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Household energy consumption represents a significant share of global energy usage, highlighting the importance of understanding the factors that influence energy use and identifying potential strategies for conservation. The Caribbean region faces unique challenges in energy sustainability, driven by its heavy dependence on fossil fuels and rising energy demand. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the current levels of energy awareness and energy consumption among households on the tropical Caribbean island of Curaçao and to determine practical energy-saving opportunities that can significantly reduce both energy consumption and costs. This paper is one of the first to evaluate energy awareness, energy use, and energy-saving opportunities among households in the Caribbean. The study included a literature review of key theories, concepts, and energy-saving strategies, along with a telephone survey of 382 households in Curaçao to examine household energy use, the factors shaping energy behavior, and the connections between energy consumption, behavior, and household income. The main findings of this study reveal that energy-efficient appliances are predominantly used in high-income households, with much lower adoption rates in middle- and low-income households. Cost savings, rather than environmental concerns, emerge as the primary motivation behind energy-saving behavior. Notably, the study highlights that most households in Curaçao are largely unaware of the full range of energy-efficient options available to them for reducing energy consumption. Based on the field study results, several recommendations are offered to enhance energy awareness, expand energy-saving opportunities, and ultimately reduce energy usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the predominant use of virgin materials and the creation of vast amounts of waste in the construction sector, increasing its resource efficiency could result in a large improvement in overall use of resources. Bridges are a logical target for increasing resource efficiency, not only because of the large amount of materials involved but especially because a considerable number of bridges are demolished because of changing functional demands rather than technical failure. Furthermore, climate change increases future uncertainty and the likelihood of functionally motivated demolitions, which potentially exacerbates the creation of waste. Currently, it is not possible to measure and quantify the resource efficiency of bridge designs. In this study, a framework is presented that combines four indicators based on the principles of the Circular Economy. The four indicators are: (1) Design Input, (2) Resource Availability, (3) Adaptability, and (4) Reusability. Each indicator is further broken down into multiple sub‐indicators. To test the usefulness of the proposed framework, it was applied to two real‐world Dutch case studies. In addition, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were conducted to determine the robustness of the indicator to changes in the design parameters and the weighting method used. Validation of the framework has shown that this bridge‐specific circularity indicator is useful for determining the level of resource efficiency in terms of material use. This will allow clients to use resource efficiency, or circularity, as a selection criterion in the procurement process. This article met the requirements for a gold—gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of different degrees of organizational coupling among the members of innovation alliance project networks on the commercial performance of collaborative innovations. Specifically, we study how type of innovation (modular vs. architectural innovation) moderates this relationship. Using data from 664 product innovation networks from five different industries in the United States, we find that the degree of organizational coupling among innovation network members significantly affects the commercial performance of collaborative innovations and that the type of innovation has a significant moderating effect. More specifically, the impact on commercial innovation performance of organizational coupling is positive for modular innovations and negative for architectural innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies emphasize the importance of government support in technology development. However, this study is among the first to provide empirical findings of the relevance of government roles for the performance of technology development projects. Based on earlier research and the strategic management literature, a theoretical model and hypotheses are developed to study the relevance of government roles and project teams' strategic behavior for technology development projects. Our results show that government championship is an important positive factor for the performance of technology development projects. Government championing behavior overcomes regulatory barriers, enthusiastically promotes the technology's advantages, and gets key decision makers involved. As such, government championship has more impact than government financial/technical assistance on both project performance and benefits to customers. The findings also show that both the proactiveness and defensiveness dimensions of project teams' strategic behavior contribute positively to project performance and benefits to customers. The paper concludes with implications for practice: From a policy perspective, government should extend its technology policies by taking on the role as a champion, while companies should invest in building professional relations with champions in government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its importance, performance measurement of supply chains of house building firms has not received much attention yet in academic literature. The objective of this study is to develop a framework to measure this performance. In a first step, a comprehensive framework is developed composed of five primary perspectives on the performance of supply chains in house building (i.e., financial, customer, internal business, external business, and innovation) with 35 corresponding performance indicators. In the second step, the practical value of the proposed supply chain performance indicators is evaluated on its level of clarity, measurability, and relative importance based on the feedback of senior purchasing managers of construction firms active in house building. The evaluation shows that the framework and its intended use are highly supported by these managers. In the final step, the management team of a medium-sized construction firm active in house building used the framework to assess the firm supply chain performance relative to their competitors. It was concluded that the tool was easily filled in and very helpful for gaining insights in the supply chain performance of the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While previous studies have shed light on the benefits and antecedents of platform-based product development, there is still much to be learned on the subject, particularly through an empirical approach. Based on the literature, this study proposes the concept of product platform competency and identifies four antecedents related to the development process, knowledge sharing, and the organization of development. The study hypothesizes that such competency directly affects the performance of platform-based product development. To test these hypotheses, a large-scale survey was conducted in the United States with 242 firms. The study found empirical evidence to support the existence of the concept of product platform competency, which comprises the reusability of subsystems, the compatibility of subsystem interfaces, and the extensibility of platform-based products. The results show that a formalized development process, knowledge sharing across platform-based products, continuity of platform-based product development teams, and the existence of a champion in platform-based product development will significantly enhance product platform competency. More interestingly, the results show that factors which have a significant effect on platform development cost are statistically different from those that have a significant effect on platform development time. For example, while formalized product development process and continuity of development team play a very significant role in shortening development time, they are less crucial in reducing development costs. In contrast, the presence of a product champion is a significant factor in achieving cost efficiency, but it has relatively lower impact on development time. Knowledge sharing was found to affect both development time and cost. In sum, this study makes three main contributions to the existing literature. The first contribution is the empirical-tested concept of product platform competence based on key elements suggested by Robertson and Ulrich. The second contribution is the development of constructs specifically for platform development based on previous studies. Relating to this is the third contribution: the development and validation of measurement items related to key drivers to platform development, the three aspects of platform development competence, and the performance measurements. These measurement items can be used by practitioners as guidelines to identify areas for improvement as well as the level of capability in platform development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open Building and IFD (Industrial Flexible Demountable) building are philosophies that aim to create high quality buildings with increased flexibility and better environmental characteristics. However, a successful adoption of IFD principles has not yet occurred because of concerns for the types of connections that are needed between building components. Therefore, this paper describes PhD research at the University of Twente that has the objective of designing a typology of flexible interfaces for IFD building that can be widely applied in the construction industry and aims to standardize connections, at the various levels of technical composition of a building, to create compatibility between building products from different suppliers. Such a typology of interfaces will increase the re-use and recycling of building parts, resulting in the increased sustainability of the building process. Furthermore, it will help accelerate the industrialization of the housing industry and mass customization of housing. A preliminary case study, in which a sustainable, flexible bathroom is designed, illustrates the various types of interfaces that can be applied, based on existing research. The paper illustrates the importance of interfaces, and aims to increase environmental benefits of buildings (less construction waste), improve the social aspects (higher user satisfaction in buildings) and achieve economical advantages (lower overall costs) by designing new interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates which risks characterise radical innovation projects. In-dept case studies were carried out via interviews and a questionnaire. The risk concept applied in this study includes three dimensions: certainty, controllability and impact. Three structural or unambiguous risks were found: new product performance according to specification, reliability of suppliers and new product adoption by consumers. The incidental or ambiguous risks that were found relate to: internal organisation and project management. These results can provide guidance for project teams and innovation managers regarding issues they must seek to tick off early and issues that continuously require team and management attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we focus on road construction and analyze technology development projects. Based on the business strategy literature and literature on technology policy, we test the relative importance of a firm’s strategies and government as a buyer and champion. Our empirical findings stress the value of government championing behavior. Our results show that in road construction, championing behavior is more important than public technology procurement for project performance. The results even suggest that government championship is more important than a firm’s strategic orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - In construction, literature interorganizational cooperation is argued to be an important aspect of construction innovation. From this perspective, several distinct bodies of literature provide relevant insights. In literature on complex product systems (CoPS), it is argued that construction industry is a CoPS industry and that in CoPS industries systems integrators set-up and coordinate interorganizational innovation. Furthermore, various bodies of literature provide information about factors that affect the success of innovation and interorganizational cooperation. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the findings from these bodies of literature. Design/methodology/approach - To uncover the present state of knowledge about systems integrators, a comprehensive literature review is conducted. Furthermore, the paper analyzes various fields of literature to derive an overview of factors which have been empirically related to the success of innovation and interorganizational cooperation. Findings - First, this paper structures the current knowledge on the role and characteristics of systems integrators. Subsequently, the paper translates this knowledge to the context of construction industry and discusses the basis for classifying a firm as a systems integrator in construction industry. Furthermore, the paper presents a list of relevant success factors derived from literature on new product development, strategic networks and alliances, open innovation, and construction innovation. Originality/value - By integrating various bodies of literature, this paper provides a solid base for future theory development on how firms achieve interorganizational innovation in construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European countries, changing housing policies are now offering clients more influence over the final building. This means that construction firms need to adopt concepts that have a greater customer focus. The electronics, software and automobile industries, and others, have dealt successfully with the trade-off problem that exists between, on the one hand, offering customer variety and, on the other, minimising manufacturing costs by developing product platforms. This paper presents the results of a field study in which opportunities, limitations and external restraints on the implementation of platform-based approaches in the Dutch house building industry are explored. Based on a cross-sectional analysis, the perceptions of architects, construction firms, suppliers and municipalities are compared. Specific attention is paid to the roles to be fulfilled by these various actors. The study shows that while all the actor-groups agree that a platform-based approach could deliver substantial improvements in the house building process, substantial changes are still necessary to realise this. The implications for each actor-group are then described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful technology commercialization is important for business profitability, and government policies can help or hinder firms' success. As a regulator, government affects standard setting and the nature and scope of property rights. As a sponsor, government can empower technology commercialization by its financial support of new technology. As a first user, government can significantly enhance the chances of successful technology commercialization. And as a buyer, government accounts for a substantial part of the world economy. Previous research on government's roles in technology commercialization mainly addressed the effects of specific roles. However, there is little understanding about the combined impact of these roles on technology commercialization. This article develops a conceptual model to analyze the combined effect of these roles on technology development projects. This model is based on a review of the literature on large technical systems, technological regimes, and technology policy that enabled this study on government's diverse roles in technology commercialization. To refine the conceptual model, an in-depth analysis of three technology development projects was conducted. The empirical findings are drawn from road infrastructure. In that sector, government is the dominant customer and first user of most new technologies. Therefore, government has to create a market for those technologies and strongly affects their viability. This research has produced several major results. First, the developed model is the first to conceptualize the relevant relationships between the various roles of government in technology commercialization. Second, this study has shown that government's behavior as a regulator and sponsor conflicts with its preferences as a buyer and user. Consequently, the support of and demand for new technology is inconsistent and uncoordinated, leaving firms with significant uncertainties in assessing market opportunities. Third, the dominant position of government as a buyer in road infrastructure weakens the effectiveness of intellectual property rights. Fourth, existing studies on technology for partially public goods are mainly historical accounts, and only a few are empirical studies on innovation processes. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the development and commercialization of technology for partially public goods. This article concludes with policy implications and suggestions for future research. An important policy implication is that government could improve technology commercialization by either stimulating the commercialization of various competing technologies or developing various competing products based on the same technology. A central issue for future research is how firms can involve government in its diverse roles in technology commercialization. Most of the existing research on customer involvement deals with consumer and business-to-business markets. A better understanding of government involvement could help firms to overcome the impediments they face in dealing with government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology entrepreneurship is key to economic development. New technology ventures (NTVs) can have positive effects on employment and could rejuvenate industries with disruptive technologies. However, NTVs have a limited survival rate. In our most recent empirical study of 11,259 NTVs established between 1991 and 2000 in the United States, we found that after four years only 36 percent, or 4,062, of companies with more than five full-time employees, had survived. After five years, the survival rate fell to 21.9 percent, leaving only 2,471 firms still in operation with more than five full-time employees. Thus, it is important to examine how new technology ventures can better survive. In the academic literature, a number of studies focus on success factors for NTVs. Unfortunately, empirical results are often controversial and fragmented. To get a more integrated picture of what factors lead to the success or failure of new technology ventures, we conducted a meta-analysis to examine the success factors in NTVs. We culled the academic literature to collect data from existing empirical studies. Using Pearson correlations as effect size statistics, we conducted a meta-analysis to analyze the findings of 31 studies and identified the 24 most widely researched success factors for NTVs. After correcting for artifacts and sample size effects, we found that among the 24 possible success factors identified in the literature, 8 are homogeneous significant success factors for NTVs (i.e., they are homogeneous positive significant metafactors that are correlated to venture performance): (1) supply chain integration; (2) market scope; (3) firm age; (4) size of founding team; (5) financial resources; (6) founders' marketing experience; (7) founders' industry experience; and (8) existence of patent protection. Of the original 24 success factors, 5 were not significant: (1) founders' research and development (R&D) experience; (2) founders' experience with start-ups; (3) environmental dynamism; (4) environmental heterogeneity; and (5) competition intensity. The remaining 11 success factors are heterogeneous. For those heterogeneous success factors, we conducted a moderator analysis. Of this set, three appeared to be success factors, and two were failure factors for subgroups within the NTVs' population. To facilitate the development of a body of knowledge in technology entrepreneurship, this study also identifies high-quality measurement scales for future research. The article concludes with future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

House builders in different countries are exploring ways to deliver higher levels of customisation in housing design. To create such variety at acceptable cost, it is important to know how potential buyers of new houses prioritise the different elements such as bathroom, kitchen and roof type of a house design. For parts with a great variety, several alternative solutions could be created in advance while parts with a low variety can be produced as standard solutions for all homes, thereby taking advantage of economies of scale. This paper presents the findings of a vignette-based survey about the requirements for customisation among potential buyers of new houses in the Netherlands. Based on the survey, a list of priority housing attributes is derived. This priority listing is of great importance for building developers who offer (or are considering offering) customised housing. Although people generally prefer to have the opportunity to select from options, they will be less inclined to do so if this option also means a considerable increase in price. Therefore, this study also examines the trade-off relationship between the value customers place on variety and the maximum price that can be asked for a customised housing proposition. The paper concludes with implications of the study's findings for evaluating trade-off decisions between standardisation and customisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development and applicability of a risk reference framework (RRF) for diagnosing risks in technological breakthrough projects. In contrast to existing risk identification strategies, the RRF centers on an integral perspective on risk (i.e. business, technological and organizational) and the assessment of risks in ongoing projects. The resulting RRF consists of 12 main risk categories and 142 connected critical innovation issues and has been developed for a globally operating company in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. Our analyses show that to some extent different project members identified the same risks and that saturation occurred in the number of new risk-issues brought to light. We conclude that the success of breakthrough innovation projects improves through formal risk-assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms in many industries increasingly are considering platform-based approaches to reduce complexity and to better leverage investments in new product development, manufacturing, and marketing. However, a clear gap in literature still exists when it comes to discussing the problems and risks related to implementing and managing product families and their underlying platforms. Using a multiple-case approach, we compare three technology-driven companies in their definition of platform-based product families, investigate their reasons for changing to platform-driven development, and analyze how they implemented platform thinking in their development process and which risks they encountered in the process of creating and managing platform-based product families. The field study shows that the companies involved in the study use a homogeneous concept of platform-based product families and that they have similar reasons to turn to platform thinking and to encounter comparable risks. However, the companies analyzed use mainly product architecture as a basis for their platforms (and ignore many of the platform types advocated in literature), while on the other hand they show divergent applications of the platform concept regarding the combinations of product families and market applications. Through this exploratory study, some important white spots in literature became evident as well. In the discussion part of this article these white spots are discussed and directions for future platform research are proposed. The article concludes that given its importance, platform-driven development of product families clearly deserves further research to provide more insight into strategic planning for new products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No risk, no reward. Companies must take risks to launch new products speedily and successfully. The ability to diagnose and manage risks is increasingly considered of vital importance in high-risk innovation. This article presents the Risk Diagnosing Methodology (RDM), which aims to identify and evaluate technological, organizational and business risks in product innovation. RDM was initiated, developed and tested within a division of Philips Electronics, a multinational company in the audio, video and lighting industry. On the basis of the results the senior Vice President (R&D) of Philips Lighting decided to include the method in the company's standard innovation procedures. Since then, RDM has been applied on product innovation projects in areas as diverse as automobile tires, ship propellers, printing equipment, landing gear systems and fast-moving consumer goods such as shampoo, margarine and detergents. In this article we will describe how Unilever, one of the world's leading companies in fast-moving consumer goods, adopted RDM after a major project failure in the midnineties. At Unilever, RDM proved very useful in diagnosing project risks, promoting creative solutions for diagnosed risks and strengthening team ownership of the project as a whole. Our results also show that RDM outcomes can be used to build a knowledge base of potential risks in product innovation projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an extensive literature review on passive building designs for tropical climates, seven energy-efficient building design principles for tropical climate areas were deduced. These are: 1. To orientate a building design in such a direction that it protects from excessive solar radiation; 2. To accommodate for indoor natural ventilation; 3. That it makes maximal use of indirect instead of direct natural light; 4, That it reduces the amount of heat transmission through the roof as much as possible by natural ventilation between roof and ceiling and by lowering the roof surface temperature; 5. By preventing the use of high thermal mass materials; 6. By reducing through the exterior walls as much as possible heat transmission by e.g., preventing direct sunlight on the external walls and applying reflective paints on the external walls and; 7. By creating outdoor and transition spaces such as balconies, terraces atriums and corridors. The insights from the literature review were used as input to conduct a field study to evaluate the practice of applying passive building design principles. To this end, for 626 buildings on the Caribbean island Curaçao, it was investigated to what extent the recommended passive design principles for tropical climates were actually applied. Based on the results of the field study, several recommendations are made to improve the practice of applying passive building principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of adaptation to climate change lags behind necessary adaptation. Implementation of adaptation often takes place at the local level, influenced by local factors and mechanisms producing mainstreamed or standalone adaptation outcomes. Because mainstreaming adaptation is seen as accelerating adaptation, understanding this process is crucial for expediting its implementation. The lack of insight into the influence of context on mainstreaming and its respective outcomes hinders the transfer of lessons between different contexts. To address this gap, we investigate the question “Why do municipal policy processes lead to either standalone or mainstreamed adaptation implementation decisions?” We apply the Multiple Streams Framework to explain local adaptation implementation decisions to compare adaptation in Enschede and Zwolle, two Dutch adaptation frontrunners. We conclude that issue-linking with locally salient issues facilitates adaptation mainstreaming in a case without problem urgency, whereas a focusing event leads to standalone adaptation implementation if crisis-framing is applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge on failure events and their associated factors, gained from past construction projects, is regarded as potentially extremely useful in risk management. However, a number of circumstances are constraining its wider use. Such knowledge is usually scarce, seldom documented, and even unavailable when it is required. Further, there exists a lack of proven methods to integrate and analyze it in a cost-effective way. This article addresses possible options to overcome these difficulties. Focusing on limited but critical potential failure events, the article demonstrates how knowledge on a number of important potential failure events in tunnel works can be integrated. The problem of unavailable or incomplete information was addressed by gathering judgments from a group of experts. The elicited expert knowledge consisted of failure scenarios and associated probabilistic information. This information was integrated using Bayesian belief-networks-based models that were first customized in order to deal with the expected divergence in judgments caused by epistemic uncertainty of risks. The work described in the article shows that the developed models that integrate risk-related knowledge provide guidance as to the use of specific remedial measures., (© 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.)

Risk-related knowledge gained from past construction projects is regarded as potentially extremely useful in risk management. This article describes a proposed approach to capture and integrate risk-related knowledge to support decision making in construction projects. To ameliorate the problem related to the scarcity of risks information often encountered in construction projects, Bayesian Belief Networks are used and expert judgment is elicited to augment available information. Particularly, the article provides an overview of judgment-based biases that can appear in the elicitation of judgments for constructing Bayesian Networks and the provisos that can be made in this respect to minimize these types of bias. The proposed approach is successfully applied to develop six models for top risks in tunnel works. More than 30 tunneling experts in the Netherlands and Germany were involved in the investigation to provide information on identifying relevant scenarios than can lead to failure events associated with tunneling risks. The article has provided an illustration of the applicability of the developed approach for the case of "face instability in soft soils using slurry shields.", (© 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.)