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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Celik, Gorkem (ESSEC Business School); Shin, Dongsoo (Santa Clara University); Strausz, Roland (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We study an organization with a top management (principal) and multiple subunits (agents) with private information that determine the organization\'s aggregate efficiency. Under centralization, eliciting the agents\' private information may induce the principal to manipulate aggregate information, which obstructs an effective use of information for the organization. Under delegation, the principal concedes more information rent, but is able to use the agents\' information more effectively. The trade-off between the organizational structures depends on the likelihood that the agents are efficient. Centralization is optimal when such likelihood is low. Delegation, by contrast, is optimal when it is high. |
| Keywords: | agency; aggregate information; organization design; |
| JEL: | D82 D86 |
| Date: | 2018–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:105&r=ppm |
| By: | Go Shimada; Tetsushi Sonobe |
| Abstract: | In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the productivity movement, and in particular the diffusion of Kaizen management as an approach to industrial development in developing countries. While a number of previous studies have evaluated the impact of the introduction of Kaizen on management practices and business performance, few studies have assessed its impacts on working conditions, wages, and employment, especially in the long term. By collecting firm-level data, we were able to conduct a retrospective study on the impacts of the Kaizen project - a project implemented in eight countries in the Central America and the Caribbean Region by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Ninety-four firms were selected to take part in the project based on their willingness to adopt Kaizen management practices. Using the same criteria, we selected 182 comparable firms in the same industries and countries to make up the comparison group. Employing propensity score matching methods, this study found that the introduction of Kaizen improved working conditions and strengthened the social capital of workers. The willingness of managers to pay for Kaizen training increased after the training was completed, which suggests that it had a positive effect´ on the firm’s performance. We also found that managers and workers perceive the usefulness of Kaizen differently, which may lead to suggestions on ways to improve the design of future training programs. |
| Keywords: | Management training, Impact evaluation, Willingness to pay, Small and medium enterprises, Central America and the Caribbean Region |
| Date: | 2018–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:173&r=ppm |
| By: | Joep Tijm; Thomas Michielsen; Raoul van Maarseveen; Peter Zwaneveld |
| Abstract: | Infrastructure projects are increasingly aiming to improve liveability, in particular in urban areas. We analyse a specific case in which an existing highway in an urban area was moved underground in order to improve intercity traffic flows and to reduce traffic externalities. As travel times within the city hardly changed, this allows for a clean identification of the value of traffic externalities. We find that the liveability benefits of such integrated infrastructure are substantial relative to the construction costs. Each halving of distance to the tunneled segment is associated with 3.5% more appreciation in house prices since the start of the project. |
| JEL: | H40 R20 R40 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7089&r=ppm |
| By: | Yoshino, Naoyuki (Asian Development Bank Institute); Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | The main obstacle to developing green energy projects is lack of access to finance. For larger energy projects (e.g., large hydropower projects), insurance and pensions are sustainable financing alternatives. Large energy projects are long-term investment projects; banks are not able to provide long-term loans because their resources (deposits) are short- to medium-term. Pension funds and insurance companies hold long-term savings, so these institutions could be a proper alternative for financing mega-size energy projects. On the other hand, because electricity tariffs are often regulated by the government, to increase the investment incentives the spillover effects originally created by energy supplies need to be used, and tax revenues refunded to the investors in energy projects. For smaller-size green projects, the paper provides a theoretical model for combining utilisation of carbon tax and a new way of financing risky capital, i.e., hometown investment trust funds (HITs). Because of the Basel capital requirement, and because most green energy projects from the point of view of financers are considered risky projects, many financers are reluctant to lend to them or they lend at high interest rates. We show that by taxing carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and allocating those tax revenues to HITs, green projects will become more feasible and more interesting for hometown investors; hence the supply of investment money to these funds will increase. |
| Keywords: | carbon tax; green energy; renewable energy; hometown investment trust funds; HITs |
| JEL: | E62 G21 Q21 |
| Date: | 2017–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0761&r=ppm |