Collaborative Building Information Modeling (BIM) is promoted as a five dimensional coordination platform representing the next generation of construction management tools. However, while the practice has received a great deal of attention, it continues to experience low adoption rates in practice. This research contends that there exists an incentive problem suppressing the proliferation of this powerful management technology. To this end, the following study aims to explore practitioners’ awareness of potential incentive problems and possible solutions in order to signpost the future direction of incentive research. This is accomplished through the distribution of a survey which collects and analyzes incentive data by stakeholder classification, finding that no two stakeholders presented identical (or even highly similar) responses and providing a wealth of data from which to draw key conclusions and employ within follow-on research.
Studies on international construction activities tend to focus on project contracting or exporting of raw material (such as cement or steel). However, globalization and free-trade agreements are creating new opportunities for international trade in manufactured housing products (such as roofing systems and other components). The aim of this work is to understand the factors that impact the potential profitability of housing construction products in international markets and develop a process for profitability assessment. This was done in a test market (the Mexican market) through reviewing pertinent literature in conjunction with conducting interviews with experts in this domain. The analysis shows that six major processes have to be undertaken: (1) analysis of market conditions (preventure analysis); (2) assessing competencies; (3) evaluation of product and service; (4) analysis of proper distribution channels (supply chain); (5) evaluation of marketing strategies; and (6) analysis of cost-price-value relationship. A set of factors and best practices has been identified to support and guide the conduct of each process. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Traditional three-dimensional project management theory is based on optimizing the cost-schedule-technical dimensions. Recent studies in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have shown that the current project management body of knowledge may not be adequate to address interrelated and dependent variables encountered on complex projects. This paper reports the findings of an international research team's detailed study of 18 complex projects, which confirms the findings of the previous research and proposes a framework upon which a complex transportation project's scope of work can be better conceptualized and a methodology to graphically display a project's complexity in order to better understand and prioritize the available resources. The result is a complexity footprint that helps the complex transportation project manager identify the sources of complexity so that appropriate resources can be allocated to address those factors before they create a crisis. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
