A Theory on Measuring Organizational Robustness of Fire Prevention Technology Development in Japanese High-Rise Building Projects

Abstract

In this paper the fundamentals and necessities of technology development projects are discussed through organizational capabilities. These capabilities are examined under “Resources, Processes, and Priorities” of technology development business models. The ideal balance between these capabilities generate the organizational robustness. However, determining the essential capabilities, their correlative structure and comparison with the actual performance of the project is a complicated issue. Therefore, the “Robustness Equilibrium Theory” is developed to form an evaluation guideline which helps to figure out the ideal balance among the organizational capabilities within projects explicitly. The theory is applied experimentally to the case of fire prevention technology development for high-rise buildings in Japan. Discussions about vulnerabilities in Japanese cases are aroused upon the findings.</p