nep-ppm New Economics Papers
on Project, Program and Portfolio Management
Issue of 2012‒01‒18
eight papers chosen by
Arvi Kuura
Parnu College - Tartu University

  1. The " sustainable developpers " experience in a telecom company: reflections from a grounded experience in social innovation By Jean-Michel Larrasquet; Véronique Pilnière
  2. The ‘Grand Paris' Project: Tools and Challenges By André de Palma
  3. Entrepreneurial Innovations and Taxation By Haufler, Andreas; Norbäck, Pehr-Johan; Persson, Lars
  4. Children’s health opportunities and project evaluation: Mexico’s Oportunidades program By D. VAN DE GAER; J. VANDENBOSSCHE; J. L. FIGUEROA
  5. Developing cross disciplinary skills through an undergraduate research project By Mehlhorn, Joey; Roberts, Jason; Cain, Amanda; Parrott, Scott
  6. Agricultural insurances based on meteorological indices: realizations, methods and research challenges By Antoine Leblois; Philippe Quirion
  7. An Artificial Immune System Algorithm for the Resource Availability Cost Problem By V. VAN PETEGHEM; M. VANHOUCKE
  8. An Experimental Investigation of Metaheuristics for the Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem on New Dataset Instances By V. VAN PETEGHEM; M. VANHOUCKE

  1. By: Jean-Michel Larrasquet (ESTIA Recherche - Ecole Supérieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancées (ESTIA), CREG - Centre de recherche et d'études en gestion - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour); Véronique Pilnière (ESTIA Recherche - Ecole Supérieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancées (ESTIA), CREG - Centre de recherche et d'études en gestion - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour)
    Abstract: This case study is made from an action-research intervention in a very huge multinational company of telecommunications. The objectives of the projects were to change the miond (attitudes, behavior and competences) of all these people who work in software development in the company (several thousands of persons). This intervention has been done during the 2009 year. The results of our work that we have capitalized and shared with the top managers of the company are to our mind interesting enough to be published in a scientific symposium like ERIMA. The genesis of the project is first presented as far as it is central to understand the very nature of the complex process that has been developed. Then, the way we have organized and implemented our intervention will be explained. The idea of an insufficient preparation of the intervention (idea well shared by participants, managers, animators, researchers) will be discussed in the light of the results we have obtained. After a reflection of capitalization (done with the managers of the company), we think and they have written that the results we have obtained are interesting and that they constitute a good basis for a generalization of the change process.
    Keywords: change, community, social networks, mental representations
    Date: 2011–05–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00656982&r=ppm
  2. By: André de Palma
    Abstract: The purpose of this Round Table is to assess the economic effects of major transport infrastructure projects. The term "major projects" is used to designate qualitative leaps, be it the mapping out of new road or rail rings to link disparate radial penetration routes or the introduction of more-targeted innovations tackling frequency, speed or automation…
    Date: 2011–11–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2011/28-en&r=ppm
  3. By: Haufler, Andreas (University of Munich); Norbäck, Pehr-Johan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Persson, Lars (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))
    Abstract: Many governments promote small businesses for the dual reasons of fostering ‘breakthrough’ innovations and employment growth. In this paper we study the effects of tax and subsidy policies on entrepreneurs’ choice of riskiness of an innovation project and on their mode of commercializing the innovation (market entry versus sale). Limited loss offset provisions in the tax system induce entrepreneurs to choose projects with too little risk and this problem arises primarily when entrepreneurs market their product themselves. When innovations reduce only the fixed costs of production this leads to a fundamental policy trade-off between the declared goals of promoting employment and innovation in small, entrepreneurial firms. When innovations reduce variable production costs, policies to promote small businesses may even be unambiguously harmful.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Corporate taxes; Firm growth
    JEL: H25 L13 M13 O31
    Date: 2012–01–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0896&r=ppm
  4. By: D. VAN DE GAER; J. VANDENBOSSCHE; J. L. FIGUEROA
    Abstract: We propose a methodology to evaluate social projects from an (equality of) opportunity perspective by looking at their effect on (parts of) the distribution of outcomes conditional on morally irrelevant characteristics, taken here to be parental education level and indigenous background. The methodology is applied to evaluate the effects on children’s health outcomes of Mexico’s Oportunidades program, one of the world’s largest conditional cash transfer programs for poor households. The evidence shows that the gains in health opportunities for children from indigenous background are substantial and situated in crucial parts of the distribution, while the gains for children from nonindigenous backgrounds are more limited.
    Keywords: project evaluation, opportunities, oportunidades program.
    JEL: I18 I38 D63
    Date: 2011–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:11/749&r=ppm
  5. By: Mehlhorn, Joey; Roberts, Jason; Cain, Amanda; Parrott, Scott
    Abstract: Undergraduate students can benefit from a research experience with a faculty mentor. Students perceived the research project and faculty mentorship as more beneficial than directed coursework. Mentoring is key to enhancing undergraduate research experiences, but the impact on time should be considered. Linkages between coursework and application should also be considered.
    Keywords: student mentor, undergraduate research, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, Q1,
    Date: 2012–02–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119556&r=ppm
  6. By: Antoine Leblois (CIRED - Centre international de recherches en environnement et en développement - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - CNRS : UMR8568 - AgroParisTech - ENPC); Philippe Quirion (CIRED - Centre international de recherches en environnement et en développement - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - CNRS : UMR8568 - AgroParisTech - ENPC, LMD-IPSL - Laboratoire de météorologie dynamique - CNRS : UMR8539)
    Abstract: In many low-income countries, agriculture is mostly rainfed and crop yield depends highly on climatic factors. Furthermore, farmers have little access to traditional crop insurance, which suffers from high information asymmetry and transaction costs. Insurances based on meteorological indices could fill this gap since they do not face such drawbacks. However, a full-scale implementation has been slow so far. In this article, the most advanced projects that have taken place in developing countries using these types of crop insurances are described. Following this, the methodology that has been used to design such projects in order to choose the meteorological index, the indemnity schedule and the insurance premium, is described. Finally the main research issues are discussed. In particular, more research is needed on implementation, assessment of benefits, how to deal with climate change, spatial variability of weather and interactions with other hedging methods.
    Keywords: agriculture; insurance; climatic risk
    Date: 2011–10–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00656778&r=ppm
  7. By: V. VAN PETEGHEM; M. VANHOUCKE
    Abstract: In this paper, an Artificial Immune System (AIS) algorithm for the resource availability cost problem (RACP) is presented, in which the total cost of the (unlimited) renewable resources required to complete the project by a pre-specified project deadline should be minimized. The AIS algorithm makes use of mechanisms inspired by the vertebrate immune system and includes different algorithmic components, such as a new fitness function, a probability function for the composition of the capacity lists, and a K-means density function in order to avoid premature convergence. All components are explained in detail and computational results for the RACP are presented.
    Date: 2011–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:11/757&r=ppm
  8. By: V. VAN PETEGHEM; M. VANHOUCKE
    Abstract: In this paper, an overview is presented of the existing metaheuristic solution procedures to solve the multi-mode resource-constrained-project scheduling problem, in which multiple execution modes are available for each of the activities of the project. A fair comparison is made between the different metaheuristic algorithms on the existing benchmark datasets and on a newly generated dataset. Computational results are provided and recommendations for future research are formulated.
    Date: 2011–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:11/758&r=ppm

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