Does project management matter? The relationship between project management effort,complexity, and profitability

The purpose of this study is to explore the causal impact of project management effort on project profitability (i.e., profit on sales) for varying degrees of project complexity in an engineer-to-order (ETO) project setting. We use a sample of 917 projects’ status reports of a large firm that offers ETO products coupled with a control function approach to empirically investigate the causal effect of project management effort on projects’ profitability. Furthermore, we investigate the marginal impact of project management effort and its effect for different degrees of project complexity. Our results reveal a positive but diminishing impact of project management effort on project profitability. Furthermore, we find that higher project complexity jeopardizes project profitability. However, project management's marginal impact increases with increasing project complexity, ultimately leading to higher returns of more complex projects. While previous research provided correlational evidence between project management and project success, this study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to demonstrate a causal impact of project management on profitability. The results offer unique insights into the economic benefits of project management while taking into account the complexity of the projects. The study confirms the benefits of project management efforts regarding project profitability and underlines the high relevance of project management for complex projects, thereby underlining the importance of contingency theory. It shows that firms can compensate higher ETO customization and higher project complexity through higher project management effort.     

Is strategy being implemented through projects? Contrary evidence from a leader in New Public Management

This paper reports on the effectiveness of the project management and investment frameworks in the State of Victoria. It finds project management and investment practices comparable to best practice but also finds 100 billion dollars invested in projects over the past decade without any evidence of improvement in strategic goals. It concludes that there may be systemic deficiencies in our project management and investment frameworks. It suggests that deficiencies in the way projects are currently selected and managed limit the capability to realise strategic goals. Future research to develop programme management, portfolio management and project governance is recommended to increase the likelihood that strategy will be implemented.     

Spatial concentration of manufacturing firms in China

Applying the methodology developed by Duranton and Overman, we analyse localization and dispersion of firms in China. Using a unique and detailed dataset on manufacturing firms in China, we are able to follow the changes in location patterns of firms between 2002 and 2008. Our analysis shows that firms in China are more localized than in the UK or Japan. Localization is comparable to that in the US, and takes place at relatively small scales that are consistent with the size of Chinese cities. Localization increases rapidly, even in the relative short period between 2002 and 2008, especially new entrants localize. Private firms, firms from Hong‐Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and foreign firms are more localized than state‐owned firms. Our findings are consistent with the notion that China is increasingly liberalizing its economy, enabling (profit seeking) manufacturing firms to benefit from agglomeration economies.     

Project-ending competence in premature project closures

Project management literature tends to focus on the early phases of a project and on the associated generic project management competences, such as planning, scheduling, budgeting, resourcing and motivating. Only a small fraction of the discussion is devoted to project closure and to the competences needed when a project fails to reach the goals and so needs to be closed prematurely. The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of project-ending competences needed in premature project closures. Two cases of premature project closure are analysed in different contexts: in the car industry and the aircraft manufacturing industry. The key findings concern the managerial challenges that are present in premature project closures: the need for involvement of senior and also project managers, the need to understand the often changed role of internal and external project stakeholders, and the need to understand that the ‘future matters’ in premature project closure.     

浅谈工程项目HSE管理与三大目标的关系

随着工程项目管理水平的不断提高以及项目各参与主体对项目的要求逐渐增多,工程项目管理不单要实现传统的三大目标,更加要注重HSE（健康、安全、环境）管理目标的实现。本文详细阐述了在工程项目管理中HSE管理与三大目标的辩证关系,为施工企业在具体的项目管理实践中更好地实现两者的均衡发展提供参考依据。     

压力钢管制作过程质量控制之我见

结合夹马口引黄泵站更新改造工程压力管道制作过程,主要就压力钢管制作过程中质量控制进行全面阐述,同时提出自己的看法和一点建议,以确保压力钢管制作质量。     

基于WBS的工程项目物流管理

工程项目物流管理不同于制造业物流管理 ,其管理过程具有相对复杂性 ,目前工程项目管理中对物流管理缺乏重视 ,经常出现物流管理失误导致项目目标无法实现。本文针对工程项目物流管理的特点 ,提出利用WBS分析的方法 ,建立一套工程项目信息编码体系 ,对工程项目物流管理实施动态化、全方位、全过程物流计划与管理系统。     

基于文献计量和专利分析的我国智能制造发展态势研究

随着新一轮科技革命和产业变革的孕育兴起,加速工业智能化、绿色化转型,不同产业间的边界渐趋模糊,智能制造作为新兴产业爆发领域,发展空间和发展潜力巨大。本文运用词频统计法、可视化知识图谱法、内容分析法等多种文献计量方法,系统分析我国智能制造领域研究的现状,深度发掘该领域研究热点和趋势。研究结果显示,自1992年以来我国智能制造领域的研究文献呈逐年增加趋势,核心作者和期刊分布较散,研究范围较广,热点话题相对集中于智能制造发展情况、企业管理、制造强国、人工智能和机器人技术、物联网等领域,研究趋势更倾向于智能制造技术、标准化研究和智能制造理论体系,可见,现阶段我国智能制造正处于快速发展期。     

Contemporary project portfolio management: Reflections on the development of an Australian Competency Standard for Project Portfolio Management

Project portfolio management is an emerging aspect of business management that focuses on how projects are selected, prioritised, integrated, managed and controlled in the multi-project context that exists in modern organisations. Competency standards have been developed by professional bodies for project managers. However, to date there has been no attempt to develop a competency standard at the portfolio management level. This paper examines the process for development of the first performance-based competency standard for project portfolio management and identifies how this contributes to the body of knowledge in both project portfolio management and project management more broadly. The intent is to use the Standard to improve project portfolio management capability and practice in organisations, which in turn promotes efficient resource use and more profitable project outcomes. Specific issues regarding Australian practice are described, along with implications for how this may impact Australian practice in the future.     

基于机载激光技术的地形图制作流程

对比传统航空摄影地形图制作流程和LiDAR技术地形图制作流程,分析了两种方法获取数据的区别,并结合实例阐述了基于机载激光扫描技术的地形图制作方法,指出了采用该技术制作地形图的优缺点,以期指导实践。     

钢桁梁拱桥制造精度管理

通过叙述钢桁梁拱桥的发展历程,以广西柳州维义大桥制造为研究对象,提出钢桁梁拱桥制造精度管理系统并作了具体阐述,为后续同类型桥梁制造提供了一定指导。     

增材制造用钛合金粉末的研究现状

增材制造技术以其特有的技术优势成为金属材料快速成形的研究热点.本文简要介绍了增材制造对钛合金粉末的基本要求,列举了增材制造用钛合金粉末制备方法及特性,讨论了增材制造用钛合金粉末的国内外技术对比及主要差距,并对增材制造用钛合金粉末的发展进行了展望.     

增材制造用金属材料的研究现状

增材制造又称3D打印技术,是快速成形技术的一种,已经改变了现代金属制造业.本文简要介绍金属增材制造的几种技术和设备,以及增材制造用不同种类金属材料的最新发展,并指出当前金属材料在增材制造过程中面临的挑战及未来发展趋势.     

Advancing Manufacturing?: Blinkered Visions in U.S. and Australian Urban Policy

ABSTRACT

Advocates argue that urban manufacturing holds potential to promote locally distinctive enterprises, quality employment and more socially-inclusive forms of urban development. However, little is known how urban policy actually supports manufacturing. This paper documents the policy response to urban manufacturing in the U.S. and Australia. We determine how policy documents conceptualise manufacturing and define goals and strategy around land use, business development and workforce development. The analysis demonstrates that manufacturing policy is situated between entrenched visions of deindustrialisation and emerging notions of a renewed, advanced manufacturing sector and that most cities struggle to address the inherent challenges of this condition.     

Shared and fragmented understandings in interorganizational IT project teams: An interpretive case study

Shared understanding is essential in interorganizational projects to integrate the divergent knowledge of individual team members and support collaborative knowledge building. This can nevertheless be a challenging undertaking in interorganizational projects as team members must continuously negotiate differences in their organizational and professional backgrounds during project work. In this paper, we explore how interorganizational IT project teams deal with sources of ‘fragmentation’ in their understanding, explicating the theoretical and practical implications that these have for project management. Our study is needed to explore the increasingly complex and emergent nature of interorganizational project management today where neither goals nor the means of attainment are known with precision at a project's launch. We analyze interpretive case study findings from an 8-month IT project involving diverse organizations from industry, academia, and healthcare. Based on our findings, we develop a framework which highlights the relationship between three sources of fragmentation of understanding (interpersonal, technical, and contextual) across key project activities. We contribute towards project management literature by revealing how these sources of fragmentation might be overcome through framing project activities (the problem, method, and solution formulation) differently. While fragmentation may characterize any, or all, of these key activities, it is not without remedy.     

金属增材制造的研究进展

增材制造技术是备受关注的先进制造技术之一.本文介绍了金属粉末作为金属增材制造用原材料的基本要求及增材制造用金属粉末的主要制备方法——等离子旋转电极法及气雾化法,将增材制造用金属粉末按成分分类,列举了钛基合金、镍基合金、铁基合金等增材制造领域的研究进展,并对增材制造技术的发展提出了展望.     

新工科建设背景下机械制造技术基础课程建设探索

基于新工科建设人才培养新模式,借鉴麻省理工学院(MIT)新工科人才理念,针对机械制造技术基础课程存在的教学内容有待更新、教学方式以“教”为主、教学环节缺乏工程训练、实践教学环节缺乏系统性以及课程考核缺乏实践考核等问题,提出机械制造技术基础课程建设新思路,调整人才培养目标,构建以理论教学、实验教学、实践教学为一体的课程体系,完善以学生为中心的教育教学方式和课程考核机制,积极探索新工科背景下课程建设的有效途径,不断提升教育教学质量,培养高素质创新人才。     

Managing divestments as projects: Benefits of stakeholder orientation

We review research at the intersection of corporate divestiture and stakeholder orientation to synthesize implications for divestment project management. Divestitures are corporate restructuring projects, implying application of project management techniques and concepts can facilitate the achievement of desired goals. Managing stakeholder relationships during divestment plays a critical role in determining divestment outcomes. Findings suggest that managers practice stakeholder relationship management through determining divestiture mode, unit selection, participative management, and parenting. Moreover, stronger stakeholder orientation reduces the costs of stakeholder relationship management. For example, stronger stakeholder orientation facilitates spin-offs that align with investor interests, but they require careful consideration of a parenting relationship between a divesting firm and divested unit. Meanwhile, sell-offs involve an additional stakeholder of a new owner and may require greater stakeholder management. When divestitures are more complex, more participative project management can increase the success of corporate restructuring.     

马来西亚免烧红壤砖生产工艺的选择和探讨

本文介绍了马来西亚一条免烧红壤砖生产线的生产工艺 ,并对其工艺路线的选择进行研究讨论 ,认为该生产线的工艺合理可行 ,技术先进可靠。     

Construction rescheduling based on a manufacturing rescheduling framework

Changes during project execution frequently require schedule updating and rescheduling. However, few studies have discussed rescheduling issues or implemented rescheduling solutions for construction projects. This study investigates resource-constrained construction rescheduling issues using concepts associated with manufacturing rescheduling. Based on an initial schedule and actual progress, a novel rescheduling optimization model using Constraint Programming (CP) techniques is developed to reschedule projects. Two rescheduling methods: (1) complete regeneration (CR); and, (2) partial rescheduling (PR) while minimizing overall project variation are implemented in the proposed model to demonstrate the model capability and applications. PR requiring additional treatments to decrease overall project variation is performed using a novel constraint-release mechanism. Finally, using a case study, optimization results obtained using two rescheduling methods are analyzed and discussed.