Eddie W.L. Cheng

Analytic hierarchy process (AHP)

Provides evidence showing that although analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is effective to use for management decision making, it can be defective if used improperly. AHP becomes one of the essential multi‐criteria, decision‐making methods used by both management practitioners and academics. With the development of computer software packages, its usage expands vastly across different business and management areas. An example is presented to illustrate how the defective methodology of AHP can contaminate the findings and subsequent analyses and discussions. The “defected” papers disclosed a defective methodology that generated invalid findings. This paper first points out what the query is. Then, possible reasons behind the invalid findings are described, which are also explained with mathematical expressions. Apparently, “defected” papers may infect those who use them and transfer the risks out into the academic world. Asserts its researchers’ responsibility to raise any risky papers for discussions once they have found them, and advises the authors of these papers to take a positive attitude in dealing with queries and critiques.

Contractor selection using the analytic network process

Contractor selection is one of the main activities of clients. Without a proper and accurate method for selecting the most appropriate contractor, the performance of the project will be affected. The multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) is suggested to be a viable method for contractor selection. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been used as a tool for MCDM. However, AHP can only be employed in hierarchical decision models. For complicated decision problems, the analytic network process (ANP) is highly recommended since ANP allows interdependent influences specified in the model. An example is demonstrated to illustrate how this method is conducted, including the formation of supermatrix and the limit matrix.

Analytic hierarchy process

This paper discusses the use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in assigning weights to a group of elements. The weighting of elements has two major functions. First, it is employed to prioritize (rank) elements so that the key elements can be determined. This may for example help to establish the key measures for business performance. Second, assigning weight to selected measures (or criteria) may provide a more accurate judgement. It is, therefore, useful in making business decisions, such as the evaluation of alternative marketing strategies, the selection of candidates for jobs, etc. In addition, AHP employs a consistency test to purify the usable questionnaire responses and an iterative process to improve consistency, which differentiate it from other research methods. Comments and discussions regarding the AHP method are also provided.

The analytic network process (ANP) approach to location selection: a shopping mall illustration

This paper presents the employment of the analytic network process (ANP) to select the best site for a shopping mall. ANP is an innovative and robust multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM) method because it can produce a comprehensive analytic framework for solving societal, governmental, and corporate decision problems. Yet, there is a lack of published papers in the construction field demonstrating the method with illustrative examples. In the current paper, it is suggested that ANP is appropriate for shopping mall location selection. An example is therefore demonstrated. In order to explicate the difference between ANP and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the findings obtained from the two methods are compared. Results of the comparison indicate that ANP is a powerful tool to solve the decision problem if interdependent relationships have substantial impacts in the decision model.

Information priority‐setting for better resource allocation using analytic hierarchy process (AHP)

Focuses on the use of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to prioritize different forms of information. Identification of the key information may help better allocation of resources for a construction project. Various forms of information and their associated activities may critically affect the project, which have to be carefully dealt with for enhancing the project performance. Essentially, when some of these forms of information have to be produced and managed by more sophisticated information technology, the more we know about their importance level, the better we could allocate our investment in the construction project. In general, this study reveals that managerial information is equally as important as technical information. This implies that an overall information system should incorporate the technologies and techniques for generating and maintaining both types of information.

An e‐business model to support supply chain activities in construction

A model for an e‐business infrastructure that can be used to support supply chain activities in construction is proposed. A virtual network structure that acts as a value‐added component of an e‐business infrastructure is used to improve communication and coordination, and encourage the mutual sharing of inter‐organisational resources and competencies. The e‐business infrastructure used to support the proposed network structure and the human, organisational and cultural barriers that may be encountered are presented and discussed. It is proffered that the proposed e‐business model not only will be of benefit to those organisations which operate in the construction supply chain, but also may be fit for other types of business‐to‐business e‐commerce when cooperation between business partners is necessary to improve organisational performance and gain a competitive advantage

Co-operative benchmarking: a tool for partnering excellence in construction

Abstract This paper suggests that co-operative benchmarking should be used as a tool for achieving partnering excellence in construction projects. The paper presents an eight-stage process of a co-operative benchmarking approach which can be used to improve the performance of parties entering into partnering agreements (the COBAP process). It is suggested that the establishment of a COBAP team and effective management of the COBAP process, can stimulate a series of positive outcomes such as mutual trust, commitment, creativity and continuous improvement. The implementation of the COBAP can be used as a mechanism for collective learning, which can sustain a competitive advantage.

An empirical analysis of the barriers to implementing e‐commerce in small‐medium sized construction contractors in the state of Victoria, Australia

To improve organizational performance and sustain a competitive advantage many Australian businesses have begun to embrace e‐commerce. For example, businesses from the automotive, banking, insurance and retail industries have been able to leverage the benefits of information and communication technologies. Yet, those from the construction industry have been slow, perhaps even reluctant, to implement information and communication technologies to support ecommerce. Thus, this paper aims to determine the barriers that small‐medium sized contractors are experiencing when confronted with the need to implement e‐commerce to sustain their competitiveness. Unstructured interviews were undertaken with managers from 20 small‐medium sized contractors from the State of Victoria in Australia, which had annual turnovers ranging from

The influence of job and career attitudes on learning motivation and transfer

1‐50 million. The financial, organizational, technical and human barriers that were identified from findings are presented and discussed. The paper concludes by proposing strategies that small‐medium sized contractors may adopt if they to leverage the benefits of e‐commerce.

Benchmarking: a general reading for management practitioners

This article examines a parsimonious model that specifies the effects of job involvement and career commitment on learning motivation and learning transfer, using structural equation modelling. The “best fitting” model is achieved because it has surpassed all the goodness‐of‐fit indices including the chi‐square statistic. The results indicated that career commitment was positively related to learning motivation and learning transfer. In addition, suppressor effect may help to explain the non‐significant relationships between job involvement and learning motivation, and between job involvement and learning transfer.