L’objectif des travaux relatés dans ce manuscrit est de proposer une méthodologie qui garantit une réduction du nombre de critères de sélection de partenaires à utiliser (donc de ressources à consommer), tout en permettant de choisir les critères les plus représentatifs pour l’utilisateur. L’ensemble des critères ainsi choisi par l’utilisateur à travers un paramètre de contrôle, n’influence pas le classement des partenaires potentiels ou s’il l’influence, celle-ci est maîtrisée et connue par l’utilisateur. La méthodologie s’appuie sur une structuration de critères faisant appel à la notion de distance causale ou sémantique. Pour ce faire, les algorithmes de « Dijkstra » et de Classification Ascendante Hiérarchique (CAH) ont été utilisés de manière successive. Cette démarche de structuration est appliquée à un ensemble de 101 critères de sélection. Les résultats sont interprétés afin d’en démontrer la portée dans le processus de recherche de partenaires / The objective of the research performed here is to propose a methodology that guarantees a reduction in the number of criteria for selecting partners to use (i.e. reduction of resource consumption) while allowing to choose the most representative criteria for users. The set of criteria chosen in this way does not influence the ranking of potential partners at all, or the influence is mastered and known by the user who has to interact with the algorithm. The methodology looks structuring criteria using the causal or semantic distance. To achieve this, the algorithms of "Dijkstra" and Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) have been used in sequence. This structuring is applied to a set of 101 criteria. The results are interpreted to demonstrate how the selection process can be optimized for a given usage scenario

A tese buscou identificar, a partir da análise da cadeia produtiva de produtos de base florestal, as oportunidades para aproveitamento da madeira roliça dos gêneros Eucalyptus e Pinus, com pequeno diâmetro, para produção de painéis estruturais de vedação destinados a habitação social. A madeira como material construtivo renovável, e segundo as dimensões da sustentabilidade, econômica e ambiental, apresenta as seguintes potencialidades: plantio e manejo florestal sustentável; adequação a diversos sistemas estruturais e construtivos; baixos consumos de energia e baixa geração de resíduos no processo de produção; desmontagem e aproveitamento dos resíduos no processo de transformação. O método adotado para o desenvolvimento do produto painel foi baseado, na análise e aperfeiçoamentos sucessivos a partir da avaliação dos dados coletados na fase experimental (processo de produção). As variáveis consideradas foram: facilidade de produção (homem/minuto, hora/equipamento e ferramentas), volume de resíduos gerados no processamento, custos e facilidade de montagem do painel. Os critérios adotados na avaliação de desempenho técnico foram: estrutural, estanqueidade visual e durabilidade. Na avaliação da sustentabilidade ambiental foram: uso de materiais de fontes renováveis; baixo consumo energético; redução de resíduos gerados. A sustentabilidade econômica foi avaliada considerando os critérios de: facilidade de produção; facilidade de montagem; produção em escala; baixos custos dos materiais empregados. Foram desenvolvidos e avaliados 10 projetos segundo os critérios considerados, concluindo-se com a proposição do produto painel estrutural composto por 1/2 peças roliças de eucalipto com pequeno diâmetro, curtas, justapostas e pregadas à chapa OSB (oriented strand board). O painel tem dimensões fracionadas na altura e na largura da chapa (1,22 x 2,44 m), nas seguintes medidas: 0,61 x 2,44; 0,61 x 1,22; 1,22 x 1,22 m; 1,22 x 2,44 m. Esta composição do painel viabiliza o melhor aproveitamento das peças chamadas de “metrinho", as quais 100% são destinadas atualmente para queima na geração de energia (desde fornos de padarias até fornos industriais). A proposta mostrou ser viável e pode-se constatar a sua facilidade de execução, mesmo em situações precárias de maquinários. A adoção dessas simplificações construtivas para a produção de componentes construtivos para habitações pode representar uma oportunidade de redução do tempo de execução e dos custos de produtos que atendam ao setor da habitação de baixa renda. A proposta apresenta ainda uma contribuição para a melhoria nas condições de moradia e redução dos impactos negativos ao meio ambiente, gerados pela construção civil, na utilização de materiais não renováveis. / The purpose of this work is to identify, from the analysis of the production chain of forest based products, the chances of making use of small diameter round-wood of the Eucalyptus and Pinus types, for the production of sealing structural panels destined for social housing. Wood as a renewable building material – and, in accordance with the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability – presents the following potentialities: sustainable forest planting and handling; adequacy to several building and structural systems; low energy consumption and low residual outcome during the production process; dismantling and reuse of the remnants in the transformation process. The method adopted for the development of the panel product was grounded on the analysis and consecutive improvement, which was based on the evaluation of the data collected in the experimental phase (production process). The following variables were considered: production easiness (man/minute, time/equipment and tooling), amount of remnant generated by the processing, cost and panel mounting easiness. The criteria adopted in the evaluation of technical execution were the following: structural, visual tightness and durability. The following criteria were used in the environmental sustainability evaluation: use of materials from renewable sources; low energy consumption; reduction of residual outcome. The economic sustainability was evaluated taken the following criteria into consideration: production easiness; mounting easiness; mass production, low cost of the materials used. Ten projects have been developed and evaluated according to the considered criteria, and the structural panel product comprising juxtaposed, short, small diameter, eucalyptus, half round-wood pieces, nailed to OSB (oriented strand board) plate, was proposed. The panel has dimensions fractionized in the height and the width of the plate (1.22 x 2,44 m), in the following measures: 0.61 x 2.44; 0.61 x 1.22; 1.22 x 1.22 m; 1.22x 2.44 m. This panel composition enables for best utilization of the so called metrinho (small pieces) pieces, which, nowadays, are 100% used in burning for the generation of energy (from bakery to industrial ovens). The proposal has shown to be doable and of easy execution, even in precarious machinery situations. The adoption of these building simplifications for the production of building components for housing may represent an opportunity to reduce the execution time, as well as the products cost, in order to serve the low income housing sector. The proposal also presents a contribution to the improvement of housing conditions and to the reduction of negative environmental impacts, caused by the civil construction through the use of non-renewable materials.

A tese buscou identificar, a partir da análise da cadeia produtiva de produtos de base florestal, as oportunidades para aproveitamento da madeira roliça dos gêneros Eucalyptus e Pinus, com pequeno diâmetro, para produção de painéis estruturais de vedação destinados a habitação social. A madeira como material construtivo renovável, e segundo as dimensões da sustentabilidade, econômica e ambiental, apresenta as seguintes potencialidades: plantio e manejo florestal sustentável; adequação a diversos sistemas estruturais e construtivos; baixos consumos de energia e baixa geração de resíduos no processo de produção; desmontagem e aproveitamento dos resíduos no processo de transformação. O método adotado para o desenvolvimento do produto painel foi baseado, na análise e aperfeiçoamentos sucessivos a partir da avaliação dos dados coletados na fase experimental (processo de produção). As variáveis consideradas foram: facilidade de produção (homem/minuto, hora/equipamento e ferramentas), volume de resíduos gerados no processamento, custos e facilidade de montagem do painel. Os critérios adotados na avaliação de desempenho técnico foram: estrutural, estanqueidade visual e durabilidade. Na avaliação da sustentabilidade ambiental foram: uso de materiais de fontes renováveis; baixo consumo energético; redução de resíduos gerados. A sustentabilidade econômica foi avaliada considerando os critérios de: facilidade de produção; facilidade de montagem; produção em escala; baixos custos dos materiais empregados. Foram desenvolvidos e avaliados 10 projetos segundo os critérios considerados, concluindo-se com a proposição do produto painel estrutural composto por 1/2 peças roliças de eucalipto com pequeno diâmetro, curtas, justapostas e pregadas à chapa OSB (oriented strand board). O painel tem dimensões fracionadas na altura e na largura da chapa (1,22 x 2,44 m), nas seguintes medidas: 0,61 x 2,44; 0,61 x 1,22; 1,22 x 1,22 m; 1,22 x 2,44 m. Esta composição do painel viabiliza o melhor aproveitamento das peças chamadas de “metrinho”, as quais 100% são destinadas atualmente para queima na geração de energia (desde fornos de padarias até fornos industriais). A proposta mostrou ser viável e pode-se constatar a sua facilidade de execução, mesmo em situações precárias de maquinários. A adoção dessas simplificações construtivas para a produção de componentes construtivos para habitações pode representar uma oportunidade de redução do tempo de execução e dos custos de produtos que atendam ao setor da habitação de baixa renda. A proposta apresenta ainda uma contribuição para a melhoria nas condições de moradia e redução dos impactos negativos ao meio ambiente, gerados pela construção civil, na utilização de materiais não renováveis. / The purpose of this work is to identify, from the analysis of the production chain of forest based products, the chances of making use of small diameter round-wood of the Eucalyptus and Pinus types, for the production of sealing structural panels destined for social housing. Wood as a renewable building material – and, in accordance with the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability – presents the following potentialities: sustainable forest planting and handling; adequacy to several building and structural systems; low energy consumption and low residual outcome during the production process; dismantling and reuse of the remnants in the transformation process. The method adopted for the development of the panel product was grounded on the analysis and consecutive improvement, which was based on the evaluation of the data collected in the experimental phase (production process). The following variables were considered: production easiness (man/minute, time/equipment and tooling), amount of remnant generated by the processing, cost and panel mounting easiness. The criteria adopted in the evaluation of technical execution were the following: structural, visual tightness and durability. The following criteria were used in the environmental sustainability evaluation: use of materials from renewable sources; low energy consumption; reduction of residual outcome. The economic sustainability was evaluated taken the following criteria into consideration: production easiness; mounting easiness; mass production, low cost of the materials used. Ten projects have been developed and evaluated according to the considered criteria, and the structural panel product comprising juxtaposed, short, small diameter, eucalyptus, half round-wood pieces, nailed to OSB (oriented strand board) plate, was proposed. The panel has dimensions fractionized in the height and the width of the plate (1.22 x 2,44 m), in the following measures: 0.61 x 2.44; 0.61 x 1.22; 1.22 x 1.22 m; 1.22x 2.44 m. This panel composition enables for best utilization of the so called metrinho (small pieces) pieces, which, nowadays, are 100% used in burning for the generation of energy (from bakery to industrial ovens). The proposal has shown to be doable and of easy execution, even in precarious machinery situations. The adoption of these building simplifications for the production of building components for housing may represent an opportunity to reduce the execution time, as well as the products cost, in order to serve the low income housing sector. The proposal also presents a contribution to the improvement of housing conditions and to the reduction of negative environmental impacts, caused by the civil construction through the use of non-renewable materials.

The public sector project is particularly a demanding undertaking, with the requirement to meet diverse demands. Despite huge investment, public sector projects tend to complete behind schedule, indicating shortfall in various project factors. This research was grounded on an empirical study of the Malaysian School Computer Laboratory Programme (SCLP) to examine the project success factors throughout the project life span. The extensive SCLP was divided into six zones, spanning urban and remote environment throughout Malaysia. Its implementation was staggered into several phases, two of which covered in this study, namely phase-1 and phase-2. This research aimed to fulfil three research objectives: i) to discover the project management’s success factors; ii) to determine the product’s success factors that encompass various stakeholders; and iii) to identify project characteristics that influenced the project success. A comprehensive review of literature suggested 20 relevant project success factors to be investigated. Those factors were examined using a newly constructed framework, whereby the project life span was clustered into two segments – project process and project product. The study adopted a qualitative paradigm; nevertheless it utilised both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection, which were triangulated to provide a wider scope of interpretation. The quantitative data for a total sample of 357 projects were sourced from Likert-type questionnaire and secondary resources, while qualitative data were sourced from combination of semi-structured interviews with 38 respondents representing 10 groups of project stakeholders and secondary data from various documents. The results demonstrated that the project management of the SCLP was improperly administered. Out of five success factors investigated to verify the project conceptualization, only two namely project goal and project scope, were reasonably defined. One factor, stakeholder participation, was inadequately defined, while the other two factors, resources assessment and risk management, were not even taken into consideration by the project decision-making committee. There were also some deficiencies in the project planning. From six success factors tested, two were acceptably planned, i.e. project design and project costing. The other four, namely distribution of authority and responsibility, contractor selection, project scheduling, and project documentation, were insufficiently planned. The inadequacies in the project definition and project planning were reflected in the project execution as only two out of six factors, i.e. administrator effectiveness and communication, contributed to the project success. The other four, known as supervising team efficiency, contractor competence, integrity and external influences were negatively affected the project. Despite some deficiencies in the project management, the outcome or product of the project was found to be successful particularly in the judgement of the target group, the users; they were satisfied with the SCLP deliverables. They also appreciated the benefit from the utilisation of the products, which greatly changed the approaches of teaching and learning. However, the SCLP completion time was not as successful as planned, believed to be a result of unrealistic scheduling during the planning stage. Nonetheless, there were cases of genuine delays due to various factors in the earlier stages. The results also suggested that some of the project success factors were particularly influenced by project characteristics explored in this studied. The influences of these two characteristics, geographical zone and the project award method, could be seen in both the project management process and the project’s product. Overall, this thesis contributed to extant body of knowledge in various ways. A newly constructed research framework, with the concept of duality of project process and product, added depth to the longstanding idea of project success and expanded premises of the existing theory. This framework offered a better platform to identify when particular factors take place and affect the project along the project life span. This study also added a new insight to the Malaysian public sector projects management strategies in particular and to the other countries with the similar situations in general. A new paradigm in project decision-making by adopting a bottom-up concept rather than traditionally top-down alone during the project conceptualisation and a more realistic resource-based approach during the project planning, is suggested. In addition, this research proposed an ideal way to deal with various critical success factors in a huge programme.

The rapidly evolving global market scenario raised multiple challenges for an organization such as: change in customer needs and lifestyle, increased competition, compulsion to enter into new markets, pursue to innovate and so on, which raises an additional challenge for organization to sustain and succeed. In order to meet these multiple challenges, continuous New Product Development (NPD) turns out to be one of the essential tasks for any organization to improve market share, profitability and to succeed. In this scenario, a new product portfolio with best mix of new projects that ensures strategic alignment, balance of portfolio and improves organizations’ potential gain is compulsion. However, From the literature, it is observed that, ‘As nearly half of initial NPD ideas occur informally or without a specific goal, even a best performing organization requires a major improvement in the decision making process of Project Evaluation and Selection (PES)’. This emphasizes the significance of decision on Project Evaluation and Selection (PES) of NPD. Additionally, huge investments and resources need to be employed based on decision that is taken at PES phase of NPD. Thus PES turns out to be a crucial and essential phase of New Product Process (NPP). All these stated aspects of this challenging and crucial strategic decision of PES provoke for the requirement of an efficient management system and decision making model. In the literature the management system and decision making processes for formulation of portfolio is termed as “New Product Portfolio Management (NPPM)”. Though various researchers have been focusing on this particular issue of improving NPPM Performance, from the analysis of literature, to the best of our knowledge, it is observed that no one has identified or considered an exhaustive list of possible evaluative dimensions while taking the decision on PES of NPPM (PES-NPPM). This thesis makes an attempt to address this research gap, and the scope of this study is pertained to three sectors of manufacturing industry, namely, Automotive, Electronics and Machine Tools. Accordingly, the main objective of this thesis is “ In order to achieve this particular objective the following sub-objectives, methodologies, and analysis are carried out. For this purpose, first and foremost analysis of literature on PES is carried out. Accordingly, five evaluative dimensions are identified for PES-NPPM and they are: (i) Strategic Fit; (ii) Portfolio-Innovation Balance; (iii) Risk-Uncertainty Estimation; (iv) Cost-Revenue Estimation and (v) Optimized Resource Allocation. Furthermore, it is observed that, there is no study considering all the five evaluative dimensions simultaneously for PES-NPPM either to analyze their impact on performance of NPPM or to develop a decision making model. Thus, we are addressing a new problem configuration in the area of PES-NPPM. Additionally, though the requirements of multi-criteria models for PES-NPPM is discussed both in academic and practioners points of view, the real demonstration of the applicability of multi-criteria models are given a scant treatment in the literature. . By the end of the achieving this objective, we identified five distinct evaluative dimensions which are used in different combinations for PES-NPPM. Further, for measuring each of these five evaluative dimensions, we identified 23, 11, 15, 10, and 18 measurement variables respectively. Based on the evaluative dimensions considered in this study, a framework work is proposed for PES-NPPM. Due to the limitation of empirical evidences on considering the identified evaluative dimensions and respective measurement variables towards the proposed initial framework for PES-NPPM, another exploratory study: a case study method is carried out. In addition to the process of triangulation, the case study approach is carried out to understand (a) significance and nature of the identified measurement variables of all the five evaluative dimensions for PES-NPPM, and (b) real-life practices in decision making process of PES-NPPM and to identify the requirements of decision making tools. Accordingly, 12 case studies (4 each) from three manufacturing sectors, considered in this study, are conducted. Further, 12 case study reports are prepared and inferences are drawn. The inferences drawn are verified by conducting an individual brain-storming session with 3 academicians and 4 practitioners. The detailed analysis of the 12 case study reports endorsed the necessity of considering all the five identified evaluative dimensions in the proposed framework for PES-NPPM. In addition, the case study analysis revealed some of the variables originally considered for measuring the evaluative dimensions are not really the measurement variables, whereas those variables are expected to impact the decision making environment of PES-NPPM (or) NPPM Performance. Further those non-measurement variables are classified into (a) Characteristic Variables of PES-NPPM, and (b) Moderating variables for NPPM. Based on this, case study analysis identified 8 characteristic variables and 8 moderating variables. This specific observation resulted to analyze further the existing literature in order to identify if there exist any additional variables which impact decision making environment of PES-NPPM (or) NPPM Performance. Thus, from the analysis of literature and case study analysis 17 characteristic variable and 13 moderating variables are identified. Additionally, For this purpose, Partial Least Square – Path Modeling (PLS-PM) (or) regression analysis is conducted depending upon type of variables with 104 observations (representing 34, 39, and 31 observations of the three sectors respectively) to analyze the relationships between characteristic and moderating variables on decision-making environment of PES-NPPM and NPPM Performance respectively. From case study analysis, it is observed that the decision making tool required should provide: (a) ability to incorporate judgmental scores along with financial and other quantitative metrics, (b) ability to attain a balance of portfolio and consider interactions among project, and (c) ability to provide alternatives and rank the alternatives. In addition to the observation drawn from the case study analysis on the need of MCDM based tool(s), analysis of the literature is carried out to verify the same. As this problem scenario considers both quantitative and qualitative data for the development of a decision making tool, an appropriate technique/methodology needs to be employed. Based on analysis of literature and the case study reports, this study proposes an integrated Data Envelopment Analysis and Balanced Scorecard (DEA-BSC) model for individual PES. Further, the proposed DEA-BSC model is extended for evaluation of new product portfolio. In the process of formulation of new product portfolio, first, every new product project is evaluated with the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model. Second, an algorithm is designed to generate alternate portfolios with the selected set of efficient new product projects. Then, DEA-BSC model is employed to evaluate the generated portfolios. At this step, an accumulation functions are proposed which considers interactions among projects. These accumulation functions determine the overall input and output of the portfolio along with interactions involved. Accordingly, the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model for portfolio evaluation is expected to result in a balanced portfolio with profitable new product projects. In addition, the workability of the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model is demonstrated by developing a suitable numerical example. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out on proposed DEA-BSC model to analyze the robustness of the results. In summary, this thesis examined a problem of decision making of NPPM. Further, this problem was retained with main focus on PES phase. Accordingly, the major contributions of this thesis are as follows: Identified an exhaustive lists of evaluative dimensions: (i) Strategic Fit; (ii) Portfolio-Innovation Balance; (iii) Risk-Uncertainty Estimation; (iv) Cost-Revenue Estimation and (v) Optimized Resource Allocation. Also identified the significance of these five dimensions in case of PES-NPPM. In addition, all the five evaluative dimensions are considered simultaneously for development of a multi criteria decision making tool for PES-NPPM. Identified the required measurement variables for each of the evaluative dimensions, considered in this study, that are essential for PES, and analyzed their influence on performance of NPPM. Identified and analyzed characteristic and moderating variables that influence decision making environment of PES-NPPM and performance of NPPM respectively. Identified the requirements of a decision making tool for PES-NPPM and developed an integrated DEA-BSC model for PES. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model is considered to be the first hybrid model applied to PES-NPPM. Furthermore for implementing the proposed DEA-BSC model, an algorithm is proposed in this study and this is expected to assist decision maker for selecting the right set of projects for new product portfolio with higher development potential, profitability and minimize the associated risk. Identified possible project interactions caused due to external or internal factors and accordingly proposed an accumulation function to capture these interactions. Proposed an algorithm for formulation of new product portfolio and accordingly proposed a detail step-by-step procedure for implementation of the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model. Though this study analyzes the impact of characteristic variables on decision-making environment of PES-NPPM, we limit to link this impact to DEA-BSC Model. In this study, an attempt is made to capture the moderating effect on NPPM Performance, but this study limits to link this moderating effect in proposed DEA-BSC model. Finally, the validation of the workability of proposed DEA-BSC model is limited to the numerical example considered in the study and not to the real-life problems scenarios.