Llewellyn Tang

An entropy-based SWOT evaluation process of critical success factors for international market entry: a case study of a medium-sized consulting company

In the UK, construction companies are striving for survival and stable business growth during the economic recession, with many companies exploring the expansion of international business. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in relation to international business are well understood; however, in existing literature little emphasis has been placed on the associated critical success factors (CSFs) and their evaluation. The aim is to identify relevant CSFs that can potentially influence the success of international projects. A questionnaire was undertaken to investigate 11 pre-identified common CSFs categories, and 25 SWOT individual factors relevant to a leading international medium-sized consultancy company in the UK. The data were evaluated by using the quantitative method of entropy ranking and SWOT qualitative analysis. Political, physical and corruption factors were found to be the most significant factors to the success of international projects. The findings examine a measure of entropy-based SWOT method to remove uncertainty between respondents (multi-objectives) during the evaluation of CSFs, which is supportive of an accurate, reliable and reasonable basis for the decision-making process. Substantial evidence is also provided regarding the identification and evaluation of CSFs that potentially affect the success of international projects for a medium-sized UK consulting company, when deciding about expansion into the international market.

Codification vs personalisation: A study of the information evaluation practice between aerospace and construction industries

In the emerging digital economy, the management of information in aerospace and construction organisations is facing a particular challenge due to the ever-increasing volume of information and the extensive use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This paper addresses the problems of information overload and the value of information in both industries by providing some cross-disciplinary insights. In particular it identifies major issues and challenges in the current information evaluation practice in these two industries. Interviews were conducted to get a spectrum of industrial perspectives (director/strategic, project management and ICT/document management) on these issues in particular to information storage and retrieval strategies and the contrasting approaches to knowledge and information management of personalisation and codification. Industry feedback was collected by a follow-up workshop to strengthen the findings of the research. An information-handling agenda is outlined for the development of a future Information Evaluation Methodology (IEM) which could facilitate the practice of the codification of high-value information in order to support through-life knowledge and information management (K&IM) practice.

Simulating Construction Duration for Multistory Buildings with Controlling Activities

AbstractConstruction schedules are uncertain in nature; therefore, predicting construction duration is a difficult task. Extensive research has proposed mathematical models to predict construction duration based on regression analysis, Monte Carlo method (MCM), and so on. Yet regression analysis cannot capture duration uncertainties. Studies normally use Monte Carlo methods to simulate hundreds to thousands of activities in a project schedule. This can be complicated, time-consuming, and unrealistic because the statistical properties of all the activities cannot be readily determined in practice. Typical construction sequences in condominium building construction were first identified, and then the statistical distributions of controlling activities on the sequences were surveyed. Two-stage questionnaire surveys and goodness-of-fit statistical tests were conducted to achieve the mentioned objectives. Subsequently, a model for predicting the duration of building construction was proposed and applied to a h...

Defining a framework for the evaluation of information

In any enterprise, decisions need be made during the life cycle of information about its management. This requires information evaluation to take place; a little-understood process. For evaluation support to be both effective and resource efficient, some sort of automatic or semi-automatic evaluation method would be invaluable. Such a method would require an understanding of the diversity of the contexts in which evaluation takes place so that evaluation support can have the necessary context-sensitivity. This paper identifies the dimensions influencing the information evaluation process and defines the elements that characterise them, thus providing the foundations for a context-sensitive evaluation framework.

Investigation into the current stage of BIM application in China's AEC industries

Building Information Modelling (BIM), the movement in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries worldwide, is pushing AEC firms to adopt BIM technologies in multiple engineering design fields and project management. China, the world’s largest AEC market, is currently undergoing a growing demand on BIM utilization along with recently published governmental policies to enhance the BIM adoption. Despite the general trend of BIM implementation, there are some challenges of implementing BIM in China’s local AEC industries. This paper is aimed at investigating the current stage of BIM practice in China. Through literature review of BIM application in China and overseas, followed by a questionnaire-based survey to an international engineering firm in China, both qualitative and quantitative information has been collected to analyse the local BIM practice, the benefits and barriers of implementing BIM, and the future of BIM in China. The findings of the investigation provide the vision of BIM development in the next five to ten years in China, and recommendations on future BIM implementation.

Identifying design development factors in Australian PPP projects using an AHP framework

In Australia consortiums will come together and create an initial design concept or sketch design at the public–private partnership (PPP) bid stage. If the bid is successful this initial design is then developed further. However, a winning bid may have been evaluated on financial criteria alone and the consortium’s capability to develop the design through to project delivery may not have been thoroughly evaluated. In theory, design is a key process in PPP projects and the aim of the research was to understand what capabilities are important in the development of a design through this process. To clarify these issues, a range of activities and organizational factors linked to design development are proposed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. This method was chosen in order to see which design development factors were ranked more highly by experts. In this research the hierarchy was designed employing the categories of exploratory and exploitative design development. Below each of these overarching categories, there were four design development functional distinctions: the two exploratory distinctions were Design (D) and Design Management (DM). The two exploitative distinctions were Design Support (DS) and Design Infrastructure (DI). A further list of 36 design development sub-criteria was developed under the above categories. These sub-criteria formed the basis of a survey of respondents drawn from a database of industry sources in the public domain as well as a list gathered from a large developer involved in PPP projects. It included relatively senior managers, PPP project managers and architects. Survey respondents identified a recent PPP project that they had worked on. From the 36 responses it can be seen that the exploratory Design (D) and Design Management (DM) activities were ranked more highly than the exploitative activities of Design Support (DS) and Design Infrastructure (DI) associated with a PPP project organization. This suggests that PPP frameworks should account for these exploratory factors as well as the exploitative factors associated with compliance, quality systems and project team infrastructure. This indicates that in PPP projects design development through the effective management of an initial design is a critical factor.

Empirical Study of BIM Implementation–Based Perceptions among Chinese Practitioners

The global movement of building information modeling (BIM) is spreading the implementation of BIM from developed countries to other developing countries. Practitioners’ perceptions of BIM implementation in these developing countries, such as China, a giant building market that is increasing the application of BIM in the industry, have not been thoroughly understood. This research used the questionnaire method to survey 94 randomly recruited Chinese BIM professionals to investigate BIM practice and its related perceptions. Reductions in design errors and resultant construction rework were considered the top benefits of using BIM. The most important factor in achieving BIM value was noted as interoperability among various BIM tools. A comprehensive evaluation of BIM at the company level was considered a major difficulty of implementing BIM. The owner was considered the party that received the most benefits from BIM. Subgroup differences based on two major categories (i.e., participants’ profession and BIM proficiency level) were analyzed in the survey sections related to BIM implementation. Statistical analysis revealed that, generally, neither the profession nor BIM proficiency level affected participants’ perceptions of the benefits, factors, challenges, or benefited parties in BIM implementation.

Cost Estimation in Building Information Models

Digitalization is the next trend of development in the construction industry, with increasingly more information being digital in nature. Addressing this development within our industry is Building Information Modelling (BIM). The currency of inter-dependent cooperation within BIM and the construction industry is information. However cost estimators still have little knowledge about how to leverage information within semantic rich information models, e.g. IFC. This paper introduces a new philosophic stance for cost estimation to address the development of model based cost estimation, addresses the importance of contextual information and the needs of extension of pricing information according to the general process of cost estimation by using the IFC standard. Information requirement as specified in IFC for cost estimation is established and instances of IFC relationship have been identified. The knowledge of cost estimation is demonstrated and discussed. Initial analysis of the IFC schema has been completed, including analyze classification & inheritance structure. It can be concluded that the IFC standard has the capacity fully facilitate the cost estimation within ideal environment and the direction of automating cost estimation for BIM has been pointed out.

An entropy‐based financial decision support system (e‐FDSS) for project analysis in construction SMEs

Uncertainty contributes a major part in the accuracy of a decision‐making process while its inconsistency is always difficult to be solved by existing decision‐making tools. Entropy has been proved to be useful to evaluate the inconsistency of uncertainty among different respondents. The study demonstrates an entropy‐based financial decision support system called e‐FDSS. This integrated system provides decision support to evaluate attributes (funding options and multiple risks) available in projects. Fuzzy logic theory is included in the system to deal with the qualitative aspect of these options and risks. An adaptive genetic algorithm (AGA) is also employed to solve the decision algorithm in the system in order to provide optimal and consistent rates to these attributes. Seven simplified and parallel projects from a Hong Kong construction small and medium enterprise (SME) were assessed to evaluate the system. The result shows that the system calculates risk adjusted discount rates (RADR) of projects in an objective way. These rates discount project cash flow impartially. Inconsistency of uncertainty is also successfully evaluated by the use of the entropy method. Finally, the system identifies the favourable funding options that are managed by a scheme called SME Loan Guarantee Scheme (SGS). Based on these results, resource allocation could then be optimized and the best time to start a new project could also be identified throughout the overall project life cycle.

Barriers and policy recommendations for developing green buildings from local government perspective: a case study of Ningbo China

ABSTRACT This paper is based on an ongoing research project funded by the World Bank GEF Program, which aims to identify the key barriers to green building development in Ningbo China and suggest policy improvements to the local government. China is undergoing the largest scale of urbanization in history and at an unprecedented pace. The construction and operation of buildings have inevitably brought severe pressures on resource conservation and environmental protection. China has initiated policies, strategies and financial incentive schemes at national level to address these issues. It is also seen that there is a growing interest in recent years at local government level in promoting green buildings. This paper will take a look at the current national policies and targets and then discuss the motivations and opportunities of developing green buildings from a perspective of local governments. Questionnaire surveys and interviews with relevant stakeholders have been conducted in the case study city. Based on the surveys and interviews, the key barriers to developing green buildings in the case study city have been identified, and recommendations for policy change are proposed.