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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Pannell, David J; Gibson, Fiona L |
| Abstract: | Decision makers responsible for the allocation of funds to environmental projects commonly use project scoring metrics that are not consistent with basic economic theory. As a result, there is often a loss of environmental benefits due to poor prioritisation of projects. The magnitudes of these losses are estimated for various metrics that deviate from theory. We examine cases where relevant variables are omitted from the benefits metric, project costs are omitted, and where parameters are weighted and added when they should be multiplied. Distributions of parameters are estimated from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand and Italy for which Benefit: Cost Analyses had previously been completed. The cost of using poor prioritisation metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) is often high – up to 80 per cent in the scenarios examined. The cost is greater where the budget is smaller. The most costly errors were found to be omitting information about environmental values, project costs or the effectiveness of management actions, and using a weighted additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied. The latter three of these are errors that occur commonly in real-world decision metrics, often reducing potential environmental benefits by 30 to 50 per cent. |
| Keywords: | Cost Analysis, Prioritisation, Environmental program, Knapsack problem, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q50, |
| Date: | 2014–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:163211&r=ppm |
| By: | Tanja Sinozic; Tanja Sinozic; Tanja Sinozic; Franz Tödtling; Franz Tödtling; Franz Tödtling |
| Abstract: | This paper explores cluster change using the case example of New Media in Vienna. It addresses the question of how cluster elements (such as firms and institutions) interact to shape and transform the thematic and spatial boundaries of clusters as they shift along their developmental stages. Clusters go through different phases underpinned by technical change, renewing and destroying previous cluster specialisations. Creativity is a key feature in modern economies underlying competitiveness in a range of sectors which cluster in urban areas. Sectors such as software and computer services, advertising and market research, printing and reproduction of recorded media, motion pictures, creative arts and entertainment are supported by regional conditions that enable creative processes in local interacting firms, and the translation of ideas into innovative products and services. These perspectives are used to explore the New Media cluster in Vienna based on 25 semi-structured interviews with firms specialising in New Media technology areas. When analysed using a life cycle perspective of clusters, the findings in this paper suggest that cluster thematic boundaries are shaped by change in technological variety via complex processes such as inter-disciplinary problem-solving in projects, re-activation of latent local and global networks, and firm capabilities to respond to rapidly changing client needs in devices, communication and design. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwsre:sre-disc-2014_01&r=ppm |
| By: | René Bohnsack (University of Amsterdam Business School - University of Amsterdam Business School); Jonatan Pinkse (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)); Ans Kolk (Amsterdam Business School - University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Sustainable technologies challenge prevailing business practices, especially in industries that depend heavily on the use of fossil fuels. Firms are therefore in need of business models that transform the specific characteristics of sustainable technologies into new ways to create economic value and overcome the barriers that stand in the way of their market penetration. A key issue is the respective impact of incumbent and entrepreneurial firms' path-dependent behaviour on the development of such new business models. Embedded in the literature on business models, this paper explores how incumbent and entrepreneurial firms' path dependencies have affected the evolution of business models for electric vehicles. Based on a qualitative analysis of electric vehicle projects of key industry players over a five-year period (2006-2010), the paper identifies four business model archetypes and traces their evolution over time. Findings suggest that incumbent and entrepreneurial firms approach business model innovation in distinctive ways. Business model evolution shows a series of incremental changes that introduce service-based components, which were initially developed by entrepreneurial firms, to the product. Over time there seems to be some convergence in the business models of incumbents and entrepreneurs in the direction of delivering economy multi-purpose vehicles. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable technology; business models, evolution; path dependencies; electric vehicles |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-00936886&r=ppm |
| By: | Bošková, Iveta; Ratinger, Tomáš |
| Abstract: | The effective knowledge transfer and innovation activities in the agri-food supply chain may push all producers in the vertical to improve their competitiveness while saving resources. In the paper the innovation activities and knowledge transfer in the dairy value chain in the Czech Republic are examined in order to assess the potential for enhancing sustainable dairy production. A particular attention is given to the collaboration with R&D organisations and other important agents. Concurrently the role of the structural changes is considered. The methodological approach builds on the concept of the sectoral system of innovation. Based on statistical figures and face to face interviews the increasing dynamics in the innovation process is observed, however, farmers and processors are in their innovation activities disconnected and their collaboration with research institutions and other companies is rather low. The main innovation objectives as well as drivers and barriers of the collaboration are specified. |
| Keywords: | innovation system, dairy farms, dairy processing, Agribusiness, O31, Q13, Q16, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa140:163349&r=ppm |
| By: | Thilo Grau |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the trade-offs for using feed-in tariffs or tenders to remunerate different scales of solar photovoltaics (PV) projects. In recent years, European countries increasingly combined feed-in tariffs for small renewables systems with tenders for large installations. This study develops an analytic framework to quantify deployment effectiveness of responsive feed-in tariff adjustment mechanisms across project scales and to compare specific cost effectiveness factors of feed-in tariffs and tenders for PV plants with their dynamic cost trends. To assess deployment effectiveness, an analytic model is used to simulate installations and feed-in tariffs for different project sizes. Then semi-structured interviews with German and French project developers are conducted to identify additional factors to be considered for a comparison of feed-in tariffs and tenders, and to explore how different remuneration schemes impact cost of capital and transaction costs. The paper finally discusses the relative merits of feed-in tariffs and tenders. |
| Keywords: | Feed-in tariff, tender, solar photovoltaics |
| JEL: | O33 Q42 Q48 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1363&r=ppm |