New governance approaches to environmental regulation: an example of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH)

Environmental policy in the United Kingdom (UK) is witnessing a shift from command-and-control approaches towards more innovation-orientated environmental governance arrangements. These governance approaches are required which create institutions which support actors within a domain for learning not only about policy options, but also about their own interests and preferences. The need for construction actors to understand, engage and influence this process is critical to establishing policies which support innovation that satisfies each constituent’s needs. This capacity is particularly salient in an era where the expanding raft of environmental regulation is ushering in system-wide innovation in the construction sector. In this paper, the Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code) in the UK is used to demonstrate the emergence and operation of these new governance arrangements. The Code sets out a significant innovation challenge for the house-building sector with, for example, a requirement that all new houses must be zero-carbon by 2016. Drawing upon boundary organisation theory, the journey from the Code as a government aspiration, to the Code as a catalyst for the formation of the Zero Carbon Hub, a new institution, is traced and discussed. The case study reveals that the ZCH has demonstrated boundary organisation properties in its ability to be flexible to the needs and constraints of its constituent actors, yet robust enough to maintain and promote a common identity across regulation and industry boundaries

Realizing the Value of Mobile Services in the Exhibition Industry – The Verification of Limit-to-Value Framework

The MICE industry and the M-Commerce service recently become a popular issue since the mature internet environment. It will be a significant subject to realize the IT investment in the MICE industry. The study is to test and verify the Limits to Value for IT Investments framework [1] and to redefine and modify the constructs of model to examine the barriers of IT value, in the context of M-Commerce in the MICE industry. This reforming model can help us understand the critical value discounting factors and the impact about adoption and usage of the innovative IT in the marketplace

Investment by Chinese construction firms in the UK infrastructure sector: volumes, patterns and trends

The expansion of global construction markets has substantial implications for companies engaged in cross-border transactions and financing. The convergence of the UK and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) infrastructure policy agendas has led to significant investment from Chinese construction companies in the UK infrastructure sector. On the demand side, the UK Government’s National Infrastructure Plan sets out a wide range of investment priorities. The PRC Government’s One Belt, One Road strategy, on the supply side, has prioritized outward foreign investment into Eurasia. The international business literature on foreign market entry with a specific organizational capability perspective is drawn upon to understand the rationale for Chinese construction companies to invest in the UK infrastructure market. Two Chinese construction multinational companies currently engaging in UK infrastructure projects are studied through interpreting secondary sources. Findings indicate that their pursuit of hybrid market entry modes are underpinned by corresponding hybrid capability exploitation and acquisition motivations

Managing the complexity of information flow for construction small and medium-sized enterprises (CSMEs) using system dynamics and collaborative technologies

With the increase in e-commerce and the digitisation of design data and information,the construction sector has become reliant upon IT infrastructure and systems. The design and production process is more complex, more interconnected, and reliant upon greater information mobility, with seamless exchange of data and information in real time. Construction small and medium-sized enterprises (CSMEs), in particular,the speciality contractors, can effectively utilise cost-effective collaboration-enabling technologies, such as cloud computing, to help in the effective transfer of information and data to improve productivity. The system dynamics (SD) approach offers a perspective and tools to enable a better understanding of the dynamics of complex systems. This research focuses upon system dynamics methodology as a modelling and analysis tool in order to understand and identify the key drivers in the absorption of cloud computing for CSMEs. The aim of this paper is to determine how the use of system dynamics (SD) can improve the management of information flow through collaborative technologies leading to improved productivity. The data supporting the use of system dynamics was obtained through a pilot study consisting of questionnaires and interviews from five CSMEs in the UK house-building sector

Detecting defects in the UK new-build housing sector: a learning perspective

Rapid growth in the production of new homes in the UK is putting build quality under pressure as evidenced by an increase in the number of defects. Housing associations (HAs) contribute approximately 20% of the UK’s new housing supply. HAs are currently experiencing central government funding cuts and rental revenue reductions. As part of HAs’ quest to ramp up supply despite tight budget conditions, they are reviewing how they learn from defects. Learning from defects is argued as a means of reducing the persistent defect problem within the UK housebuilding industry, yet how HAs learn from defects is under-researched. The aim of this research is to better understand how HAs, in practice, learn from past defects to reduce the prevalence of defects in future new homes. The theoretical lens for this research is organizational learning. The results drawn from 12 HA case studies indicate that effective organizational learning has the potential to reduce defects within the housing sector. The results further identify that HAs are restricting their learning to focus primarily on reducing defects through product and system adaptations. Focusing on product and system adaptations alone suppresses HAs’ abilities to reduce defects in the future

Managing information complexity using system dynamics on construction projects

The increase in e-commerce, the digitisation of design data and the interchange and sharing of information have made the construction sector more reliant upon IT infrastructure and systems. The design and production process is complex, dynamic, interconnected and dependent upon greater information mobility, requiring seamless exchange of data and information in real time. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in particular, specialty contractors, can utilise cost-effective collaboration technologies, such as cloud computing using software as a service, to help in the effective transfer of information and data. The system dynamics (SD) approach gives a better understanding of the dynamics of complex systems. SD methodology is used as a modelling and analysis tool to understand and identify the key drivers in the absorption of cloud computing for SMEs. The aim is to determine how the use of SD can improve the management of complexity of information flow, leading to improved performance for SMEs. SD is shown to be a viable tool to manage information complexity using cloud computing for performance improvement in construction