Dennis J. Kulonda

Enterprise information systems: technology first or process first?

Purpose – Enterprise resource planning (ERP), a technological approach for enterprise information systems, has many recorded case examples of lengthy and expensive implementations reported in literature. This research has uncovered an alternative process‐driven and document‐based approach that may offer a simpler and more flexible solution compared with technology‐driven ERP. This paper investigates the differences and similarities of the two approaches, and also answers a related question: Is the enterprise system implementation an information systems effort performed to support the business processes, or is it a process re‐engineering effort required to implement the pre‐packaged software system?Design/methodology/approach – To investigate the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches to an enterprise information system, this research developed a unified modeling language (UML) process model of a manufactured housing company and used it as a basis for a conceptual level UML model for both an ER...

State of green construction in India: drivers and challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a workshop organized in New Delhi to assess the current state of green construction in India and highlight the major drivers and challenges faced by the construction sector.Design/methodology/approach – The data collection for this paper is conducted through two sources; a survey and a facilitated brainstorming session. The survey provides an opportunity to compare practices in India to global trends and the facilitated sessions provides a platform to collect data on more subjective, experiential knowledge about green construction in India.Findings – Some of the major findings of this endeavour are: there is an awareness about green construction in India; It is primarily driven by the governmental and international regulations; with the current energy crisis customers in India are actually willing to pay extra for going green; and there is a lack of accurate lifecycle cost assessment models which results in misconceptions about associated c...

Green business models in the construction sector: an analysis of outcomes and benefits

Purpose Green business models (GBMs) in the construction sector represent the logic of green value creation and capture. Hence, the call to examine GBMs is growing ever louder. The aim of this paper is to identify benefits of GBMs by adopting five essential elements of the GBM from the literature: green value proposition; target group; key activities; key resources (KR); and financial logic. Design/methodology/approach In all, 19 semi-structured interviews are conducted with construction sector practitioners and academics in the UK. Thematic analysis is used to obtain benefits of GBMs. Further, the interpretive ranking process (IRP) is used to examine which elements of the GBM have a dominant role in providing benefits to construction businesses. Findings The benefits are grouped into three themes: credibility/reputation benefits; financial benefits; and long-term viability benefits. The IRP model shows that the element of KR is the most important when evaluated against these three benefit themes. Practical implications Linking GBM elements and benefits will help companies in the construction sector to analyse the business case of embracing environmental sustainability. Originality/value This research is one of the few empirical academic works investigating the benefits of GBMs in the construction sector. The IRP method is a novel contribution to GBMs and construction research.

TECHNICAL NOTE A NOTE ON THE COST OF OWNERSHIP, CAPITAL RECOVERY AND DEPRECIATION

ABSTRACT This paper develops an after-tax version of the classical capital recovery equation and demonstrates its value as a screening device and as an expository tool to convey conceptual understanding of the cost of ownership, capital recovery and depreciation.

Prioritizing cost management system considerations for Nigerian housing projects

Purpose This study aims to develop a success factor model to understand and facilitate improved cost management system (CMS) implementation in low-cost housing (LcH) project delivery in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach Literature findings highlight 13 drivers affecting effective implementation within the CMS and uses series of brainstorming sessions and questionnaire surveys to validate the drivers. Factor analysis (FA) identifies possible contextual relationships among the validated drivers and groups them into three success factors. The results of the FA are refined using interpretive structural modelling (ISM). The ISM identifies and models the influential drivers and aids the development of the success factor model. Findings Effective team qualities, information and management actions and a stable operational environment are the three essential success factors for effective CMS implementation. Practical implications The paper highlights effective team qualities as the most important CMS considerations for Nigerian LcH project delivery. This finding creates the needed awareness to guide project sponsors and project managers in the appropriate selection of the project management team (PMT) as well as the procurement system that facilitates their collaboration. Originality/value This study is a novel research using FA and ISM to investigate the influence of success factors needful for effective implementation within the CMS. It further develops a hierarchy model that aids the PMT with better understanding of the drivers and factors interrelationships for use on LcH projects within the Nigerian context.

Green business models transformation: evidence from the UK construction sector

Purpose Sustainability has the potential to bring enormous benefits to our built environment. To release this potential, a change in business models is required. The purpose of this paper is to investigate green business models (GBMs) transformation by adopting five essential elements of green value creation and capture: green value proposition (GVP), target group (TG), key activities (KA), key resources (KR), and financial logic (FL). Design/methodology/approach In this qualitative study, 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviewees were selected purposively. The emergent data were analysed with the aid of themes. Findings It was observed that significant effort was being made towards enabling the transformation of certain elements pertinent to green value creation: KA and KR. This was particularly so when compared to other elements like GVP, TG, and FL. Practical implications Findings from this study should encourage construction managers to align their extant BMs to green activities hence enabling new approaches to green value creation and capture. Furthermore, the study will aid in improving the environmental and economic positions of the value chain within the construction sector. Originality/value This research is one of the few empirical academic works investigating GBMs in the construction sector.