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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | L Oerlemans; R M Bakker; P Kenis; J K Vermunt |
| Abstract: | This article explores the process of learning from inter-organizational projects by SMEs. We analyse a sample of 1,500 SMEs to empirically develop a typology of different types of projects and conduct an in-depth comparative case study in each of the types. We find that 1) differences between project types influence the degree of project-based learning by SMEs, and 2) the mechanisms by which SMEs learn from projects can be unintentional, haphazard, and resemble learning by bricolage. These findings lead us to question the deliberate and pro-active nature of organizational learning that has been central to recent theory development. |
| Date: | 2013–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eim:papers:h201304&r=ppm |
| By: | Felipe Iachan (MIT) |
| Abstract: | The severe contraction that followed the recent financial crisis highlighted the exposure of the real sector to financial markets and the volatility in credit conditions. Unreliability of future funding influences the way in which firms balance risks when choosing investment projects and designing financial arrangements. The present paper studies the behavior of project choice in an environment with financial frictions and its consequences for the aggregate behavior of the economy. I focus on responses to fluctuations in the external supply of liquidity and in the liquidity created by the entrepreneurial projects themselves. When shocks occur to external liquidity sources, such as changes in the cash-flows that support mortgage-backed securities or other non-corporate assets, these are transmitted through financial arrangements towards the real sector. The anticipation of these shocks and its reflection in asset prices influence project selection and change the pattern of fluctuations, creating additional comovement. Likewise, the anticipation of variations in the internal liquidity of firms, resulting from shocks to their productivity, changes their choice of projects. For moderate liquidity scarcity, the effect through project choice is shown to lead to the dampening of these underlying productivity shocks; while for more severe shortages, amplification emerges. Despite the possibility of excess exposure to risk being generated endogenously, allocations are constrained efficient. Policy implications are then discussed in light of this result. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed012:480&r=ppm |
| By: | Pannell, David J. |
| Abstract: | Requirements that environmental programs must meet in order to deliver value for money are identified, illustrated and discussed. It is argued that environmental managers and policy makers should carefully consider the extent to which potential policies and investments deliver environmental outcomes, not just outputs and activities. Processes for ranking potential environmental investments need to consider a sufficient set of information to properly evaluate benefits and costs. That information must be in a rigorous way. Many ranking systems in practical use do not meet these requirements. Environmental projects of different scales and intensities can vary greatly in the value for money that they offer, so different versions of a project should be evaluated and compared. The effectiveness of a program or project can be sensitive to the policy mechanism(s) used, so these too should be compared and evaluated for each potential project. Programs should be designed in a way that provides incentives for environmental managers to develop and pursue projects that provide high value for money, rather than creating barriers to that outcome. In some cases environmental economists could increase the value for money from investments in their research and analysis by avoiding the over-concentration of effort into a subset of the many types of information needed to make sound management and policy decisions. There are several reasons to expect that relatively less detailed or sophisticated information may provide greater value for money: diminishing marginal benefits from sophistication and detail, increasing marginal costs of sophistication and detail, and the limited capacities of potential users of this information. There is significant potential to improve the value for money generated by public investments in environmental projects and in environmental economics, although there are significant challenges in each case. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:146501&r=ppm |
| By: | Filipski, Mateusz; Manning, Dale; Taylor, J. Edward; Diao, Xinshen; Pradesha, Angga |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the findings of a local economywide impact evaluation of Feed the Future irrigation projects in the Morogoro region of Tanzania, using a local economy-wide impact evaluation (LEWIE) simulation model. The findings indicate that these irrigation projects can generate important indirect impacts within the region. The structure of local markets, as well as labor and land availability, shapes project spillovers in ways that point to future directions for development assistance in the region. |
| Keywords: | Irrigation; General equilibrium model; local economywide impact evaluation model (LEWIE); Rice productivity;, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1247&r=ppm |
| By: | Sciara, Gian-Glaudia |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Natural Resources and Conservation, Social Sciences, us congress, funding, transport projects |
| Date: | 2012–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt06z9w6tt&r=ppm |
| By: | Ernst, Christof; Richter, Katharina; Riedel, Nadine |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of tax incentives on corporate research and development (R&D) activity. Traditionally, R&D tax incentives have been provided in the form of special tax allowances and tax credits. In recent years, several countries moreover reduced their income tax rates on R&D output (patent boxes). Previous papers have shown that all three tax instruments are effective in raising the quantity of R&D related activity. We provide evidence that, beyond this quantity effect, corporate taxation also distorts the quality of R&D projects, i.e. their innovativeness and revenue potential. Using rich data on corporate patent applications to the European patent office, we find that a low tax rate on patent income is instrumental in attracting innovative projects with a high earnings potential and innovation level. The effect is statistically signficant and economically relevant and prevails in a number of sensitivity checks. R&D tax credits and tax allowances are in turn not found to exert a statistically significant impact on project quality. -- |
| Keywords: | corporate taxation,patent quality,micro data |
| JEL: | H3 H7 J5 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13010&r=ppm |
| By: | Jean-Philippe Platteau; Vincent Somville; Zaki Wahhaj |
| Abstract: | We investigate donor-beneficiary relationships in participatory development programs, where (i) communities are heterogeneous and dominated by the local elite, (ii) the elite strategically propose a project to the donor, knowing that the latter has imperfect knowledge of the needs of the target population. We analyze how changes in the donor's outside option or information about the needs of the target population affect elite capture. Our central, paradoxical result is that a more attractive outside option, or a higher quality of donor's information may end up encouraging the local elite to propose a project that better matches their own preference rather than the preference of the grassroots. Moreover, in the case where the noise in the donor's information follows a normal distribution, we find that a better outside option generally decreases elite capture but improved information about the needs of the target population is likely to increase elite capture. |
| Keywords: | community-driven development; aid effectiveness; elite capture; preference targeting; information distortion |
| JEL: | O12 O21 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1305&r=ppm |