Feasibility study of an Integrated Program for Aerospace-vehicle Design (IPAD) system. Volume 2: Characterization of the IPAD system, phase 1, task 1

The aircraft design process is discussed along with the degree of participation of the various engineering disciplines considered in this feasibility study

Waste and labor productivity in production planning case Finnish construction industry

The main objective of this paper is to examine labor productivity and waste and their role in production planning and control in Finnish construction industry. Three hypothesis are tested: (1) the assumption that labor productivity concerning different construction work disciplines has developed very little in the last 30 years; (2) the amount of waste has stayed on a constant high level on sites in the Finnish construction industry; and (3) labor productivity does not develop because the initial information included in the production plans includes also waste as an accepted phenomenon. A trend analysis of construction labor productivity is conducted over the period 1975-2008. Labor productivity and waste are examined through data from sites and Ratu-research (Finnish Construction Production Data on work methods and work rates). The results are examined along with prior international research findings on construction labor productivity, waste and production planning processes. Although the data and sites, as well as the Ratu-research material, are Finnish, the results are internationally applicable and can be utilized and connected to modern ways of working anywhere. Evaluation and considerations made in this paper are followed by further work

Analysis of the effectiveness of industrial R and D

The criteria used by private industry in evaluating and selecting proposed research and development projects for implementation, and also in determining which R and D facilities are to be acquired were investigated. Conceptual and practical issues inherent in any quantitative analysis of the contribution of R and D to economic growth were identified in order to assist NASA in developing approaches for analzying the economic implication of its own R and D efforts

Risk and price in the bidding process of contractors

Formal and analytical risk models prescribe how risk should be incorporated in construction bids. However, the actual process of how contractors and their clients negotiate and agree on price is complex, and not clearly articulated in the literature. Using participant observation, the entire tender process was shadowed in two leading UK construction firms. This was compared to propositions in analytical models and significant differences were found. 670 hours of work observed in both firms revealed three stages of the bidding process. Bidding activities were categorized and their extent estimated as deskwork (32%), calculations (19%), meetings (14%), documents (13%), off-days (11%), conversations (7%), correspondence (3%) and travel (1%). Risk allowances of 1-2% were priced in some bids and three tiers of risk apportionment in bids were identified. However, priced risks may sometimes be excluded from the final bidding price to enhance competitiveness. Thus, although risk apportionment affects a contractor’s pricing strategy, other complex, microeconomic factors also affect price. Instead of pricing in contingencies, risk was priced mostly through contractual rather than price mechanisms, to reflect commercial imperatives. The findings explain why some assumptions underpinning analytical models may not be sustainable in practice and why what actually happens in practice is important for those who seek to model the pricing of construction bids

Estimation of economic discounting rate for practical project appraisal: the case of Turkey

This study focuses on estimating an economic discounting rate (EDR) to be used in project appraisals by the State Planning Organisation (SPO) of Turkey. The EDR is a policy tool used for selecting the best projects to meet the economic targets of development plans and to enable planners to choose the most profitable and feasible projects. Since the resources available to the economy are scarce, planners are expected to use cost-benefit analysis (CBA) especially, Net Present Value (NPV) criteria. The NPV is considered to be more reliable than the internal rate of return. Therefore, selection of an appropriate social discount rate is a key issue in the application of CBA for project appraisal. In this article, an attempt is made to estimate the EDR of Turkey via a “growth models” approach, providing fresh evidence for enhancing the project appraisal system in Turkey. The results reveal that the EDR of Turkey is 12.94% in the estimation period of 1985-2009.Project Appraisal; Growth Model; ARDL; Turkey

Techno-organizational change and skill formation: Evidence from Italian manufacturing firms

This paper emphasizes the role of labour demand as a determinant of working skill formation. In particular, we study the relationship between techno-organizational innovation and skill formation from a labour demand perspective. In this respect, we investigate if activities aimed at increasing the international commitment and the technological and organizational change do have an effect on both the propensity of firms to train and on the intensity of training. On this purpose, by relying on a job-competition-like framework about the operation of the labour market in allocating skills, we first estimate which factors do affect the propensity of firms to invest in work-based training activities, and, secondly, we estimate if the same factors do also play a role in determining the degree of intensity of such a training activity. Relying on a new dataset on Italian manufacturing firms active over the period 2001-2006, we first estimate a probit model on the probability for a firm to train; then we employ a Heckman two-stage selection model on the share of trainees with which we can control for selectivity bias. Our results point to a positive and significant effect of both firms’ characteristics, like size, specialization and capital intensity, and firms' techno-organisational activities on both training incidence and on training intensity. A particularly significant role, in this respect, is played by the combination of process innovation and the adoption of new organizational practices.human capital, international commitment, labour demand, organizational change, skill, technological innovation, work-based training

Research and Regions. a KWIC Indexed Bibliography

Computerized techniques applied to economics to produce bibliography of related materia