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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Alessio Bonetti; Silvia Bortot; Mario Fedrizzi; Silvio Giove; Ricardo Alberto Marques Pereira; Andrea Molinari |
| Abstract: | We investigate the group processes involved in effort estimation in the context of Project Management. The groups considered are formed by “experts†(people with specific technical competence) and “non-experts†(people with less specific technical competence, usually experts in related fields), because the typically complementary bias of the two classes contribute to a more balanced estimate. In this paper we exploit further the synergies between experts and non-experts in an MCDM framework, aggregating the individual estimates by means of non-additive Choquet integration, and representing the complementary bias by the multiagent interaction structure underlying the capacity. We present some examples and computer simulations whose aggregation results outperform those of the classical weighted mean (additive case), showing lower MMRE (mean magnitude of the relative error between the central estimate and the actual value) and higher HitRate (at which the interval estimate contains the actual value). |
| Keywords: | Group decisions and multi-agent systems, multiple criteria analysis and criteria interaction, aggregation functions, Choquet integration, Project Management, effort estimation. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trt:disawp:2011/12&r=ppm |
| By: | Gunther Bensch; Jörg Peters |
| Abstract: | There is a consensus in the international community that rural electrifi cation and, in particular, the productive use of electricity contributes to poverty alleviation. At the same time, eff orts to evaluate the impacts of development projects have increased substantially. This paper provides a hands-on guide for designing evaluation studies regarding the impacts of productive electricity usage. Complementary to the existing literature on evaluation methods, this guide familiarizes project managers with the concrete steps that have to be undertaken to plan and implement an evaluation. The guide comprises three modules based on enterprise surveys and on anecdotal case studies. For each module, the implementation is described on a step-by-step basis including conceptual issues as well as logistics and methodological questions. |
| Keywords: | Development eff ectiveness; productive electricity use; survey design;monitoring and evaluation |
| JEL: | O22 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0279&r=ppm |
| By: | Rasheed, Sulaiman V. (CRISP); Hall, Andy (LINK, Open University and UNU-MERIT); Reddy, T.S. Vamsidhar (Open University) |
| Abstract: | This paper reflects on the experience of the Research Into Use (RIU) projects in Asia. It reconfirms much of what has been known for many years about the way innovation takes place and finds that many of the shortcomings of RIU in Asia were precisely because lessons from previous research on agricultural innovation were "not put into use" in the programme's implementation. However, the experience provides three important lessons for donors and governments to make use of agricultural research: (i) Promoting research into use requires enabling innovation. This goes beyond fostering collaboration, and includes a range of other innovation management tasks (ii) The starting point for making use of research need not necessarily be the promising research products and quite often identifying the promising innovation trajectories is more rewarding (iii) Strengthening the innovation enabling environment of policies and institutions is critical if research use is to lead to long-term and large-scale impacts. It is in respect of this third point that RIU Asia missed its target, as it failed to make explicit efforts to address policy and institutional change, despite its innovation systems rhetoric. This severely restricted its ability to achieve wide-scale social and economic impact that was the original rationale for the programme. |
| Keywords: | Research Into Use, Innovation Management, Agricultural Research, Innovation, Development, Policy, Value Chain Development, South Asia, Innovation Trajectory |
| JEL: | L26 L31 L33 N55 O13 O19 O21 O22 O31 O32 O33 O53 Q13 Q16 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011050&r=ppm |
| By: | Hoewer, Daniel; Schmidt, Tobias; Sofka, Wolfgang |
| Abstract: | Information economics has emerged as the primary theoretical lens for framing financing decisions in firm R&D investment. Successful outcomes of R&D projects are either ex-ante impossible to predict or the information is asymmetrically distributed between inventors and investors. As a result, bank lending for firm R&D has been rare. However, firms can signal the value of their R&D activities and as a result reduce the information deficits that block the availability of external funding. In this study we focus on three types of signals: Firm's existing patent stock, the presences of a joint venture investor and whether the firm has received a government R&D subsidy. We argue theoretically that all of these signals have the potential to alter the risk assessment of the firm's main bank. Additionally, we explore heterogeneities in these risk assessments arising from the industry level and the main bank's portfolio. We test our theoretical predictions for a sample of more than 7,000 firm observations in Germany over a multi-year period. Our theoretical predictions are only supported for firms' past patent activity while other signals fail to alter the risk assessment of a firm's main bank. Besides, we confirm that the risk evaluation is not randomly distributed across bank-firm dyads but depends on industry and bank characteristics. -- |
| Keywords: | Innovation,banking,information asymmetry |
| JEL: | D82 G30 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:11055&r=ppm |
| By: | Diongue Abdou Ka (UFR SAT - Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis Sénégal - Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis); Gaël Giraud (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, ESCP-Europe - Campus de Paris); Cécile Renouard (ESSEC - ESSEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | Extractive industries face two main challenges in terms of CSR and poverty reduction: 1) recognize that societal activity is part of their core business; 2) take part in socio-economic projects that contribute to their stakeholders' empowerment and not only to their living conditions. Based on surveys achieved in Nigeria in 2008, the paper presents two societal performance indices meant to be complementary: the Poverty Exit Index (PEI) and the Relational Capability Index (RCI). We show that, while they have fostered the PEI of the local communities, the development projects of the oil companies had a rather negative impact on their RCI. We then identify key variables that can influence positively the RCI and on which a sensible development policy should focus. |
| Keywords: | development indices ; capability approach ; relational capability ; development ; poverty ; impact assessment |
| Date: | 2011–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00626247&r=ppm |
| By: | William M. Fonta; Hyacinth E. Ichoku; Emmanuel Nwosu |
| Abstract: | The study examined the usefulness and relevance of the contingent valuation method (CVM) in community-based (CB) project planning and implementation. To elicit willingness to pay (WTP) values for the restocking of Lake Bamendjim with Tilapia nilotica and Heterotis niloticus fish species, the study used pre-tested questionnaires interviewer-administered to 1,000 randomly selected households in the Bambalang Region of Cameroon.The datawere elicitedwith the conventional referendumdesign and analysed using a referendum model. Empirical findings indicated that about 85% of the sampled households were willing to pay about CFAF1,054 (US$2.1) for the restocking project. This amount was found to be significantly related to the starting price used in the referendum design, household income, the gender of the respondent, the age of the respondent, household poverty status, and previous participation of a household in a community development project.The findings prompted the following recommendations. Firstly, in order to reduce community burden due to cash constraints, it is advisable for the mean estimate obtained for the scheme to be split into four instalments over a year. Secondly, since the success of the scheme largely depends on the governing roles of the scheme, it is further advisable for the community to allowthemanagement of the scheme to be handled by the elderly community members. Finally, it will be important during the financing of the scheme, to levy wealthier household heads an amount sufficient to subsidize poorer household heads who cannot afford to pay the threshold price. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:rpaper:rp_210&r=ppm |
| By: | Stephen B. DeLoach (Department of Economics, Elon University); Elizabeth Perry-Sizemore (Department of Economics, Randolph College); Mary O. Borg (Department of Economics, University of North Florida) |
| Abstract: | While undergraduate research (UR) has been growing across the academy for decades, economics has been relatively slow to adopt it as pedagogy. We argue for the development of comprehensive UR programs that not only require capstone research experiences, but integrate the development of foundational research skills throughout the curriculum. Fundamentally, there is a hierarchy whereby students learn basic research skills in lower-level courses, develop ability integrating content knowledge and research skills in upper-levels, and produce independent or collaborative research projects in later semesters. Successful UR programs depend on understanding this developmental model, integrating it into the curriculum, and taking advantage of resources to support it. To facilitate such improvements, we make six recommendations for departments to consider when building or strengthening their UR environment. |
| Keywords: | undergraduate research, senior thesis, honors thesis, service learning, active learningQuality UGR |
| JEL: | A2 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:elo:wpaper:2011-02&r=ppm |