Models of R&D account for technical, technological and administrative factors of R&D implementation but underestimate the influence of behavioural and political factors such as power and conflict. They assume that R&D organisation is “well-insulated” from partisan, emotions, political reactions and contextual factors and that decision makers are rational and decisions are taken to best fit the content of R&D programme. The present study explores the effects of rational and irrational factors in the R&D implementation process on the performance of publicly funded research projects in universities. It uses realist and qualitative exploratory semi-structured interviews with 22 active researchers in Sultan Qaboos University provides “depth and detail” of the complexities of R&D implementation effects on its performance. The study discovers 18 measures of success of academic research and 30 effects of R&D implementation of the performance of publicly funded research.The study concludes that the iterative, non-linear and processual nature of R&D implementation is a continuous dynamic system. R&D success builds up the capacity for future success whilst failures decrease the chances of future successes. The integrated effects of implementation (IEI) influence R&D performance through technical and administrative capability of the R&D organisation as well as through behaviours of organisation members. These include leaders’ behaviours, conflict and political skills within individuals. Both success dynamism and IEI suggest contextualism implementation of R&D.

According to the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, “productivity isn’t everything, but in the long-run it is almost everything”. It is unfortunate that the productivity in the construction industry has lagged behind the manufacturing industry for the last several decades. The research presented in this thesis aims to improve productivity in the infrastructure sector of the construction industry by developing and validating Best Productivity Practices Implementation Index (BPPII) for Infrastructure projects. The BPPII Infrastructure is a check list of practices that are considered to have a positive influence on labour productivity at the project level for infrastructure projects. These practices have been identified through a literature review and consultation with industry experts, and have been anecdotally proven to positively affect productivity. These practices have been grouped together into a formalized set of BPPII’s categories, sections, and elements. Each practice and its planning and implementation levels have been completely defined. Each practice in the index has been assigned a relative weight based on its importance in affecting labour productivity. In total, there are 61 elements, 20 sections, and 6 categories. The six categories of the BPPII Infrastructure are: (1) Materials Management; (2) Construction Machinery and Equipment Logistics; (3) Execution Approach; (4) Human Resources Management; (5) Construction Methods; and (6) Health and Safety. The productivity factor defined as a ratio of estimated productivity and actual productivity was used as a metric to collect information about labour productivity. Data were collected for infrastructure projects on the planning and implementation level of practices, on the productivity factor, and on project schedule performance. The research hypothesis tested was that projects that have a high level of implementation of best practices as defined by the BPPII Infrastructure will have a better productivity performance than projects which have a low level of implementation of best practices. The regression analysis confirms that the BPPII score has a strong positive relationship with the productivity factor. ANOVA tests confirm that there is statistically significant difference between the productivity of projects that have a high level of implementation of practices and those that have a low level of implementation. Also, it was found that projects that have a high score on the index perform better in terms of project schedule performance than projects which have a low score on the BPPII Infrastructure.

BACKGROUND Integrated healthcare systems are believed to be enabled by the electronic exchange of clinical information. Canada and other national health systems are making substantial investments in information technology, in order to liberate and share clinical information between providers, improve the quality and safety of care, and reduce costs, yet we currently have no way of measuring these information flows, nor of understanding whether they contribute to the integration of care delivery. METHODS A literature review and consensus development process (nominal group) were used to provide guidance on system integration measures which are enabled by electronic information exchange. In order to conceptualize the components of electronic information exchange, establish a reference vocabulary for terminology, and guide the development of a questionnaire to gather field data, a formal ontology was developed. Validation of a sub-group of the survey data quality was achieved using the ontology and an unrelated database, demonstrating how ontologies may be used to adapt performance measurement methodologies to systems where constraints such as time-compression, lack of resources or access to needed information are prevalent. RESULTS The survey tool gathered cross-sectoral data from a regional health system which populated a summary measure of inter-provider electronic health information exchange (the eHIE), and measured perceptions of system integration from a single health region. The eHIE indicated that 7 -12% of clinical information that could be shared, was being shared electronically in the health region. ANOVA confirmed a significant correlation between the amount of information being exchanged electronically in this system and respondent perceptions of system integration suggesting that the eHIE may be used as a leading indicator for healthcare system integration. CONCLUSIONS It is possible to conceptualize and quantify inter-provider electronic health information exchange. As complex adaptive systems, healthcare systems are dynamic and open to correction; the use of a leading or proximal indicator such as the eHIE may inform effective policy-making and resource allocation in our pursuit of the goal of seamlessly integrated care.

This research questions whether there is evidence that contract performance measurement is influenced by the social structure in which it is embedded. I question whether the strong ties between a prime contractor and its subcontractors lead to higher performance scores in public contracting. I also question if prior relations between a Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) manager and the private firm project manager whose work is being evaluated lead to higher performance scores.

Dieser Bericht ist einzuordnen in das zweite Projektjahr des laufenden Forschungsprojektes EPM-KOMPAS und die bisherigen Dokumentationen über dessen Projektfortschritte. Gerade die intensive Kooperation und die Diskussionen mit den Projektunternehmen erbrachten konstruktive und anwendungsorientierte Kritik und Anforderungen an das EPM-Instrument. Daraus resultieren eine Reihe von Modifizierungen, die in Form von Prototypen in der Praxis Abgleich finden und dargestellt werden. Jedoch ist die Entwicklung des Prototypen und seine Weiterentwicklung kontinuierlich von den Impulsen aus der Praxisarbeit beeinflusst und in einem ständigen Prozess. Der akutelle Forschungs- und Projektstand soll daher skizziert werden.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate how the BSC is used to measure performance by the provider and the users in a municipality. Furthermore, the purpose is also to examine the different views of providers and users of BSC in different departments. Design/methodology/approach – The research on the use of the BSC is based on a single case study in Kristianstad municipality. The case study was performed on three different administrations, culture and recreation, children and education, and care which are representing users of the BSC. The case study was also performed in the city management which presented the provider of the scorecard. Afterwards, the results of the case study have been analyzed from an institutional perspective. Findings - In this case study, it is concluded that the BSC is a useful tool for performance measurement in the municipality of Kristianstad. The providers and users of the scorecard are viewed differently as a performance tool. Research limitations – Due to a small sample size, it is difficult to generalize the results of this single case study. Future research could expand this study by a quantitative study based on a survey including all Swedish municipalities. Another proposal can be comparative case studies of different municipalities. Practical implications – This thesis shows how the BSC is used for performance measurement and how it is viewed from the providers and users. Using the results of this study, managers can use the scorecard in a more efficient way. Originality/value – This single case study examines the use of BSC in Krisitanstad municipality as there have been relatively few studies in this area. With the collection of the empirical evidence we have contributed with literature in this area.

This study assesses how to measure and evaluate performance impacts of IntelligentTransport Systems (ITS) in the transport chain.The importance of transportation in global trade has increased significantly in the lastdecades. Cost pressure, rising customer demand for sophisticated logistics services, sustainabilityand security as well as safety issues have boosted the need for more efficient,effective and differentiated transport operations. Intelligent Transport Systems werefound to have the potential to address these challenges in the transport chain. However,due to the novelty of the technology both ITS developers and users face huge uncertaintyabout the performance impacts of ITS. Evaluating ITS in the transport chain beforethe rollout based on concrete measures is likely to reduce the uncertainty involvedin ITS developments and enhance the adoption rate of the new technology. The increasingnumber of ITS projects, like the Secure Intermodal Transport Systems at VolvoTechnology, create a need for a structured approach to measure and evaluate ITS.A literature review concerning the characteristics of the transport industry, technologyadoption, ITS and performance measurements served as a basis for the empirical studyin which 8 semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders in the transport industrywere conducted in order to find out how the performance impacts of ITS are perceivedin the industry and how they could possibly be assessed. The focus groupmethod was used to validate and apply the findings from the interview study to a GeofencingITS-service.The study has confirmed that the concept of ITS is still an emerging phenomenon in thetransportation industry. There is no common understanding of ITS among researchersand practitioners in the transport industry and still a lack of knowledge regarding theperformance impacts of ITS. Even though it could be found that ITS leverages mainlythe service level that can be offered to the customer and that they increase the efficiencyin the back office, the great variety of ITS-services calls for an individual assessment.Structuring the assessment into the phases of measurement design, implementation anduse of the measures facilitates this process. For the different phases a set of activitiescritical for a successful assessment of ITS have been identified. Despite its usefulnessfor mitigating the uncertainty related to the new technology, the focus group validationuncovered that a comprehensive measurement for ITS is not appropriate from the outset,but should be assessed based on the cost of the measurement, the ITS project priority,the customer relations as well as the hierarchical structure in the provider firm.

The number of Fourth-Party Logistics providers (4PLs) is growing. Researchers have expressed the importance of measuring the performance of a business, but still there are only a few customised performance measurement frameworks developed for logistic service providers. This Master Thesis addresses this issue by performing a multiple case study at two 4PLs that are operating in separate industries, one in reverse logistics and the other in the construction industry. Previous research agrees that performance measurement frameworks have to be comprehensive and at the same time provide the right information in an understandable way. The Balanced Scorecard and the EFQM Business Excellence Model address this issue with different approaches and have been used in further developments of new frameworks. The empirical study found that none of the studied businesses had a well-developed framework for their performance measurement and therefore the alignment between their measurements and their business strategy was affected. Performance measurement frameworks, which have a wide application, do not have a flaw that make them unsuitable to use for a 4PL. Managers in the researched businesses therefore see a need for frameworks that are easily implemented and are customised to their specific situation. Moreover, the study found that no alignment had been developed yet between the customer and the 4PL. The businesses strive to align their KPIs among the partners they are cooperating with, down the supply chain, but are not interested in communicating them to their customers. Offering their customers full transparency might affect the businesses’ processes. Research connected to performance measurement specified to 4PLs and Logistic Service Providers (LSPs) in general is needed since the currently available research leaves space for uncertainties and further discussion.

The exponential growth in computing capability and use has produced a high demand for large, high-performance storage systems. Unfortunately, advances in storage system research have been limited by (1) a lack of evaluation workloads, and (2) a limited understanding of the interactions between workloads and storage systems. We have developed a tool, the Distiller that helps address both limitations. Our thesis is as follows: Given a storage system and a workload for that system, one can automatically identify a set of workload characteristics that describes a set of synthetic workloads with the same performance as the workload they model. These representative synthetic workloads increase the number of available workloads with which storage systems can be evaluated. More importantly, the characteristics also identify those workload properties that affect disk array performance, thereby highlighting the interactions between workloads and storage systems. This dissertation presents the design and evaluation of the Distiller. Specifically, our contributions are as follows. (1) We demonstrate that the Distiller finds synthetic workloads with at most 10% error for six out of the eight workloads we tested. (2) We also find that all of the potential error metrics we use to compare workload performance have limitations. Additionally, although the internal threshold that determines which attributes the Distiller chooses has a small effect on the accuracy of the final synthetic workloads, it has a large effect on the Distiller's running time. Similarly, (3) we find that we can reduce the precision with which we measure attributes and only moderately reduce the resulting synthetic workload's accuracy. Finally, (4) we show how to use the information contained in the chosen attributes to predict the performance effects of modifying the storage system's prefetch length and stripe unit size.

Conventional thought dictates that what cannot be measured, cannot be improved. In a quest for improved operational and financial performance, many project-based enterprises have developed numerous methods to measure success. Unfortunately, many of these methods appear to be neither applicable beyond the project boundary nor able to promote effective and proactive decision-making. As a potential remedy, a theoretical framework was developed using principles of Enterprise Engineering to create a performance measurement system for project-based organizations. Known as ARIES (Agile Resource Information and Execution System), the framework builds upon existing project and program management knowledge in order to provide a quantitative methodology for evaluating aspects of enterprise sustainability. By incorporating specific measures, the framework is also able to create a graphical depiction of the enterprises operational performance. To validate the framework, retrospective data were obtained from a successful Architecture and Engineering (A/E) firm that designs and oversees commercial building projects. Analysis of the data provided a picture of the frameworks immediate and long-term benefits for project-based enterprises. From this picture managers can make improved decisions regarding existing and future work, thereby positively impacting the operational performance of the enterprise and enabling it to remain viable over a considerable period of time.