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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Bockhaus-Odenthal, Erik; Siegfried, Patrick |
| Abstract: | Abstract Companies often rely on the Know-How of external service providers for the development of software and solutions. Modern forms of work-ing and collaboration change the development of products and services at the same time. How do these trends influence the cooperation and collaboration between companies and their external agile service providers? Purpose The purpose of this academic work is to figure out which steps companies have to take to implement agile working and collaboration with external service providers. Research Methodology Therefore, a case study, including a qualitative survey, was used to find and point out which measures and actions companies have to take, to accomplish the goal of effective implementation of agile collaboration and cooperation. Three core issues were identified, on which basis the research questions regarding the measures will be answered: First, which possibilities companies have, to implement an internal agile set up to collaborate with agile service providers on an equal basis. Second, which contract variants can support and improve the agile cooperation and third, which agile techniques and methods should be used in the agile collaboration. Results The case study results confirm the assumption, that the three identified core issues are essential for effective cooperation in the agile environment. While it was verified on the one hand that contract requirements changed concerning their flexibility and adaptability, it was also verified on the other hand, that the internal setup requires agile drivers, techniques and methods to enable effective cooperation with agile service providers. This article gives an overview of the most important content within the three stated core issues and also gives companies advice on how to build a basis for effective cooperation. |
| Keywords: | Agility, Agile Contract Variants, Cooperation External Service Providers, New Conditions |
| JEL: | M20 M30 |
| Date: | 2021–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111511&r= |
| By: | Gohdes, N.; Simshauser, P. |
| Abstract: | The cost of capital is among the most important variables determining the feasibility of investment in renewable energy projects. In Australia’s National Electricity Market, the ability of new variable renewable energy (VRE) plant to arrange requisite project finance at favourable rates largely determines project viability. Such financings are typically only achieved when VRE projects are underpinned by long-dated Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), under which prices are guaranteed by an investment-grade counterparty. In this article, we quantify the relationship between PPAs, counterparty credit quality and the cost of capital in the context of Australia’s energy-only wholesale market under conditions of policy uncertainty. Our analysis benefits from the application of confidential data from Australia’s capital markets. We find higher credit quality drives higher gearing, and somewhat counterintuitively, lower expected returns to equity. This in turn produces a lower cost of capital and by implication, higher post-construction VRE plant valuations – an outcome seemingly at odds with Modigliani and Miller’s classic 1958 article. In practice, risk has been repackaged and reallocated. |
| Keywords: | Renewable Energy, PPAs, Project Finance, Counterparty Credit, Cost of Capital |
| JEL: | D25 D80 G32 L51 Q41 |
| Date: | 2022–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2206&r= |
| By: | Masato Kawanishi; Nela Anjani Lubis; Hiroyuki Ueda; Junko Morizane; Ryo Fujikura |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes how and under what conditions technical cooperation may generate larger effects on endogenous and long-term capacity development in developing countries. To this end, we use the case of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory in Indonesia, where the task for producing GHG inventories was first outsourced to external experts through a dedicated project, but is now managed by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK). While investigating the long-term process through which the country developed its capacity on this issue, we evaluated how and the extent to which the five-year technical cooperation supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency contributed to this by generating catalytic effects. This paper contributes to and complements the existing literature by applying a model of strategic issue diagnosis, by which we traced the evolving issue interpretations at the ministry and their consequent actions. This study finds that the technical cooperation interacted with changes in the institutional environment, raising the issue urgency, feasibility, and interdependence as perceived at KLHK, creating momentum to change their situation, and igniting endogenous capacity development. The study highlights that, as the substantial uncertainty in their reported GHG inventories was identified through the technical cooperation, the issue came to be defined by the ministry as the problem to be solved. This paper identifies the country’s specific context as an important factor to explain a project’s catalytic effect, or the absence thereof. It emphasizes that contexts must be factored in when evaluating projects, as they are often embedded in longer timeframes and in the wider scope that goes beyond the direct beneficiaries. |
| Keywords: | Capacity development, climate change, issue interpretations, carbon emissions, Indonesia |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:225&r= |
| By: | Angelos Alamanos; Phoebe Koundouri; Lydia Papadaki; Tatiana Pliakou |
| Abstract: | This research reflects the outcomes from an ongoing project based on continuous collaboration (stakeholder engagement) and scientific support towards sustainable and resilient water management. A multi-disciplinary platform is used to bring together all relevant stakeholders of Thessaly, a Greek rural region facing multiple water management problems, historically. The problems, causes and potential solutions are analysed in a series of virtual meetings (March 2021 - June 2022) in order to develop business plan(s) for the improvement of the situation in multiple levels. A basic result from the project so far, a commonly acceptable measure, refers to the digital agriculture � irrigation water management, which has multiple benefits and enhances resilience to different future challenges. Such measures are supported by the international practice, research, and policy agendas: Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and interactive maps have been used successfully for agricultural monitoring and management in the context of informed decision-making (Jhariya 2019) and guidance for targeted measures (Mockler et al. 2016), while they support the use (and adaptation) of new technologies by multiple users (Mustafi et al. 2021). The main objective of this work is to analyse the multiple benefits of such digital management tools from a new perspective: as a means for transparency and accountability to speed up progress and support informed decisions, as resulted from a multi-disciplinary stakeholder group. The methodology developed and followed for this project, the way of reaching to common visions, and the proposed actions for the specific study area are the novel elements of this work. |
| Date: | 2022–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:2210&r= |
| By: | Mateos, Angel; Harvey, John; Millan, Miguel Angel; Wu, Rongzong; Paniagua, Fabian; Cisneros, Jessica; Paniagua, Julio |
| Abstract: | This report documents the design and construction of a concrete overlay on asphalt (COA) pavement on State Route 113 in Woodland, California, one of the first COA projects in the Caltrans road network. The project site extended over approximately 4 mi. of a two-lane secondary road. The concrete slabs were a half-lane wide (6×6 ft.) and 6 in. thick. The transverse joints were undoweled, but tie bars were installed at all the longitudinal joints. The outside slabs were 2 ft. wider than the interior slabs to provide a concrete shoulder. The project included a section with newly placed, rubberized, gap-graded asphalt mix base. A rapid-strength concrete mixture with Type II/V portland cement designed to be opened to traffic in 24 hours was used for construction of the overlay. The northern part of the project (PM 14.760 to PM 17.580) was built in October and November 2018, while the southern part (PM 11.860 to PM 12.890) was built in April and May 2019. The concrete mixture was produced in a fixed plant and transported in ready-mix trucks 25 mi. to the construction site. A slipform paver was used to consolidate and finish the concrete. A number of the quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) tests and evaluations summarized in this report were conducted before, during, and after the construction of the concrete overlay. These QC/QA tests and evaluations revealed no major design or construction issues with the concrete overlay, but they did show that the condition of the asphalt base was very poor, particularly in the northern part of the project. |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, rigid pavement, bonded concrete overlay of asphalt, whitetopping, rapid-strength concrete, rubberized asphalt, pavement rehabilitation |
| Date: | 2021–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt86f4f3sr&r= |
| By: | Ferguson, Beth |
| Abstract: | This report presents creative engagement activities based on the Designing with the Sun: Solar Curriculum Project that teaches high school and undergraduate students the principles of solar design and the steps needed to design and build a solar charging station. This in-depth curriculum covers renewable energy, electricity basics, solar design principles, and solar-supported mobility. Each chapter has a PowerPoint presentation, an active learning activity, video clips, and links to learn more. The solar curriculum materials are free for educators and self-learners to download and explore at their own pace. Small-scale solar charging stations provide a living lab for research and a place to recharge e-bikes and e-scooters. Shared micromobility (e-bike and e-scooter fleets) has exploded in popularity on college campuses and can help reduce car ownership and carbon emissions when recharged with the sun. As universities plan for the challenges of the 21stcentury, incorporating multifaceted forms of renewable energy with electric vehicle charging is a step toward climate action and decarbonization. Creative rethinking on a massive scale is required to meet the goals set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the COP 21 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals such as numbers 7, Affordable and Clean Energy;9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; and 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities are all important guides for modeling solar education. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Education, Engineering, Solar energy, photovoltaic, solar design, renewable energy |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt4f74n7h0&r= |
| By: | Kazakov, Aleksandr; Koetter, Michael; Titze, Mirko; Tonzer, Lena |
| Abstract: | We study whether government subsidies can stimulate bank funding of marginal investment projects and the associated effect on financial stability. We do so by exploiting granular project-level information for the largest regional economic development programme in Germany since 1997: the Improvement of Regional Eco-nomic Structures programme (GRW). By combining the universe of subsidised firms to virtually all German local banks over the period 1998-2019, we test whether this large-scale transfer programme destabilised regional credit markets. Because GRW subsidies to firms are destabilised at the EU level, we can use it as an exogenous shock to identify bank responses. On average, firm subsidies do not affect bank lending, but reduce banks' distance to default. Average effects conflate important bank-level heterogeneity though. Conditional on various bank traits, we show that well capita-lised banks with more industry experience expand lending when being exposed to subsidised firms without exhibiting more risky financial profiles. Our results thus indicate that stable banks can act as an important facilitator of regional economic development policies. Against the backdrop of pervasive transfer payments to mitigate Covid-19 losses and in light of far-reaching transformation policies requiredto green the economy, our study bears important implications as to whether and which banks to incorporate into the design of transfer programmes. |
| Keywords: | bank stability,financial intermediation,government subsidies |
| JEL: | G21 G28 H25 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:22022&r= |
| By: | Marco Buso (Catholic University of Milan & CIFREL & CRIEP); Luciano Greco (dSEA—University of Padua & CRIEP) |
| Abstract: | The government may delegate two sequential tasks (e.g., building and operating an infrastructure) to the same or different agents (i.e., partnership versus sequential con- tracts). Agents are risk-neutral but face financial constraints, whereas the government’s contractual capacity may be limited by the renegotiation-proof and fiscal constraints. By relying on history-dependent incentives, the partnership contract corrects moral hazard more effectively than sequential contracts. Thus, it is socially preferred unless bundling different tasks deteriorates the agent’s financial conditions. Our results shed new light on the role of firms’ financial and government’s fiscal conditions in driving the cost-benefit analysis of public-private partnerships. |
| Keywords: | Sequential moral hazard, Bundling, Limited liability, Budget constraint, Memory contracts |
| JEL: | D86 H11 H57 L33 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pad:wpaper:0276&r= |
| By: | Martine Gadille (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Juan Gallego-Bono (Department of Applied Economics II, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers s/n, Valencia 46022 - affiliation inconnue) |
| Abstract: | Most of SMEs are engaged in open innovation practices, but they do not benefit from open innovation or from patenting in the same way as larger firms do. At the same time SMEs, as territorialized suppliers, play a crucial role within evolving regional specialization. In this context the purpose of our study is to examine how low and medium technology supplier SMEs learn and organize themselves at a territorial level to address the challenge of IP protection in an open innovation paradigm. We used a qualitative method with a longitudinal multi-case study involving 27 companies with a historical lance to compare the territorial dynamics of knowledge protection within clustered supplier SMEs in two European regions. The results show they protect their knowledge by learning how to design, in a direct relationship with clients, customized complex technological products to develop a new organizational matrix of multidisciplinary knowledge that reveals itself difficult to imitate within the clusters. They also cope with other supplier firms across sectors even if they show societal path dependencies in the way to build cooperation. This dynamic has given birth to changing structural relationships among regionally clustered SMEs and between them and large firms. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property,low-medium tech suppliers SMEs,regional clusters,cooperation,organizational matrix,regional specialization,societal path dependency |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03512139&r= |
| By: | Ebun Akinsete (ICRE8); Phoebe Koundouri; Conrad Landis (AUEB) |
| Abstract: | In today's world, rising populations and growing economies have led to an ever-increasing demand for water; for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes. This water stress is more acutely felt in the global south which is experiencing a much more rapid rate of development than the rest of the world. Africa in particular, is the fastest growing region of the globe as it undergoes a population explosion and an economic boom. In addition, the region is also one of the most vulnerable in terms of adverse impacts of climate change; sea-level rise, flooding, and drought. This perfect storm of water-related challenges is exacerbated by poor management, placing the continent in dire need of new and efficient approaches towards managing its resource. This chapter examines the WEF-Nexus from an African perspective, presenting the WEF-Nexus approach as a key driver for Sustainable Development in the region. Drawing from research carried out as part of the EU Horizon 2020-funded DAFNE project, the chapter goes on to describe a model for Economic Developments for the WEF Nexus at river basin scale and its incorporation into a Decision Analytic Framework that integrates environmental, socio-cultural, legal and policy dimensions of the WEF-Nexus. |
| Date: | 2022–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:2204&r= |