Stakeholder dynamics and responsibilities in Public–Private Partnerships: A mixed experience

Although stakeholder management is seen as one of the main success factors of Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs), to date, limited research has investigated actual stakeholder management in PPPs. After positioning PPP in the current stakeholder management theory, a comparative case study analysis of four PPP infrastructure projects demonstrates the relevance and importance of stakeholder inclusion in PPPs. The case study findings indicate that a PPP makes the stakeholder environment more complex to manage, due to the increasing importance of the stakeholder context and dynamics. Hence, allocating stakeholder responsibilities between the public initiator and private consortium becomes problematic as it goes hand in hand with balancing between reactive and proactive responses to stakeholder claims. In order to cope with the PPP specific stakeholder characteristics, the use of a dynamic dual stakeholder management tool is recommended as well as the identification of governance structures that allow the sharing and division of responsibilities between stakeholders.     

Different stakeholder groups and their perceptions of project success

This is a theoretical paper using the Web of Science search engine and Bibexcel analysis functions to determine key literature related to ‘project success’. The paper firstly provides background to the development of project success since the 1970s. Then, an inductive thematic analysis investigates which factors stakeholders, involved in projects, perceived as key to project success.     

Participatory floodplain management in the Red River Basin, Canada

Floodplain management is a subject in which everyone in the floodplain is a stakeholder. Real participation only takes place when stakeholders are part of the decision-making process. This can occur directly when local communities come together to make floodplain management choices or if democratically elected or otherwise accountable agencies or groups can represent stakeholders. Real participation is more than consultation and requires that stakeholders at all levels of the social structure have an impact on decisions at different levels of floodplain management. A participatory approach is the only means for achieving long-lasting consensus and common agreement. However, for this to occur, stakeholders and officials from water management agencies have to recognize that the sustainability of floodplain management decisions is a common problem and that all parties are going to have to sacrifice some desires for the common good. There is common responsibility for making participation possible. This involves (a) the creation of mechanisms for stakeholder consultation at various scales (from local, over watershed to national) and (b) the creation of participatory capacity, particularly amongst marginalized social groups. This may include awareness raising, confidence building and education, as well as the provision of the economic resources needed to facilitate participation and the establishment of good and transparent sources of information.

This work focuses on the methodology for stakeholder participation in floodplain management. Floodplain management problems are characterized by multiple objectives and large number of stakeholders. The solution methodologies adapted for multi-criteria multi participant decision problems are generally based on aggregation of decisions obtained for individual decision makers. This approach seems somewhat inadequate when the number of stakeholders is very large. We have developed a methodology to include the views of multiple stakeholders using fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic. Three possible different response types: scale (crisp), linguistic (fuzzy), and conditional (fuzzy) are analyzed to obtain the resultant input by using Fuzzy Expected Value. Fuzzy Expected Value input is used with the multi-criteria decision-making tool named Fuzzy Compromise Programming.

The methodology has been applied to floodplain management in the Red River Basin, Canada that faces periodical flooding. We have demonstrated that the empowerment of stakeholders can improve the floodplain management process and provide decisions acceptable to a wider group of stakeholders.     

Creating a Dialogue for Effective Collaborative Decision-making: A Case Study with Michigan Stakeholders

Although widely promoted, the importance of science as the basis of natural resources policy-making has proven difficult to both implement and evaluate compared to the many other inputs to creating public policy. Our goals were to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders in Michigan and develop means to create a dialogue on the use of water science in policy-making and to address the disconnect between the science and water policy at the state and regional levels. To achieve these goals, we developed a series of workshops and facilitated discussions to encourage active, productive discussion with a group of 35 Water Resource Fellows (Fellows). The discussions examined the role of science in Michigan water policy. The Fellows were representatives from academia, local governments, state agencies, environmental groups, industry, agriculture, and business. We surveyed the Fellows about their views on the role of science and water issues in Michigan. Nearly half (45%) of the Fellows stated that not enough science is currently being used in water policy decisions. Several themes emerged from the facilitated discussions. The Fellows recommended a recursive decision-making approach to using science in policy making. The Fellows also expressed the need for science to be accessible, relevant to the policy community, and communicated to regulators and the general public on an ongoing basis. The workshop series process for encouraging discussion among stakeholders can be used in other collaborative decision-making efforts.     

基于体制机制的绿色建筑推广责任归属研究

为实现绿色建筑的规模化推广,从绿色建筑的推广现状入手,通过构建基于体制机制的分析框架,对各利益相关方进行了重点分析,探讨了责任划分的基本原则,并分析了不同阶段各利益相关方之间的关系。以列表的形式分析了我国现有的绿色建筑推广政策,分析结果表明,推广的管理体制不健全、市场运行机制不合理、各利益相关方责任归属不明晰是造成各方没有积极性的主要原因;进而从政策、市场两方面探讨促进推广的举措,体制机制的革新有必要采用新的思路。     

可持续建设的四个边缘性问题

面对能源／资源短缺、环境负荷加剧的严峻背景，工程建设领域的可持续发展问题日益突出。鉴于此，从项目全寿命周期、资源选择与使用、低碳、项目干系人（利益相关方）等四个不同角度，探讨和澄清目前可持续建设领域存在的典型误区、面临的主要问题及其出路，以期为可持续建设理论与实践提供有益参考。     

行为主体互动下的水系空间管理与生态服务优化：基于德国埃姆舍河发展演变的实证研究

研究以行为主体的介入和互动为切入点,关注城市水系空间发展演变过程中的非技术因素和社会过程。文章首先审视城市水系空间管理的国际经验;之后选取德国埃姆舍河作为典型实证案例,回顾埃姆舍河100多年来的景观生态发展演变,着重分析水系空间规划和发展演变过程中不同行为主体的角色转换和发展特征,探讨其对于埃姆舍河生态服务优化的影响机制、影响趋势和影响模式;最后基于埃姆舍河的实践经验,探讨行为主体的内在行动与水系空间生态服务优化之间的内在关联。     

Requirements Engineering and Process Modelling in Software Quality Management— Towards a Generic Process Metamodel

This paper examines the concept of Quality in Software Engineering, its different contexts and its different meanings to various people. It begins with a commentary on quality issues for systems development and various stakeholders' involvement. It revisits aspects and concepts of systems development methods and highlights the relevance of quality issues to the choice of a process model. A summarised review of some families of methods is presented, where their application domain, lifecycle coverage, strengths and weaknesses are considered. Under the new development era the requirements of software development change; the role of methods and stakeholders change, too. The paper refers to the latest developments in the area of software engineering and emphasises the shift from traditional conceptual modelling to requirements engineering and process metamodelling principles. We provide support for an emerging discipline in the form of a software process metamodel to cover new issues for software quality and process improvement. The widening of the horizons of software engineering both as a communication tool and as a scientific discipline (and not as a craft) is needed in order to support both communicative and scientific quality systems properties. In general, we can consider such a discipline as a thinking tool for understanding the generic process and as the origin of combining intuition and quality engineering to transform requirements to adequate human-centred information systems. We conclude with a schematic representation of a Generic Process Metamodel (GPM) indicating facets contributed by Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, Linguistics, Sociology and Anthropology. Ongoing research and development issues have provided evidence for influence from even more diverse disciplines.     

Vehicle routing problem with vector profits with max-min criterion

This article introduces a new routing problem referred to as the vehicle routing problem with vector profits. Given a network composed of nodes (depot/sites) and arcs connecting the nodes, the problem determines routes that depart from the depot, visit sites to collect profits, and return to the depot. There are multiple stakeholders interested in the mission and each site is associated with a vector whose kth element represents the profit value for the kth stakeholder. The objective of the problem is to maximize the profit sum for the least satisfied stakeholder, i.e. the stakeholder with the smallest total profit value. An approach based on linear programming relaxation and column-generation to solve this max–min type routing problem was developed. Two case studies—the planetary surface exploration and the Rome tour cases—were presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed problem formulation and solution methodology.     

Stakeholder evaluation of the feasibility of watershed management alternatives,using Integrated Lake Basin Management principles

Containing more than 90% of the liquid fresh water on our planet's surface, lakes are used for a wide range of human needs. Managing them for sustainable use also requires consideration of a multitude of scientific, socioeconomic and governance issues. Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) is a comprehensive approach for achieving sustainable management of lakes and reservoirs through gradual, continuous and holistic improvement of basin governance, involving sustained efforts for improvement of six governance ‘pillars’ (Policy; Institutions: Stakeholders; Knowledge; Technology; Finances). This study demonstrates that ILBM is applicable not only to lentic water systems (lakes, reservoirs), but also to the upstream and downstream water systems (rivers, tributaries) of which they are a part. Two watersheds in eastern Pennsylvania (USA), designated as ‘Critical Water Planning Areas,’ are used as a case study for this application, with a focus on the ILBM Stakeholder pillar. The primary objective was to rank the feasibility of alternative management options for these watersheds on the basis of watershed stakeholder perceptions and discussions. The results of this process and the analyses undertaken in this study are discussed, including the management options ultimately identified, the lessons learned in the evaluation process, and means for improving the process for future evaluations.