Search

This paper reports on the results of research into the connections between transaction attributes and buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs) in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) acquisition and implementation. The investigation began by examining the impact of the different patterns of BSR on the performance of the AMT acquisition. In understanding the phenomena, the study drew upon and integrated the literature of transaction cost economics theory, BSRs, and AMT, and used this as the basis for a theoretical framework and hypotheses development. This framework was then empirically tested using data that were gathered through a questionnaire survey with 147 companies and analyzed using a structural equation modeling technique. The results of the analysis indicated that the higher the level of technological specificity and uncertainty, the more firms are likely to engage in a stronger relationship with technology suppliers. However, the complexity of the technology being implemented was associated with BSR only indirectly through its association with the level of uncertainty (which has a direct impact upon BSR). The analysis also provided strong support for the premise that developing strong BSR could lead to an improved performance in acquiring and implementing AMT. The implications of the study are offered for both the academic and practitioner audience. Index Terms--Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs), Malaysia, technology implementation, transaction cost economics (TCE) theory.

Social capital is gaining preeminence as a concept to interpret the behavior of organizational entities, especially in new product development (NPD). Significant research is accumulating that links the performance of NPD teams with the patterns of social capital that they exhibit. The research suggests that analyzing teams' social capital could provide insights to improve substantively the performance of NPD teams. However, the pragmatic use of social capital presents a number of difficulties. Investigating and resolving these issues is vital if the concept of social capital can be used to achieve performance improvement. This paper reports on an investigation in the aerospace industry, the aim of which was to establish the feasibility of mapping and analyzing a team's social capital in order to provide insights and to highlight productive interventions. The investigation used an action-research methodology involving the codevelopment and coimplementation of solutions with two multinational companies, GKN Aerospace and TRW Aerospace Group, and a management consultancy organization, the Rossmore Group. This paper reports on the encapsulation of social capital research in a management tool and its application within GKN and TRW. The results of the investigation indicate that analyzing the social capital of NPD teams provides a useful approach to improving their performance. Index Terms--New product development (NPD) teams, performance improvement, social capital, social networks.

Historically, project management research on infrastructure has mostly focused on its planning, design and construction. However, globally, more and more infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants, bridges, dams or oil rigs, are reaching their end-of-life and will soon need to be decommissioned. Decommissioning projects are long, complex and range from small projects to multi-billion megaprojects. Their costs keep increasing, while there is a limited understanding of why this happens. Nuclear Decommissioning Projects and Programmes (NDPs) are the unit of analysis of this article, due to the relevance of this sector and the number of public information available. The aim is to identify the NDP characteristics that mostly affect the NDP performance in terms of cost and time. Findings from the application of content analysis on the information collected through 35 interviews with senior practitioners highlight the importance of several NDP characteristics, including the need to have detailed knowledge of the site conditions, a good relationship with the regulatory authorities, the availability of storage facilities and stable funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early and timely sharing of information can provide a sustainable competitive advantage. However, even if lean information management aims to improve this information flow, it has mainly been investigated in ‘operations-based’ companies. This paper fills this gap, drawing upon the experience of the authors working within a large project-based company engaged in the ‘engineer and manufacture to order’ of a complex piece of equipment costing millions of dollars, for its strategic long-term client, both working in the same industrial field, i.e. nuclear decommissioning. This research investigates the information flow regarding scope changes between the project-based company and the long-term client adapting and applying a five-step framework to highlight operational inefficiencies, reduce the corresponding transaction costs and increase the overall company’s competitiveness. This is exemplified through a particular case, but can be applied to other project-based companies dealing with strategic clients involved in long-term relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Nuclear Decommissioning Projects and Programmes (NDPs) are characterized by high complexity and variety, and a schedule that can take decades. Moreover, NDPs estimates at completion can reach billions of Euro and (for many of these projects) keep increasing, while there is a limited understanding of why this happens. To address this knowledge gap, this paper describes how to statistically test the association between the NDP characteristics and the NDP cost performance. The implementation of statistics on a pool of European NDPs highlights the significance of several country-specific and site-specific characteristics (e.g. respectively, the governance system and the availability of facilities to deal with radioactive material on site). Hence, the original contribution of this paper consists in (i) the selection of statistical tests suitable for analysing small sample sizes (i.e. NDPs) and (ii) the presentation of the results from the implementation of these tests on a pool of 24 European NDPs with an illustrative purpose. Highlights • Nuclear decommissioning projects and programmes often suffer from cost overruns. • There is a limited understanding of what causes these cost overruns. • The association between project characteristics and performance needs investigation. • This paper presents a quantitative approach to statistically test this association. • Some country-specific and site-specific characteristics emerge as relevant results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]