Three Theoretical Perspectives for Understanding Inter-firm Coordination of Construction Project Supply Chains

The success of construction projects is highly dependent on the coordination of a fairly large number of stakeholders, such as client organizations, designers, general contractors, and subcontractors. Each of those stakeholders can both affect and be affected by the way a project is managed, and none of them usually has the power or the ability to coordinate project supply chains. However, the existing literature on supply chain management does not provide a comprehensive theoretical foundation for describing or explaining the coordination of construction project supply chains. This paper discusses the role of three different theoretical perspectives for understanding the inter-firm coordination process of project supply chains in the construction industry: the Theory of Coordination, the Transaction Cost Theory and the Language-Action Perspective. The contribution of each theoretical approach is pointed out in the paper, and their complementary role is illustrated in a case study carried out in a petrochemical construction project in Brazil

Multi Agent Systems in Logistics: A Literature and State-of-the-art Review

Based on a literature survey, we aim to answer our main question: “How should we plan and execute logistics in supply chains that aim to meet today’s requirements, and how can we support such planning and execution using IT?†Today’s requirements in supply chains include inter-organizational collaboration and more responsive and tailored supply to meet specific demand. Enterprise systems fall short in meeting these requirements The focus of planning and execution systems should move towards an inter-enterprise and event-driven mode. Inter-organizational systems may support planning going from supporting information exchange and henceforth enable synchronized planning within the organizations towards the capability to do network planning based on available information throughout the network. We provide a framework for planning systems, constituting a rich landscape of possible configurations, where the centralized and fully decentralized approaches are two extremes. We define and discuss agent based systems and in particular multi agent systems (MAS). We emphasize the issue of the role of MAS coordination architectures, and then explain that transportation is, next to production, an important domain in which MAS can and actually are applied. However, implementation is not widespread and some implementation issues are explored. In this manner, we conclude that planning problems in transportation have characteristics that comply with the specific capabilities of agent systems. In particular, these systems are capable to deal with inter-organizational and event-driven planning settings, hence meeting today’s requirements in supply chain planning and execution.supply chain;MAS;multi agent systems

Leap of Faith Megaprojects: The Effect of Civic Dialogue on Megaproject Legacies in the St. Louis Region

Megaprojects are unique capital improvements that are defined by their large-scale development plans and construction budgets. Industrial Belt cities, like St. Louis, are no stranger to these projects, and both government actors and private developers have walked hand in hand in planning and constructing megaprojects, while assuring the general public that the benefits would always outweigh the costs. Though there has been considerable quantitative research analyzing the statistical economic effects of various megaprojects, there has been relatively little discussion on other, specifically, qualitative means of analysis. This paper will examine the role civic dialogue has on the perceived and real successes of megaprojects in the St. Louis region and compare the reactions of the public to the promises made by developers. This study consults a mix of investigative and news reports along with primary source public forums and interviews to amalgamate an interpretation on whether specific St. Louis megaprojects are qualitatively successful. Finally, this paper observes that an outmoded “leap of faith” mentality, similar to that used during the golden age of megaprojects throughout the mid-1900s, is still used by St. Louis developers to sell the project to the public. It is important for both developers and the public to better understand the impact megaprojects have had on St. Louis’ history and how to plan their future execution in a way that secures both the goals of the developers and needs of the public

Analyzing the Budget and Strategic Plan Relationship: A Case Study Approach

The strategic plan and budget remain essential factors in the strength of most organizations. Organizations only have a finite amount of financial resources to deploy to continue to carry out their vision, mission, and goals, more commonly known as the strategic plan. The purpose of the budget is to funnel those financial resources to execute that mission. Many organizations experience a divergence between their budget and strategic plan. The literature is inundated with coverage on the budget and strategic plan yet mainly centers around them as entirely separate and distinct topics. This study examines the relationship between the budget and strategic plan, where it is critically important to have alignment, and how an individual’s perception of time factor into misalignment. To address this gap, I provide an in-depth case study of a large municipality. Organizations such as these often have tighter budgetary constraints, public service commitments, complicated public policy implications, and more legal restrictions than the private sector. Further, I explore how an exogenous shock, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, amplifies the budget and strategic plan\u27s misalignment. I conducted a total of twenty-three semi-structured interviews with senior- and executive-level personnel. I supplemented the interviews with publicly available materials, strategic plans, proposed and adopted budgets, and website information. As a result, these findings offer a detailed empirical account of how the budget and strategic plan\u27s relationship evolves over a fiscal year within a large government. Based on a broad analysis of this data, I also find that the budget and strategic plan relationship and the explanations for misalignment can be more complex and subtle than previously thought. Additionally, I provide exemplary lessons for practitioners to identify, manage and mitigate misalignments between the budget and strategic plan within their own organizations to maximize financial and non-financial performance outcomes. INDEX WORDS: Budget, Strategic Plan, COVID-19, Budget and Strategic Plan Relationship, Public Finance, Temporal Dimension

Developing a sustainable IT capability: lessons from Intel's journey

Intel Corporation set itself a goal to reduce its global-warming greenhouse gas footprint by 20% by 2012 from 2007 levels. Through the use of sustainable IT, the Intel IT organization is recognized as a significant contributor to the company’s sustainability strategy by transforming its IT operations and overall Intel operations. This article describes how Intel has achieved IT sustainability benefits thus far by developing four key capabilities. These capabilities have been incorporated into the Sustainable ICT Capability Maturity Framework (SICT-CMF), a model developed by an industry consortium in which the authors were key participants. The article ends with lessons learned from Intel’s experiences that can be applied by business and IT executives in other enterprises

Developing a sustainable IT capability: lessons from Intel's journey

Intel Corporation set itself a goal to reduce its global-warming greenhouse gas footprint by 20% by 2012 from 2007 levels. Through the use of sustainable IT, the Intel IT organization is recognized as a significant contributor to the company’s sustainability strategy by transforming its IT operations and overall Intel operations. This article describes how Intel has achieved IT sustainability benefits thus far by developing four key capabilities. These capabilities have been incorporated into the Sustainable ICT Capability Maturity Framework (SICT-CMF), a model developed by an industry consortium in which the authors were key participants. The article ends with lessons learned from Intel’s experiences that can be applied by business and IT executives in other enterprises

Ethical Pluralism: The Decision-Making System of a Complex World

Today\u27s leaders are faced with many different ethical decisions that are further highlighted by social media and a rapid news cycle. It has been established that there is no universal ethical code, nor is there one unified global culture. Leaders must continually educate themselves and their employees in proper leadership techniques, education, decision-making, and cultural understanding. Pluralism is engrained in ethics, where there are different interpretations of the same information, different ways to analyze the situation and different ethical frameworks. Pluralism can lead to different outputs and decisions across the same situation, but pluralism is not a blight on ethics but a way to understand the reason for different outcomes and feedback

Rebuilding Corporate Leadership: How Directors Can Link Long-Term Performance with Public Goals

This report examines how efforts to build public trust and long-term value have coalesced to encourage many large, global corporations to pay greater attention to their longer-term interests by striking a balance between short-term commercial pursuits and such societal concerns as the environment, labor standards, and human rights. Many companies have also found ways to turn such concerns as the effects of climate change and other environmental damage into profitable commercial opportunities. This report also explores how all corporate boards could take a more active part in considering such issues and improving the reporting of financial and non-financial measures of corporate performance broadly conceived. In our view, directors could do more with their current authority to motivate managements to greater innovation, and to support managements in finding long-term value solutions to the numerous economic and societal pressures they face