The role of the supply chain in the elimination and reduction of construction rework and defects: an action research approach

Since 2007, Ireland has suffered a circa 80% reduction in construction output. This has resulted in bankruptcy, unemployment and bad debt. Contractors have attached greater emphasis to production efficiency and cost reduction as a means of survival. An Action Research (AR) strategy was used in this research to improve processes adopted by a SME contractor for the control of defects in its supply chain. It is conservatively estimated that rework, typically accounts for, circa 5% of total project costs. Rework is wasteful and presents an obvious target for improvement. The research reported here concerns the (first) diagnosing stage of the AR cycle only, involving: observation of fieldwork, analysis of contract documents, and semi-structured interviews with supply chain members. The results indicate potential for supply chain participants to identify root causes of defects and propose solutions, having regard to best practice to avoid re-occurrence. A lack of collaborative forums to contribute to production improvement was identified. Additionally the processes, used to collect, manage and disseminate data were unstructured and uncoordinated, indicating scope for developing more efficient methods. The research indicates good understanding of the potential benefits for supply chain collaboration but suggests that the tools and knowledge to collaborate are currently lacking in the SME sector

Mobile policies and shifting contexts: city-regional competitiveness strategies in Amsterdam and Dublin

In the past decade international competitiveness has become the top priority of national, regional and urban governments in the advanced capitalist economy. Attracting and retaining creative and high-educated talent as well as creative and knowledge-intensive firms are considered essential ingredients of urban and city-regional ‘recipes for success’. Amsterdam and Dublin have, at both city- and city-regional level, been very active in preparing and implementing competitiveness strategies in which fostering and stimulating creativity, knowledge and innovation play a leading role. The crisis since 2008 has made a reconsideration of these strategies necessary. Is ‘creative knowledge’ still the preferred road ahead, and if it is, can existing competitiveness strategies be continued or should new strategies be developed

Thatcherism delayed? The Irish crisis and the paradox of social partnership

This article reviews the state of Irish industrial relations in light of the current economic crisis. It argues that social partnership, paradoxically, was rooted in the continuation of a tradition of permissive voluntarism with minimal employment rights with both direct and indirect implications for the current Irish economic crisis. As such, Irish industrial relations cannot be understood in isolation from a broader analysis of the rise and fall of social structures of capitalist accumulation. The discussion considers the prognosis for social partnership post-economic crisis