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The success of a construction project depends on different factors, the knowledge of the project managers, and the type of project being developed. In this paper, based on a review of the literature, 23 factors are identified as critical and they are grouped into top-management support, project manager's skills, project team skills, and stakeholder-management knowledge. A framework with 23 hypotheses is developed to assess the relation between these factors and project performance. The analysis of the framework is conducted based on the responses obtained from a survey of 266 engineers working on construction projects in Qatar. The results show a positive relationship between critical success factors and project performance. The highest positive perception is shown for stakeholder engagement by the top management (mean = 5.589 ± 0.582) and the lowest positive perception for the need to predict stakeholder influence (mean = 3.939 ± 0.852). The analysis of the relative importance of these factors shows that the top-management support category is ranked highest for the success of a project. Although the perceptions are based on Qatar's study, the success factors, their relationship with project success criteria, and project performance are global; therefore, the framework could be tailored and applied in different project contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have studied open innovation by focusing primarily on big organizations. With digitization, the adoption of open innovation has become widespread, as there is broader access to cheaper and better information and communication technology. Private or public companies will also support individuals, or a group of individuals, to promote an innovative economy. Some countries also provide incubation opportunities and technical and financial support to encourage digital startups. This paper presents insights on the incubation program organized by one of the prominent centers in Qatar that incubate interested potential entrepreneurs to utilize open innovation for digital startups. The paper uses a qualitative analysis method on the data obtained from the interviews with the trainers (staff) of the center and the entrepreneurs who went through the incubation process. Four hypotheses were developed to understand various aspects of open innovation, the collaboration of startups, and the role of the incubation center. A nonparametric statistical test was used to assess the validity of the hypotheses. The results show that incubation and open innovation can contribute to digital startups. The paper concludes with suggested enhancements for incubation. This paper complements the literature by providing a study of open innovation in digital startups and introducing future research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (AM) is gaining interest among researchers and practitioners in the field of manufacturing. One major potential area of AM application is the manufacturing of spare parts, which affects the availability of the operation and supply chain. The data show that the application and adoption of AM has contributed to a reduction in lead times and inventory, which also contributes to a reduction in holding costs. This paper provides a review of recent work on the application of AM technology specifically for spare parts. The review shows that there are supply chain opportunities and challenges to the adoption of AM in spare parts within various application sectors. Our research reviews both the quantitative and qualitative models used for analysis to meet the emerging needs of the industry. The review also shows that the development of technology and its application is still emerging; therefore, there will be further opportunities to develop better spare parts supply chains to support AM applications. This paper concludes with future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing need for cooling and the concerns for pollution due to fossil fuel-based energy use, renewable energy is considered an add-on to cooling technologies. The climatic condition in the Middle East, analyzed in this paper, provides the potential to integrate solar energy with the cooling system. Due to the availability of various solar energy and cooling technologies, multiple configurations of solar-cooling systems can be considered to satisfy the cooling demand. The research presented in this paper aims to assess and compare these configurations by considering the energy prices and the installation area. The proposed model is formulated in Mixed-Integer Linear Programming and optimizes the holistic system design and operation. The economic, renewable energy use, and environmental performances of the optimal solution for each configuration are analyzed and compared to the base grid-DCS configuration. Results show that the electricity tariff and the available installation area impact the economic competitiveness of the solar energy integration. When electricity tariff is subsided (low), the conventional grid-based DCS is the most competitive. The PV-DCS configuration is economically competitive among the solar assisted cooling systems, and it can contribute to reducing the environmental impact by 58.3%. The PVT-DCS configuration has the lowest operation cost and the highest environmental performance by decreasing the global warming potential by 89.5%. The T-DCS configuration becomes economically competitive only at high electricity tariffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart cities support the enhancement of the quality of life of their residents, for which the use of a robust integrated platform of information and communication technology is required. However, not all cities have similar technology infrastructure and a similar understanding of the quality of life. Therefore, holistic planning, resource support, security, continuous updates, and dynamic operational enhancements should be considered while planning smart cities. However, a smart city could be vulnerable to security threats and a loss of personal or classified information due to the complexity of technology integration. Therefore, understanding and assessing different risks and embedding risk management mechanisms would be required to minimize vulnerability exposure in smart cities. This paper proposes a risk assessment method using the Dempster–Shafer theory for smart city planning. The Dempster–Shafer theory is used here to analyze the risks perceptions of experts. The principal component analysis method is used to analyze the data obtained from risk assessment. The application of this method is determined through a smart city test case in Qatar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic projects are large scale, complex, and require significant investments and resources. These projects aim at gaining long-term social and economic benefits. Therefore, organizations focusing on strategic projects should use a consistent approach that suits their strategy, capability, and long-term expectations. Based on the four research questions and content analysis of the literature, generic processes used for the strategic project selection in tandem with the managerial capabilities are identified in this paper. The generic processes and managerial capabilities are used to develop a generic framework for strategic project selection. The framework is used for literature analysis in the paper. The review shows that both qualitative and quantitative methods are used for strategic project selection. Some possible research directions have also been proposed at the end of the review. The paper provides value to both researchers and practitioners in terms of tools available and a guidance on project selection through a structured process framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon footprinting of products and services is getting increasing attention due to the growing emphasis on carbon related policies in many countries. As a result, many enterprises are focusing on the design of green supply chains (GSCs) with research on supply chains (SCs) focused not only on cost efficiency, but also on its environmental consequences. The review presented in this paper focuses on the implications of carbon policies on SCs. The concept of content analysis is used to retrieve and analyze the information regarding drivers (carbon policies), actors (for example, manufacturers and retailers), methodologies (mathematical modeling techniques), decision-making contexts (such as, facility location and order quantity), and emission reduction opportunities. The review shows a lack of emissions analysis of SCs that face carbon policies in different countries. The research also focuses on the design of carbon policies for emissions reduction in different operating situations. Some possible research directions are also discussed at the end of this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]