuring the indices under each type. It also had some methodological limitations. It was cross-sectional and used a self-administered questionnaire, which means that no causal relationships can be implied, and there may have been some bias in responding.

This is one of the first studies that investigate the relationship between organizational culture and business excellence in UAE excellence award-winning companies.