The rail way sector has been losing market, required increased subsidies and failed to generate anticipated rate of return. Therefore there has been a strong interest to measure the performance of railway operators in terms of punctuality. It is evident that In Norway punctuality shows considerable variation; most of the line being in non-optimal condition, speed is frequently reduced. Such speed reductions are often highlighted as major causes of delays. This master thesis studied the actual delays occurring on the parts of the line between Oslo and Trondheim which have speed restrictions. In doing actual time, travel times and speed restriction magnitudes data have been collected along the line. Combining both qualitative and quantitative approach to research the master thesis have mapped and analyzed speed restriction zones along the line. Using restriction mapping, statistical tools and curve fittings, the analysis revealed that as long as there is sufficient data, uniformity and regular fluctuation of the time magnitudes data there is an increasing effect caused and trend displayed on the actual time taken in the presence of the speed restrictions. Furthermore the research has looked in to the magnitude based relationship between the lost time due to restrictions and associated deviations in travel time. These resulted in a strong correlation between deviation of travel time and magnitude of lost time due to restrictions.

SAP in an ERP system which is a digital system used in Aker Subsea to store, organize and manage information related to the company that all employees in the different functions use daily. Primavera is the time planning tool in Aker Subsea. Today information is copied manually from SAP over to Primavera by the planners to analyze and create schedules. There exists an application that copies information between SAP and Primavera called Inspire. Aker Subsea is interested in implementing this so that the planners will have more time to analyze and forecast potential pitfalls of the future. As the planning department in Aker Subsea has spent several years on building up their procedures, structure and manpower the time has come to implement the integration software. As ERP systems are modular then the integration can be seen as installing a new time planning module to the ERP system and for this there is done a lot of research into. There is a clear need for four specific things in an integration like this to be successful: “Top Management Support”, “ERP Teamwork and Composition”, “Project Management” and “Change Management Culture and Program”. BIM is a similar system to ERP, but with different functions. Research on this can be valuable to ERP implementations. As more research is done to BIM it becomes clear that interoperability between software is needed on many levels and between several disciplines. As time and progress is registered in the ERP system it is highly relevant to have that information in the planning tool.

This study is carried out to examine two public construction projects delivered by traditional approach (Design/Bid/Build) with five issues of (1) formal and informal relationships between key parties involved in detailed design and construction phases; (2) project organization for construction; (3) decision-making process for resolving requests for changes (RFCs) of construction contractors; (4) communication process for reviewing requests for information (RFIs) and submittals of construction contractors; and (5) influences of relationships between key parties on processes of time, cost and quality control during a construction phase. This research includes two main purposes. One of them is to recognize similarities and differences in the five above issues to understand and to learn from this. The other one is to suggest several recommendations to enhance performance of public construction projects that are delivered by traditional method (Design/Bid/Build). To answer the research questions, there are two project-cases formed in the study as foundations for comparison and analysis. One of them is River Nid bridge construction project in Norway and the other one is U Minh bridge construction project in Viet Nam. Furthermore, these two cases were established by using project materials and interviewing with key individuals involved in the projects. Throughout comparison and analysis between the theory and both the Vietnamese and Norwegian cases, and between these two project-cases, this study concluded: In the detailed design phase, that the management of the detailed design and review of the detailed design are conducted by two separate individuals in both the Vietnamese and Norwegian cases makes the degree of the functional relationships in both these two cases more complex than in the theoretical case. However, this can bring significant benefits for the project performance because there are potential chances of achieving a more feasible detailed design. In the construction phase, hiring the supervision consultants (SC) - the third party for supervising the contractors’ construction activities makes the functional relationships in both the Vietnamese and Norwegian cases more complex than in the theoretical case. This can bring both advantages and disadvantages for the project performance. There need to have (1) a suitable control system much focusing on the activities of both the third party and the construction contractors, and (2) a system for resolving conflicts to limit these disadvantages to increase the project performance. The trust and personal relationships can be established before or after the beginning of the project, and bring many benefits for the project performance. However, the trust relationships can have negative influences on the project performance since they cause subjectivity. Good personal relationships, and clear and sufficient contract terms can prevent the negative influences of the personal relations on the project performance. The level of the authority delegation for decision-making for resolving the requests for changes (RFCs) of the construction contractors in both the Norwegian and theoretical cases is deeper than in the Vietnamese case; and the time of the information exchange between the design consultants (DC) and the construction contractors in both the Norwegian and theoretical cases is less than in the Vietnamese case. This may lead a consequence that the project performance in both the Norwegian and theoretical cases are more effective than in the Vietnamese case. The positive attitude of the key parties is a decisive factor to achieve the positive influences of the functional relationships on the processes of the time, cost and quality control during the construction phase. The functional relations’ negative influences made by significant conflicts are more likely to perform in the processes of the cost and quality control than in the process of the time control. The high level of certain trust and good personal relationships can help to prevent the negative influences of the functional relationships. The trust relationships may help to increase the project performance since they result in conflict reduction in the processes of the time, cost and quality control during the construction phase. However, there need the high degree of certain trust relationships to achieve the actual positive relations of the trust relations on the processes of the cost and quality control. This is because these two processes are sensitive, so there need the high degree of certain trust relations to create chances for the less control of the construction activities of the construction contractors. The personal relationships can make the increase of the project performance due to better communication. This benefit is achieved mainly throughout what the personal relationships positively affect the processes of the time and cost control during the construction phase. Meanwhile, the impacts of the personal relationships on the process of the quality control are limited. Throughout the comparison and analysis, especially recognizing interesting points in both the Vietnamese and Norwegian cases, there are nine recommendations suggested to increase the performance of the public construction projects that are delivered by traditional approach (Design/Bid/Build). These recommendations address project owners, project managers and construction managers who are responsible for organizing and managing these public construction projects.

Almost all projects have some degree of virtuality in their structure and work processes. While there is an abundance of literature about ICT related challenges and solutions, much less is written about corresponding organizational and management issues. This master thesis will investigate management issues concerning identifying the need for virtualisation, preparing the organization for introduction of such solutions and implementing them. This work includes issues like;- Using maturity models as a point of departure to investigate the challenges facing organizations wanting to implement a more virtualized type of project-oriented work- Describing preparation and implementation process with a special emphasis on managerial challenges.- Developing a decision support tool that can be used by companies wanting to implement a more virtualized form of project work. The thesis includes both a theoretical and an empirical approach to the questions above. The empirical part will be case-based based on a limited number of interviews and investigations.

Improved logistical performance is one of the tools to mitigate greenhouse gases emissions from freight transport. The production company and transportation company should find the practice to decrease the emissions from their activity in distributions of goods. In this thesis, the sustainable logistics in practice in focal company (Ekornes) is studied. The potential improvement in relation to sustainable transportation principle is explained. Through qualitative method research, the theory related to the sustainable logistic and the findings on logistic practice in Ekornes is discussed. It is found that Ekornes is lack of environmental factors in the contract with third party logistic (3PL) providers. Ekornes indicates the positive response to the pressure to implement the environmental concept on their operational strategy.Key Words: sustainable freight transport, qualititative method research, environmental concept on operational strategy.

There are many policies and principles of Corporate Governance in different countries around the world. Different countries have their own approaches and corporate governance models. However, the globalization of economics and the technological development made more countries capable of competing with their products and services on the international market and also enterprises built networks and leverage worldwide. Corporate Governance is applying under different rules, regulations, laws and ethics, etc. Corporate Governance in a multinational company will meet a lot of challenges while conducting their business and executing the projects across national, cultural and political boundaries. This study aims to find out these challenges, tries to discuss and find out the difference and possibilities of different Corporate Governance models between Continental European countries (Germany, Norway) and China. Not one of these approaches is right or more right than another. In order to work with this culture difference in multinational companies, not just the employees working in a different culture need to get to know the new culture and how people in this new culture work and behave. But also, as a manager or director working in a multinational company with different culture, he or she also needs to know the culture difference, trying to understand what and how their employees going to behave, and why they are doing that, trying to respect the difference and not just trying to judge that. Both the employees and the managers need to respect the difference and try to understand each other, finding a balance or a common understanding point to create their own working culture and working relationship in the company. The understanding must permeate the whole organization, from top to bottom, from first line to support and so on. However, working across boundaries will also create more practical issues, for example, which law and regulation to follow, how to register expenditures in accounts and so on which requires both logical and cultural flexibility to find workable solutions.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use, usability and the effects social media have on member effectiveness and satisfaction in virtual projects. This includes a classification and description of social media as well as the virtual component of projects. This also includes an analysis of possibilities and challenges concerning using social media in a project setting.Furthermore this master thesis should include an empirical component, including an investigation of to what extent such media are used in virtualized projects, experiences with such media and suggestions for improvements / better integration with other collaborative efforts.

The causality of troubled ICT projects and driven force of more systematic project management approach within IT sectors is not easy to be defined in practice due to the variety of industry and business needs.In this report, I will mainly focus on issues addressing to ICT tools providing voice, data and media services and information applications and systems tailored to specific functions in the IT- enabled industries which provide IT goods and services.My main hypothesis is “Using ICT enables and provides the most effective framework for control mechanisms of IT projects.”I found it was difficult to provide a clear conclusion, along with revealing the effects of using ICTs in the IT industry; there are more raising questions connected with using of ICTs which need more future research. But one thing is certain, using ICTs doesn’t have an evolutional impact on the project management as first thought; I can still see the clear footprint of the traditional and classical organization theories from Mintzberg. The various ways of transmission of information and the increased speed and volume in the transmission of information, which are enabled by using ICTs have changed and affected the control system for the better and the worse.

There exists an increasing evidence of benefits with involving suppliers in a new product development activity in the mass production companies. Challenges such as, reduction of a product life cycle, technological uncertainties, and increased cost of R&D activity have made it necessary to extend a new product development activity, beyond the firm’s boundary. However, in a project based industries this trend is not predominant and importance of innovation and suppliers, applies to this industry also. Hence, Objective of the thesis is to establish a framework for involving suppliers for a project based industry. The qualitative research makes use of extensive literature within the field, product development, innovation and project based industry and supplier involvement in product development. Several interviews were carried out for collection the empirical data at the case company, which is a project based organization. Required framework, a result of the thesis is achieved through an extensive empirical analysis.The results show that a value of innovation is different between the project based industries and the mass production industries and it is perceived differently. However, innovation is equally important for a project based industry and it has a potential to include innovation within its processes. On this regard, several challenges and innovation promoting elements have been identified. Project management techniques and disruption in the knowledge transfer are some of the impediments for innovation within project based industries. The thesis provides the suggested framework to overcome these challenges and increase innovation in a project based industry and involves suppliers in its innovative and development activities.

Not only organizational strategy but also managerial experience influence the portfolio management of research projects process. Strategy provides the focus that the research projects should have, and acts as the point of reference to which the process should be aligned when the environment changes. Experience serves as a decision tool when the formal methods fail to model the real world due to uncertainty or unavailability of information.Portfolio management of research projects in the public and private settings generates knowledge as well as business opportunities and public welfare. Research projects are performed to find new markets, improve processes or find grounds to incur in new product development. They are also performed to increase scientific and technological knowledge as well as to form new experts who can contribute in future research projects. Furthermore, evidence has shown that organizations, both private and public, agree that generating knowledge is the basic objective of research projects.