Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2011 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
Building information modelling (BIM) promises some potentially radical benefits if adopted and correctly deployed on construction projects. However, significant literature evidence suggests that certain benefits of innovations such as BIM only become feasible and realizable when their legal frameworks are clear and implementable. Interestingly, existing legal frameworks for professional service delivery in architectural, engineering, construction and operations (AECO) industries are apparently biased to fragmented conventions than contemporary contractual risks in e-business. This, potentially, is a major concern against speedy adoption\nof BIM. Arguably, AECO industries have not remained static in the past years regarding the adoption of integrated technologies that enable creation and sharing of information across discipline boundaries. Moreover, integrated systems have a long history in construction which is not limited to BIM - there are other software\napplications that are being deployed to service integrated innovations and multidisciplinary business systems. Whilst the industry still struggles to improve on the speed of adopting and deploying these innovative technologies, the herculean task is how to create workable legal frameworks that will service the potential\nbenefits being proposed in BIM. Some variables of contractual risks in changing technologies have been conceptualized in some recent studies; with recommendations on some useful modifications to conventional legal frameworks in e-contracting, which are not yet very definitive at present. This article reviews scholarly perspectives regarding legal implication of BIM adoption: ownership and control of BIM models, potential revolution in standard of care as a reaction to changes in processes and practices that are driven by past technologies. Professional liabilities in electronic and integrated project delivery systems are also discussed. In the end, conclusions are drawn on potential benefits of resolving these challenges....
This study presents case studies of selected remanufacturing operations in Japan. It investigates Japanese companies' motives and incentives for remanufacturing, clarifies the requirements and obstacles facing remanufacturers, itemizes what measures companies take to address them, and discusses the influence of Japanese laws related to remanufacturing.\nThis study involves case studies of four product areas: photocopiers, single-use cameras, auto parts, and ink and toner cartridges for printers. Results and conclusions are based on the authors' discussions and interviews with 11 remanufacturers--four original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and seven independent remanufacturers (IRs). In the discussions and the interviews, we asked the companies their motives for remanufacturing and asked the measures they take to overcome the obstacles of remanufacturing. This study highlighted three requirements for remanufacturing: (1) collection of used products, (2) efficient remanufacturing processes, and (3) demand for remanufactured products.\nWhere OEMs are the main remanufacturers of products covered by this study, their motives are long-term economic and environmental incentives. Where IRs are the main remanufacturers, it is often because OEMs shun remanufacturing, fearing to cannibalize new product sales. Companies' efforts to meet the above mentioned three requirements were observed and documented: (1) establishing a new collection channel; (2) developing reverse logistics to collect used products; (3) designing products for remanufacturing (DfReman); (4) accumulating know-how to establish remanufacturing processes; and (5) controlling product quality to stimulate demand for remanufactured products. This study also notes that (6) OEMs who engage in remanufacturing build consumer demand by incorporating remanufactured components into new products. This point has not been particularly noted in previous studies, but it has an important implication for OEMs' remanufacturing. The authors found that Japan's Home Appliances Recycling Law and End-of-Life Vehicle Law have promoted material recycling but have been insufficient to stimulate remanufacturing within the country.\nThis study clarified the differences between OEMs' and IRs' remanufacturing. Both IRs and OEMs are important for remanufacturing. Institutional measures to encourage appropriate competition between OEMs and IRs and to enhance consumers' acceptance of remanufactured products is important to promote remanufacturing....
Researching entrepreneurship using a network perspective is important, as social\r\nnetworks are assets for small business owners struggling to survive in competitive markets.\r\nThe research question of this study has focused on what we can learn about entrepreneurial networking, considering that there is an under-explored and\r\nunarticulated set of networking principles and practices which have not been previously\r\nanalysed in terms of a multiethnic country context.\r\nBased on hypothesised differences in networking ties, network assistance and support relationships, a survey was used to collect data on quantitative measures. Descriptive statistics were calculated and differential tests were conducted to test the hypotheses.\r\nResults indicate that s of networking are generic and as a consequence, a more integrated view of networking can be adopted.\r\nDespite the importance of entrepreneurial networking, little empirical or theoretical research has examined the dynamics of networking in a developing country context such as South Africa, which has lower than expected total entrepreneurship activity....
Employing the appropriate strategy was critical in building successful software industry in many developing countries. Through innovative strategies, a number of developing nations were able to create unique software industry models that emerged as strong software exporters at the global level. The main similarity among these strategies was the market orientation; almost all of these strategies were export oriented, software products were produced in the developing countries to\r\nsatisfy external market demands in the developed world. The need for newer innovative strategies remains a critical success factor for new entrants to the software industry. One of the suggested strategies by the literature was the inward strategy or the focus on the domestic market needs. This paper employs a quantitative approach to identify a possible strategy that Arab countries may\r\nadopt to build their own software industry when industry success factors exist in these countries. An analysis of data from published reports and from public databases was used to examine the situation in Saudi Arabia. The goals of this study were, first to pin point the possible strategy that Saudi Arabia may adopt to build its own software industry, second to examine the existence of the software industry success factors in Saudi Arabia. The most significant finding from this study suggested that Saudi Arabia can adopt the inward strategy to build a new software industry model to serve the country�s oil and gas industry needs of software. Additionally, this study revealed that Saudi Arabia acquire a number of the software industry success factors like the software demand, the financial resources, and the IT infrastructure while other factors like the quantity of science and technology graduates and the intellectual property and copy right laws are weak and need improvements....
The European Semantic Web-based Open engineering Platform, project (SWOP 2008) is concerned with business innovation when specifying products to suit end-userââ?¬â?¢s requirements and objectives. This paper will show how Semantic Web (SW) technology of the Word Wide Web Consortium (W3C) can be used to its fullest to model the products to be developed and configured. It introduces a Product Modelling Ontology (PMO) as the main result of SWOP. It is in essence a fully generic, freely reusable 'upper ontology' specified in the Web Ontology Language (OWL), the most prominent SW technology (OWL 2008). PMO contains all\nnecessary and sufficient modelling constructs to define any end-user product ontology, taking into account all relevant end-user's product classes, properties and relationships (in particular the predefined ââ?¬Ë?specializationââ?¬â?¢ and ââ?¬Ë?decompositionââ?¬â?¢ relationships) together with cardinalities, data types, units and default values. Rules in the form of 1) assertions that have to be satisfied and 2) derivations that can be executed add the more complex product knowledge aspects. PMO has already been applied in many end-user situations and other R&D projects....
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