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Modularization and standardization have been recognized as an effective way to achieve mass customization and improve efficiency in the house-building industry. The construction industry has witnessed the entry of several bathpod manufacturers using new, digitally enabled business models to alter the traditionally incremental nature of off-site construction. These new players in the market are embracing higher levels of complexity with offerings that deliver value in terms of accelerated speed of construction, simplified design features, and certified quality, often becoming the means of connecting different stakeholders in the construction supply chain. The innovation that bathpod manufacturers are bringing to the construction industry is interesting to examine with a view to their business model. This paper informs and proposes theory by analyzing bathpod companies’ business models from two perspectives: (1) the internal fit between business model components within the company, and (2) and the interactions between the bathpod companies and the external environment (partners and customers). This paper uses a qualitative research approach that incorporates a review of relevant literature, a market scan, and interviews with industry experts. The Business Model Canvas, which includes nine key elements, is employed to identify the interdependencies of bathpod companies that have successfully implemented varying levels of modularization and standardization. This enables the discussion of the archetype business model elements that enabled the theorizing of the archetypes. The paper presents six business model archetypes for bathpod manufacturers, e.g., project-driven production, integrated project service delivery, and modular enthusiast. These archetypes represent viable options for off-site manufacturing and production approaches in construction projects and present emerging business model innovations leading to their current state. In conclusion, this paper highlights

This article presents a first synthesis of the ability to codify challenges that constrain project learning codification and, in turn, limit the sharing of learnings between projects at scale. An improved understanding of these challenges supports the externalized sharing of project learnings, between communities of practice, that can scale beyond the temporal, geographical, and organizational barriers that constrain personalized sharing. Through an integrative cross-domain literature review, a learning codification gauntlet of seven key ability to codify challenges is reconceptualized, and significant new research gaps are identified for further investigation, including: the operation of identified challenges in practice, challenge interrelationships, and challenge-cumulative effects on project-to-project learning outcomes.

With the financial burden of government increasing, the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model has become an alternative method to develop public infrastructure. To efficiently promote the private sector to participate in PPP, making a proper incentive policy is critical for the government. This paper examined the effects of two governmental support policies, i.e., tax reduction and risk-sharing, on the investment decision of the private sector, and further compared the relative efficacy of these two policies. The results manifest that: first, both tax reduction and risk-sharing policies motivate private sector to invest earlier; second, although the capital structure decision of the private sector is free from the influence of the risk-sharing policy, the optimal debt level under tax reduction policy shows a U-shape relationship with the incentive ratio; third, when completion risk is large, there exists efficiency loss for total benefits of the project under the risk-sharing incentive policy. Besides, the efficacy of two incentive policies varies depending on the scenario. Firstly, given the same incentive ratio, the risk-sharing policy proves to be more effective than the tax reduction policy. Secondly, when considering the same level of incentive loss for government, tax reduction policy outperforms than risk-sharing policy in terms of efficacy. Thirdly, the efficacy of these policies also depends on the completion risk level: under small completion risk, risk-sharing policy is more effective, whereas under large completion risk, the tax reduction policy takes precedence. Based on these findings, some managerial insights that could assist government in formulating more effective incentive policies are proposed.

Effective project-to-project learning can prevent projects from repeating the same mistakes however externalised knowledge sharing is necessary to overcome temporal, geographical and organisational barriers. Externalised sharing for this purpose requires the codification of knowledge relating to project learnings within boundary objects, where codification may be impacted by an array of complex considerations. Among these considerations is whether the capacity of the boundary object affords boundary spanning between communities of practice, where boundary-spanning capacity is influenced by the characteristics codified within the object. The grand-challenge context of sustainability demonstration projects provides an important case context for boundary spanning as these projects have knowledge sharing and learning as a central focus, key driver and intended outcome. While the application of boundary objects has been explored in a wide range of domains and cases, this article specifically considers the characteristics of boundary objects representing codified project learnings to afford project-to-project knowledge sharing, a focus which has not yet been studied in either the sustainability demonstration context or any other project-to-future learning organisation case context. An initial pilot study has been conducted with four sustainability demonstration case projects, with results and learnings to guide the refinement of future large-scale research design.

This study investigates the critical role of supply chain risk management (SCRM) as a factor for growth and competitive advantage in project management. While there is extensive literature on risk management, there is a notable gap in the development of a comprehensive risk taxonomy tailored to project management supply chains. Through a systematic literature review of 50 scholarly articles, this paper categorizes and identifies prevalent supply chain risks and their potential impacts, which influence the entirety of project supply chains. It introduces a novel SCRM taxonomy, elucidating its significance in the context of project management. Additionally, the research proposes a future research agenda aimed at supporting the theoretical foundations of SCRM, thereby facilitating its formalization and strategic refinement. This endeavor enhances our understanding of SCRM’s key role in project management, providing a structure for future research and application across diverse industries, beyond the traditional focus on construction.

Balancing private investment and community expectations is crucial in privately financed infrastructure projects, such as schools, housing, and hospitals. Evaluating the value of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) requires governments to accurately assess costs, risks, and benefits through their Public Sector Comparator (PSC). The Public Sector Comparator (PSC) focuses on the economic benefits and tangible value offered by bidders, such as whole-of-life financing costs, capital costs, operation, maintenance costs, and risk allocation as proposed by the government. Non-monetized benefits, which are important in social infrastructure delivery, are typically evaluated subjectively by comparing the specific solutions proposed by bidders. Assessing uncertainties in government requirements and materialized risks when comparing a bid to the Public Sector Comparator (PSC) using discounted cost techniques at a specific point in time is challenging. This paper proposes a new approach for evaluating investments that takes into account both monetary and non-monetary benefits over a project’s life cycle, based on the risks and benefits seen in recent social PFI projects. Engineering reliability analysis is preferred to emphasize the performance reliability of investment decisions. The proposed reliability-based approach considers not only cost uncertainty and non-monetary benefits based on project observations, but also allows for time-based decision-making by being used at multiple points in time, to be incorporated into the original investment decision. An Australian school project was used to demonstrate that the proposed approach allows for predicting long-term value by using a performance reliability index to measure the robustness of the original investment assumptions such as demand projections and future sustainability outcomes.

As the building industry is a significant contributor to Australia's economy, understanding the impact of Industry 4.0 on this sector is crucial for its continued growth and competitiveness. This creates a need to explore the interdependencies between the implementation of an industrial and digitally enabled building industry and business model and value chain innovation to shape a digitally mediated platform ecosystem configuration. As the building industry faces challenges in adopting manufacturing techniques and technologies, the paper examines significant yet understudied implications of Industry 4.0 along industrial value chains. This study aims to understand how the building industry in Australia can adapt to the shift towards industrialised-digitalisation by exploring the opportunities for innovation in business models and value chains. The research approach will draw on a literature review, and a series of workshops in four Australian cities to understand perspectives determining business model innovation. Examining integration, servitization, and expertization the paper illuminates the impact of digital connectivity, information exchange, and design value on the industry. The paper's framework focuses on assessing dynamic capabilities (sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring) and the ecosystem lifecycle (birth, expansion, leadership, self-renewal) to comprehend business model innovation in the Australian construction ecosystem. It also uncovers how diverse stakeholders, including developers, contractors, consultants, supply chain actors, and digital platform owners, create value and progress through these phases. Identifying prospects in offsite manufacturing, standardization, technological advances, and value chain integration allows developers, clients, and contractors to enhance efficiency and results. Consultants can utilize their design value and project management know-how to promote cooperation among stakeholders. Additionally, digital platform proprieto

Background In the spring of 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic an above-average number of residents and staff in nursing homes fell ill and accounted for the highest number of incidences. Due to the pandemic, managers in nursing homes had to make new decisions on a daily basis as well as interpret and integrate decisions made by higher level authorities. Aim of the study The aim was to describe the decisions that had to be made by the managers of nursing homes in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and related consequences. Material and methods A qualitative multicentre cross-sectional design was chosen. Data collection was conducted with semi-structured telephone interviews. The recorded audio data were transcribed, analyzed using the framework analysis method and reflected in peer debriefings. Results A total of 78 interviews were conducted in 43 nursing homes and 3 main themes with 10 subthemes emerged: decisions about social participation, decisions on quarantine and isolation and staff adjustments. Discussion Clearer information and directives for the implementation of measures are needed, e.g. through standardized guidelines nationwide. Additionally, public health departments should play a stronger and more responsible role in a pandemic situation. The consequences of their decisions were hardly foreseeable for the managers and were marked by uncertainty. Responsibilities for and consequences of pandemic-related decisions should be further evaluated to empower managers in times of crises.

BACKGROUND: Reducing unnecessary antibiotic exposure is a key strategy in reducing the development and selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Hospital antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions are inherently complex, often requiring multiple healthcare professionals to change multiple behaviours at multiple timepoints along the care pathway. Inaction can arise when roles and responsibilities are unclear. A behavioural perspective can offer insights to maximize the chances of successful implementation. OBJECTIVES: To apply a behavioural framework [the Target Action Context Timing Actors (TACTA) framework] to existing evidence about hospital AMS interventions to specify which key behavioural aspects of interventions are detailed. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and interrupted time series (ITS) studies with a focus on reducing unnecessary exposure to antibiotics were identified from the most recent Cochrane review of interventions to improve hospital AMS. The TACTA framework was applied to published intervention reports to assess the extent to which key details were reported about what behaviour should be performed, who is responsible for doing it and when, where, how often and with whom it should be performed. RESULTS: The included studies (n = 45; 31 RCTs and 14 ITS studies with 49 outcome measures) reported what should be done, where and to whom. However, key details were missing about who should act (45%) and when (22%). Specification of who should act was missing in 79% of 15 interventions to reduce duration of treatment in continuing-care wards. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of precise specification within AMS interventions limits the generalizability and reproducibility of evidence, hampering efforts to implement AMS interventions in practice.