The role of contracting strategies in social value implementation

There has been an increasing demand for social value (SV) implementation to assume a cardinal position in the infrastructure delivery efforts of infrastructure client organisations (ICOs). However, whereas successful implementation has been recorded in some projects, monumental failures have also been recorded in others. This variance in implementation performance is a cause for concern. The mode of governance applied in an infrastructure delivery endeavour has been identified as capable of influencing the implementation of SV. This observation makes imperative an investigation into the role of contracting strategies – an integral part of governance modes – adopted by ICOs on SV implementation performance. This is the aim of this study. Using a case study approach, three infrastructure projects which used different contracting strategies were selected from two different countries, the UK and Nigeria. Semistructured interviews were conducted with ICO representatives on these projects and subsequently analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings confirmed that the kind of contract adopted by ICOs influenced their ability to drive the successful implementation of desirable SV objectives through their supply chain. It is therefore recommended that ICOs ensure that the selected contracting strategies are capable of ensuring successful implementation of the desired objectives

Development of a quantification model for the cost of loss of image with customer complaints

Despite the difficulty in measuring hidden quality costs, we must be aware not only of their existence, but also of their importance. Not surprisingly, they have been the causative factor in the closure of many companies because they are doubly dangerous. One the one hand, they represent very significant quantities of money and, on the other, they remain hidden, like the submerged portion of an iceberg [Campanella, J. (1999). Principles of Quality Costs: Principles, Implementation and Use. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press]. Possibly one of the most harmful hidden quality costs, and most difficult to quantify, is the cost of loss of image (CLI) a company suffers because of faults detected by its customers. This paper develops an original tool that, with the use of fuzzy logic as an alternative to probabilistic theory, is capable of facilitating the quantification of the CLI in any company from the observation of its customer complaints. Once the theoretical model is presented, we proceed with its experimentation, making use of a case study as research methodology