scholarly journals Critical factors influencing the bid or no-bid decision of the indigenous small building contractors in Tanzania

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Chileshe ◽  
Neema Kavishe ◽  
David John Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
Specific Aspect ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Capacity ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Small Building ◽  
Decision Making Criteria

Purpose This study aims to investigate and ranks the critical factors influencing the bid or no-bid decision and their importance for the indigenous small building contractors within the Tanzanian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach An interpretivist epistemological design was adopted to extensively manually review and search extant literature on bid or no-bid decision-making criteria. A total of 30 most common bid or no-bid decision-making criteria were identified. These were included in a questionnaire survey data collection instrument. The survey was distributed to 40 small indigenous (local) building contractors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In total, 33 responses were received. Response data was subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings The results show a disparity of ranking of the 30 bid/no-bid criteria factors among the two grades of small contractors, with 11 factors having statistically significant differences (p = < 0.05). Based on the overall sample, the most highly ranked seven factors in ascending order were: availability of capital; financial capacity of the client; project size; profitability; project type; need of work; and current workload. The following were the least ranked: tax liability; the degree of safety; availability of other projects; availability of labor; bidding document price; and uncertainty because of weather conditions. Availability of capital and financial capacity of the client were jointly ranked as the most important by Class VI contractors. In comparison, availability of capital and need of study were rated highly for Class VII contractors. Research limitations/implications The sample consisted of indigenous small building contractors in one industry operating in Tanzania only and did not include the perceptions of the foreign contractors based in Dar es Salaam. Future studies are required to expand the current research and investigate this specific aspect further. Practical implications The identified “bid/no-bid criteria” information will allow indigenous small building contractors to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their bidding decision-making process. Emergent findings will enable said contractors to: better fit into the competitive construction business environment; increase their awareness of existing decision-making practices; and develop appropriate strategies for evaluation of opportunities encountered. Cumulatively, these findings benefit small indigenous building contractors by increasing their understanding of the factors influencing bid decision. Originality/value The study represents the first empirical study in Tanzania on the critical factors influencing the bid or no-bid decision among the indigenous small building contractors, which face fierce competition from foreign contractors.

Identification and prioritization of factors affecting venture capitalists’ investment decision-making process

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 964-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Dhochak ◽  
Anil Kumar Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Economic Environment ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Venture Capitalists ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Financial Consideration

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and rank critical factors influencing investment decisions of venture capitalists. Design/methodology/approach To identify and prioritize factors affecting investment decisions of venture capitalists, a two-phase methodology was adopted: in the first phase, critical factors influencing venture capitalists’ investment decisions were identified using exploratory factor analysis; the second phase entailed the use of a multi-criteria decision-making technique – analytical hierarchal process (AHP) which involved assigning weights to, and prioritizing the identified criteria and sub-criteria. Findings Seven factors were found to significantly influence investment decisions of venture capitalists: entrepreneur’s characteristics, product or services, market characteristics, management skills, financial consideration, economic environment and institutional and regulatory environment. Findings revealed that entrepreneur’s characteristics, financial consideration and product or services were prime influencers of venture capitalists’ investment decisions. Research limitations/implications As for limitations, first, the study considers limited number of factors influencing investment decisions of venture capitalists; there may be other influencers not considered in this study. Second, the AHP methodology assumes that the various decision-making criteria and sub-criteria are independent of each other; in real life, there may be inter-dependency among criteria. Third, the hierarchal model has been tested in the Indian venture capital industry only, and generalizability of results with respect to other industries is questionable. Practical implications The present study identifies and ranks seven factors found to significantly influence investment decisions of venture capitalists. Venture capitalists could use this list of factors as a guideline before making investment decisions, and if considering all factors is not possible, take into account the factors given top rank so that they arrive at informed and intelligent decisions. Originality/value This study is the first to identify economic factors (economic environment and institutional & regulatory environment) as influencers of venture capitalists’ investment decisions. Further, no study in the past has attempted to rank or prioritize factors influencing venture capitalists’ investment decisions; this is the first attempt of the kind.

Critical factors influencing the bid/no bid decision in the Australian construction industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Shokri-Ghasabeh ◽  
Nicholas Chileshe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Financial Capability ◽  
Project Risk ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Construction Companies ◽  
Factors Influencing

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate and rank the critical factors influencing the bid/no bid criteria and their importance in the Australian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach The research study has been undertaken by conducting an extensive literature review on bid/no bid decision-making criteria. As a result, the researchers identified 26 most common bid/no bid decision-making criteria that are accordingly grouped into five distinct categories, namely, “project”, “market”,“contractor”, “client” and “contract”. The literature review was followed by a national survey that was designed and utilised by the researchers to collect data for this purpose. The survey was sent to potential 450 Australian construction companies in various locations and responses were received from 81 Australian construction companies. Response data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. Kruskal Wallis one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to detect significant differences between the mean score grouped according to the organisation size (contract value). Findings The descriptive and empirical analysis demonstrated a disparity of ranking of the 26 bid/no bid criteria factors among the groups; however no statistically significant differences among the 26 bid/no criteria factors despite the absolute differences in the rankings and mean scores in the following four factors: (1) “bidding condition”, (2) “strength/weaknesses”, (3) “contract payment terms” and (4) “number of competitors/bidders”. Based on the overall sample, the highly ranked four factors were “client financial capability”, “project risk”, “project future benefits and profitability” and “number of competitors/bidders”. The following were the least ranked: “contractors’ financial situation”, “project duration” and “contractors’ material availability”. “Client financial capability”and “project risk” were jointly ranked as the most important by large, whereas “client financial capability” was also rated highly for smaller Australian construction contractors (ACCs). The medium ACCs had “project risk”as highly ranked. Research limitations The majority of the participants were small construction contractors in Australia. The reason is that the researchers were not aware of the contractors’ size prior to inviting them for participation in the research study. Second, the findings may not generalise to other industries or to organisations operating in other countries. Practical implications The identified “bid/no bid criteria” increase the awareness of existing decision-making practices and play a critical role in the future decisions of the construction companies, where decision makers need to evaluate the next opportunities encountered. Furthermore, knowledge and possession of these identified “bid/no bid” criteria would enable contractors to select a project with a higher probability of success in the future, which will accordingly result in long-term financial benefits and higher performance. Finally, the awareness of these factors could contribute to changing the contractor’s behaviours when bidding in a competitive environment or market conditions. Originality/value The study contributes to the body of knowledge on tendering and bidding practices among contractors in Australia, an area previously under explored. Second, this study provides some insights on the factors influencing the bid/no bid decisions among the ACCs.

Crisis or opportunity: Marks and Spencer’s tryst with Indian retail

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 671-690
Author(s):  
Arunima Rana ◽  
Ravi Shankar
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
International Business ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Competitor Analysis ◽  
Fashion Retail

Research methodology The case is written using secondary data sources (namely, research documents, press information, journal articles and published interviews). Publicly declared company information has further been leveraged to augment case facts. All information sources have been duly acknowledged in the reference section. Case overview/synopsis The case is written in the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the Indian retail industry, revolving around scenarios in which a multinational retailer has to decide on its long- and short-term strategy in such an economic crisis. The case story has been developed around Marks and Spencer’s retail venture in the Indian market. With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting business at various levels, with countries moving to lock down and economies shrinking to recessionary levels, one of the worst affected sectors is retail. The teaching case builds upon Mark and Spencer’s initial decision of not entering and extending its food/grocery business in India. While it remained a dominant player in Indian fashion retail for almost two decades, it needs to re-think its decision of entering food retail owing to a pandemic situation affecting its offline sales/store footfall and increasing competition from global fashion brands such as Zara and H&M that had flooded the Indian fashion retail sector. The case provides a context for students to perform environmental factor and competitor analysis for a sector, with special focus on decision making in a changing crisis scenario. Complexity academic level This case could be used in undergraduate and MBA classroom programme, across subjects such as retail management, marketing management, international business, international business environment and strategic business management. This case fits while discussing topics such as business environmental factors, competitor analysis, decision-making under crisis, market entry decision, omnichannel retail strategy, consumer behaviour and brand management.

scholarly journals Evaluating Critical Factors Influencing the Reliability of Emergency Logistics Systems Using Multiple-Attribute Decision Making

Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Jiang ◽  
Yixin Wang ◽  
Chao Liu ◽  
Yi-Chung Hu ◽  
Jingci Xie
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Multiple Attribute Decision Making ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Logistics System ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Emergency Logistics ◽  
Multiple Attribute ◽  
Coordination System

The infectious disease COVID-19 has swept across the world in 2020, and it continues to cause massive losses of life and severe economic problems in all countries. Providing emergency supplies such as protective medical equipment and materials required to secure people’s livelihood is thus currently prioritized by governments. Establishing a reliable emergency logistics system is critical in this regard. This paper used the Delphi method to design a formal decision structure to assess emergency logistics system reliability (ELSR) by obtaining a consensus from a panel of experts. Assessing ELSR is a typical multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) problem, and the related MADM methods are usually on the basis of symmetry principles. A hybrid MADM model, called the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)-based Analytical Network Process (D-ANP), was developed to identify the critical factors influencing ELSR. An analysis of empirical evidence showed that the emergency logistics command and coordination system and the emergency material supply system play important roles in ELSR, while the emergency logistics transportation and distribution system and the emergency information system are not so important. This conclusion is different from previous research about traditional disaster emergency logistics. Moreover, the cause–effect relationships among the key factors indicated that the system of command and coordination for emergency logistics and the supply system for emergency materials should be improved. Accordingly, effective suggestions for emergency logistics services for epidemic prevention are provided in this paper. The main contributions of this paper are (1) establishing a comprehensive and systematic evaluating index of ELSR for epidemic prevention; (2) employing a kind of structured, namely D-ANP, to identify the critical factors with non-commensurable and conflicting (competing) characteristics; and (3) comparing the differences of reliable criteria between the emergency logistics of epidemic prevention and the traditional disaster emergency logistics.

Individual and cultural differences in newsvendor decision making

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Li ◽  
Lucy Gongtao Chen ◽  
Jian Chen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cognitive Reflection Test ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Order Quantities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate cultural and individual differences in newsvendor decision making.Design/methodology/approachThe online experiment, programmed in the PHP scripting language, had 107 participants: local managers of four large, well-known and supply chain–intensive firms in China (Lenovo, Shenhua, CMST and GM).FindingsThe authors find that, as compared with American subjects, Chinese subjects engage in more demand chasing, order quantities that are closer to the mean demand, have a lower expected profit and exhibit greater variance in order quantities. However, these observations may not hold when the cross-cultural comparison is conducted for each pair of ethnic subgroups whose members have the same cognitive reflection test score, a measure of individual differences. Moreover, cultural differences also affect how individual differences manifest in newsvendor decisions.Practical implicationsThe authors findings have important implications for employee selection, training and management in any cross-cultural business environment.Originality/valueLittle attention has been paid, in the behavioural operations literature, to individual differences and how they interact with culture. This paper is the first to examine the interaction effects of cultural and individual differences in newsvendor decisions, and it highlights an important research area that is currently understudied in operations management.

Application of the GDM model in the diagnosis of crises in family businesses

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Wiecek-Janka ◽  
Marcin Nowak ◽  
Arkadiusz Borowiec
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Science ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Remedial Action ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Grey Systems Theory ◽  
Decision Making Criteria

PurposeThis paper is a part of the application trend of the development of the grey systems theory. The purpose of this paper is to present the use of the GDM model in the diagnosis of the occurrence of crises in family businesses. The issue of the occurrence of conflicts and crises in family businesses is one of the most important and common in management science in Poland.Design/methodology/approachIn the paper using the GDM model (in which the weights of the criteria were determined using the modified Thurstone method), the authors presented a way to diagnose the occurrence of crises in family businesses for a sample of Polish family businesses using, among others, a questionnaire-based survey.FindingsAs a result of the conducted research, it turned out that in eight surveyed businesses no symptoms of conflicts were diagnosed. In three businesses, the symptoms of conflicts were diagnosed, but they did not threaten their existence. In the case of four businesses, the symptoms of crisis that threaten their existence were diagnosed and immediate remedial action was recommended to them.Originality/valueThe authors are of the opinion that the presented research results may be a reason for the validity of using the GDM model in the diagnosis of crises in family businesses. At the same time, it is recommended to undertake further research on,inter alia, conflict fields in family businesses, or on the use of the modified Thurstone method as a part of determining the validity of decision-making criteria in GDM models.

An agent-based simulation model for IING’s adoption from a perspective of kinetic energy and potential energy

Kybernetes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Wang ◽  
Qingpu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Agent Based Simulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Social Physics ◽  
Physical Energy ◽  
Energy Theory

Purpose Internet-based intangible network good (IING) has revolutionized multiple industries in recent years. This paper aims to reveal the laws of consumer’s decision-making on IING from a perspective of kinetic energy and potential energy. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, 4 aspects and 17 factors influencing IING adoption were generalized. Based on the theory of social physics, an agent-based simulation model, introducing physical energy theory to depict consumer’s decision-making, was built. An agent’s kinetic energy reflects the agent’s perceived effect of mass media on the agent’s decision-making on IING adoption. An agent’s potential energy reflects the agent’s perceived effect of social interactions on the agent’s decision-making on the adoption of IING. An agent’s final energy is the sum of the kinetic energy and potential energy, which reflects the agent’s final decision. Findings Some factors mainly influence the diffusion velocity, while other factors have a dramatic impact on both diffusion velocity and diffusion scale. The agent’s personality can make a difference at the early and middle stages of IING adoption, but a faint impact at the later stage because of the effects of network externalities and word of mouth. There is a critical value of the number of initial adopters which can dramatically speed up IING adoption. Practical implications This study provides new insights for firms on the effects of factors influencing consumers’ decision-making on IING adoption. Originality/value This paper defines a new kind of innovation, IING, and generalizes IING’s special characteristics. As a new application of social physics, the physical energy theory has been creatively introduced to depict consumer’s decision-making on IING adoption. A kinetic and potential energy model of IING adoption has been built. Based on simulation experiments, new insights of IING adoption have been gained.

Quantifying SWOT analysis for cloud adoption using FAHP-DEMATEL approach: evidence from the manufacturing sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 1111-1152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahak Sharma ◽  
Rajat Sehrawat
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Time To Market ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Issues ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Indian Manufacturing Sector

PurposeThis study aims to identify the critical factors (barriers and drivers) influencing the adoption of cloud computing (ACC) in the manufacturing sector in India.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, a mixed methodology approach is used. Interviews are conducted to investigate factors (drivers and barriers) influencing the ACC, which are further categorized as controllable determinants (weaknesses and strengths) and uncontrollable determinants (threats and opportunities) using a SWOT analysis. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) has been utilized to highlight the most critical drivers as well as barriers. Finally, decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) has been used to find the cause-effect relationships among factors and their influence on the decision of adoption.FindingsThe manufacturing sector is in the digital and value change transformation phase with Industry 4.0, that is, the next industrial revolution. The 24 critical factors influencing ACC are subdivided into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The FAHP analysis ranked time to market, competitive advantage, business agility, data confidentiality and lack of government policy standards as the most critical factors. The cause-effect relationships highlight that time to market is the most significant causal factor, and resistance to technology is the least significant effect factor. The results of the study elucidate that the strengths of ACC are appreciably more than its weaknesses.Research limitations/implicationsThis study couples the technology acceptance model (TAM) with technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and adds an economic perspective to examine the significant influences of ACC in the Indian manufacturing sector. Further, it contributes to the knowledge of ACC in general and provides valuable insights into interrelationships among factors influencing the decision and strategies of adoption in particular.Originality/valueThis is the first scholarly work in the Indian manufacturing sector that uses the analysis from SWOT and FAHP approach as a base for identifying cause-effect relationships between the critical factors influencing ACC. Further, based on the extant literature and analysis of this work, an adoption framework has been proposed that justifies that ACC is not just a technological challenge but is also an environmental, economic and organizational challenge that includes organizational issues, costs and need for adequate government policies.

A methodology for identifying critical factors influencing land value in urban areas: a case study of Kerala, India

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 665-681
Author(s):  
Binoy BV ◽  
Naseer MA ◽  
Anil Kumar PP
Keyword(s):  
Expert Opinion ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
Delphi Survey ◽  
Land Value ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Importance Index

PurposeLand value is a measure of the specific features of a property, excluding buildings and other developments. Land value varies depending on the economic, geographic and political aspects of a particular location. The primary purpose of the paper is to identify the general and location-specific attributes impacting property prices in urban Kerala.Design/methodology/approachThe objective of the current study was achieved through a three-cycle Delphi survey and relative importance index (RII) approach. The experts who aided in the survey had a mutual interest in the subject but came from different backgrounds like property valuation, real estate, urban and environmental planning. The initial group of variables identified from the literature was expanded and scrutinized in the first cycle of the Delphi survey. The variables were grouped into five major categories and 13 subcategories based on the literature and expert opinion. In the subsequent stages, the short-listed variables were rated on a seven-point Likert scale until a consensus was attained. The top-ranked variables were identified through the RII method as the critical factors influencing land value in urban Kerala.FindingsThe results indicate that road accessibility and proximity to nuisance sources are the most crucial parameters. The outcome of the study will provide a better understanding of the dynamics of land value and the influencing factors in urban areas.Originality/valuePrevious studies do not give much consideration for the location-specific variability on the influencing parameters. Property management research has not considered the usage of expert opinion and RII for variable selection.

Identification and prioritization of factors influencing organization risk tolerance level

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-435
Author(s):  
Mohammad Khalilzadeh ◽  
Shiba Masoumi ◽  
Isa Masoumi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Statistical Population ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tolerance Level ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Decision Making Model

Purpose Identifying and prioritizing the risks are considered as critical issues in risk management; otherwise, non-considering the risks will lead to the problems such as delays in project implementation, increased costs, loss of reputation, loss of clients, reduced revenue and liquidity and even bankruptcy. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the factors influencing the organization risk tolerance level were identified. Then, the factors increasing and decreasing the risk tolerance level were determined by a decision-making model. Finally, a comprehensive model was considered for risk measuring and preparing a risk failure structure chart, in order to determine the factors influencing it as well as the measurement criteria and then they were ranked using the taxonomy method. In this study, the size of the statistical population was 130 (six small and medium manufacturer and service provider companies). Based on Cochran’s sample size formula, 97 questionnaires containing 30 questions were randomly distributed among the population. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed. The data were analyzed by SPSS 22. Findings Given the hypotheses of this study, the first hypothesis was rejected and the other hypotheses were accepted. The final ranking was done using the taxonomy method; the personality of the project manager was ranked at first; income, credit and capital were ranked second and the number of personnel was ranked third. Moreover, the TOPSIS method was used for ranking to compare the results. Originality/value In this research, the identification and ranking of these factors have taken place in several small- and medium-sized organizations; in addition, the rankings are conducted using the taxonomy decision-making method.

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