Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2013 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
The complexity of the nature of construction makes it one of the most adverse businesses that has\r\never existed. Construction projects have often suffered from high fragmentation, large waste, poor\r\nproductivity, cost and time overruns, and conflicts and disputes for a long time. Thus, many new\r\nand innovative management and procurement systems in construction are introduced such as\r\npartnering, joint venture, alliances, supply chain management, enterprise resource planning (ERP),\r\njust in time (JIT), and total quality management (TQM) to meet these challenges. However, these\r\nconstruction management and procurement systems are meaningless without coordination, a vital\r\nmanagerial principle and activity, which provides the best cooperation among team members.\r\nAlthough coordination plays crucial functions throughout the building process especially during the\r\ndesign and construction stages, some failures in construction projects adopting coordination\r\nprinciples are still observed. Hence, a study is carried out to investigate the key barriers of\r\ncoordination in construction project. Through the literature review, five groups of key barriers are\r\nestablished in this paper, including the nature of construction, traditional contractual arrangement,\r\nconstruction participants, characteristic of organization and construction management approach.\r\nThe investigation of these key barriers is expected to assist the construction players in coordinating\r\ntheir projects towards a better implementation of the innovative management and procurement\r\nsystems. Lastly, worthwhile new research topics are suggested by this paper in developing the\r\ncoordination key performance indicator (KPI) and critical success factor on construction project for\r\nfurther studies....
This study focused on the reasons retail clients select a bank for the first time in five geographical\r\nlocations in central South Africa. The most important bank selection criteria were found to relate to the\r\nperceived image, reputation, and service quality of the bank. In particular, service quality was found to\r\nbe important for all the market segments identified. Relatively speaking, pricing factors were deemed\r\nunimportant for the respondents, which are explained by the majority of respondents being elderly. The\r\nstudy is unique in that it is the first of its kind conducted in South Africa and paves the way for further\r\nstudies focusing on why South African clients choose a bank, particularly from a demographic point of\r\nview....
This study aims to analyze the contribution of the creation and management of organizational\nknowledge on the process of structuring Technological Innovation Centers in the State of Bahia, Brazil.\nThe research methodology was qualitative. Results have shown that the researched Centers are wellstructured\nwith regard to the constitution of the Centers according to the Federal Innovation Law of\nBrazil (number.10973) and to the Innovation Act of Bahia State (number.11174). However, some barriers\nwere detected on the creation and management of organizational knowledge related to the progress of\nactivities and effective technology transfer from and to the productive sector. Two of the main barriers\nare the lack of a staff with tenure, which has relied primarily on the hiring of scholars through the bids\noffered by the Brazilian government, the lack of a structured system for conducting processes of\ninnovation. Addressing such obstacles is possible as it is understood that innovation of activities is\nessential as well as acquiring new organizational knowledge for an entrepreneurial and innovative\napproach gathering university and industry....
The objective of this study is to develop an operating model for the purpose of utilising an idea\r\nbank in the development of business operations. The study was carried out as a constructive\r\ninterview survey. The study examines the development proposal activity in a company and the\r\noperating model which is created in this study includes a harmonised electronic recording system\r\nfor development proposals. The study clarifies the existing models and procedures related to the\r\nemployees� idea and suggestion schemes and continuous improvement. The idea bank model\r\nincludes a description of the requirements set by development proposal activity to the model itself\r\nand the incorporated management system. The objectives of the idea bank model are to maintain\r\nthe processes needed for the development proposal activity, and to be a tool towards harmonising\r\nand organising development proposal activities.\r\nThe idea bank model can be used to record different kinds of development proposals into a\r\ncommon operating model and system. The operating model consists of making a development\r\nproposal, handling and processing it, the implementation, reward, recording and retrieving of data\r\nrelated to the proposal and follow-up. The idea bank model may facilitate the employees�\r\nparticipation in development and innovation activities, as well as sharing knowledge and operating\r\nmethods. The model allows development activities to be directed according to the company''s\r\nneeds, as well as the monitoring and analysis of operations. In addition, it enables the employees�\r\nknow-how to be recorded in order to create a resource of data for the organisation....
Despite the increasing number of retail banks providing mobile banking services, the adoption rate\r\namong consumers is still very low. One of the critical issues identified by researchers is the aspect\r\nof trust. In a mobile banking environment, three categories of trustees are equally important and\r\nmust be addressed. These trustees are: (i) the retail banks that provide mobile banking services;\r\n(ii) the mobile telecommunication provider that provides mobile internet services and (iii) the\r\nmobile gadget that is used as a medium for engaging in mobile banking. Given this background, this\r\npaper develops a conceptual model of trust which addresses all the three aforementioned trustees\r\nin mobile banking. The model should be of interest to both researchers and practitioners as it will\r\nhelp to identify factors influencing trust building of the mobile banking consumers, hence leading\r\ntowards increased adoption and utilization....
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