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Background: Given the limited available time of in-service professionals, the balance between the perceived importance of the course content and training needs is essential for the acceptance and attractiveness of training courses aimed at them. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and business training programs for European SME managers. Methods/Approach: In six European countries a survey focusing on SME managers’ views on the importance of individual items from a list of potential course content items, and their training needs was carried out, and followed by an analysis using exploratory and multivariate techniques. It was aimed at identifying homogeneous groups of managers with common training needs and perceptions of content importance. Results: Homogeneous groups of managers who assign the same importance to certain competences and who have common training needs are identified. Conclusions: Results of our research could help training institutions to develop courses aimed at SME managers. The balancing approach proved to be an interesting method of combining conflicting requirements for the training course curriculum development.

Background: Given the limited available time of in-service professionals, the balance between the perceived importance of the course content and training needs is essential for the acceptance and attractiveness of training courses aimed at them. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and business training programs for European SME managers. Methods/Approach: In six European countries a survey focusing on SME managers’ views on the importance of individual items from a list of potential course content items, and their training needs was carried out, and followed by an analysis using exploratory and multivariate techniques. It was aimed at identifying homogeneous groups of managers with common training needs and perceptions of content importance. Results: Homogeneous groups of managers who assign the same importance to certain competences and who have common training needs are identified. Conclusions: Results of our research could help training institutions to develop courses aimed at SME managers. The balancing approach proved to be an interesting method of combining conflicting requirements for the training course curriculum development.

Uspjeh projekta uveliko ovisi o procesu upravljanja projektom i nekoliko je gledišta koja treba pažljivo razmotriti. Cilj je ovoga članka odgovoriti na pitanje: ima li sličnosti u raznim industrijskim granama u onome što se odnosi na gledišta bitna za uspjeh upravljanja projektom? Opsežnom anketom provedenom u srednjim i velikim kompanijama građevinske i industrije računarskih programa, zaključili smo da su dva, trenutno najvažnija gledišta za uspjeh upravljanja projektom zajednička za te dvije industrijske grane vezana uz "planiranje projekta" i "dobro definiranje ciljeva i zahtjeva". "Učinkovitost voditelja projekta" se također nalazi pri samom vrhu. S druge strane, postoje bitne razlike u odnosu na druga gledišta., Project success is highly dependent on the project management process, and there are several aspects that need to be carefully considered. This article aims at responding to the research question: are there similarities in different industries in what concerns the critical aspects for the success of project management? Throughout a comprehensive survey applied to medium and large companies of the construction and software industries, we came to the conclusion that the two currently most important project management success aspects are common to both industries: "project planning" and "well defined objectives and requirements". The "project manager efficiency" is also in the top of the critical success aspects. On the other hand, other aspects show major differences in the studied industries.

As housing is an essential need, a dwelling should provide an assured quality of life and satisfy the expectations of its users. As a dwelling is a complex system, the construction of which involves the contribution of various specialists, the evaluation of its quality is a elaborated process. In the sequence of previous research on quality dwellings assessment methods, the objective of this paper is to present the proposal of an assessment system for the most important aspects of dwellings’ quality in Portugal which provides stakeholders with a simple and objective form for assessing the quality level of a dwelling to be designed, built, financed, bought or rented. After a thorough analysis of methods used to evaluate residential building quality in various countries, the most common elements were identified. This list was submitted to critical evaluation by Portuguese construction specialists, resulting in a final selection of evaluation aspects such as: housing operating costs, proximity to basic infrastructures, energy classification and rainwater reuse systems.

As housing is an essential need, a dwelling should provide an assured quality of life and satisfy the expectations of its users. As a dwelling is a complex system, the construction of which involves the contribution of various specialists, the evaluation of its quality is a elaborated process. In the sequence of previous research on quality dwellings assessment methods, the objective of this paper is to present the proposal of an assessment system for the most important aspects of dwellings’ quality in Portugal which provides stakeholders with a simple and objective form for assessing the quality level of a dwelling to be designed, built, financed, bought or rented. After a thorough analysis of methods used to evaluate residential building quality in various countries, the most common elements were identified. This list was submitted to critical evaluation by Portuguese construction specialists, resulting in a final selection of evaluation aspects such as: housing operating costs, proximity to basic infrastructures, energy classification and rainwater reuse systems.