Consultancy Firms Research Articles

A Critical Inquiry into an Anthropomorphized Robot Entering the Workplace

In this study, we analyse the entry of an anthropomorphized software automation robot into the workplace in a media consultancy company, a technology pioneer in its industry. Applying an affect lens, we explore how organizational members experience the entry of the AI-based robot and seek to understand the reasons behind its fortunes and misfortunes. We go beyond depicting ‘enthusiastic feelings of the management’ and ‘frustration of employees’ and highlight what consequences anthropomorphising AI may have on interaction between humans and machines, and ultimately on success of these technology projects. Understanding human-robot interaction and its consequences is not simply about distinctions between positive and negative affect. It is about distinctions rendered within ongoing interventions into affective organizational life. Our study has implications for understanding the contemporary technologized global economy that often neglects and downplays the role humans must play in what has been described the Second Machine Age.

A Study of Knowledge Transfer and Organizational Culture in Two Project-Intensive IT Organizations

Facilitating knowledge transfer in organizations has proven to be challenging, and one of the most prominent obstacles for successful knowledge transfer is the organization’s culture. Therefore, the core objective of this study was to investigate how organizational culture affects the knowledge transfer process in project-intensive IT organizations. We conducted a multiple-case study with in-depth semi-structured interviews from two IT consultancy companies. We identified five main categories of factors within organizational culture that have a significant effect on knowledge transfer in project-intensive IT companies: organizational values, relationships and communication, leadership, project characteristics, and individual factors. The role of organizational values, cooperation, and leaders’ behavior are all crucial for successful knowledge transfer. Organizational values must support knowledge transfer. Cooperation creates the best environment for knowledge transfer, and leaders must be aware of their behavior.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Digital Engineering Tool in a Project Engineering Company

AbstractThe research for this paper focused on the evaluation of digital engineering tools that aid industrial engineering processes. The paper aims to investigate how to evaluate the effectiveness of such a tool to provide insight into how it fits the needs of a project engineering company. The research carried out a case study in a Norwegian subsidiary of a worldwide consulting and project engineering company. The company had previously implemented the digital engineering tool SmartPlant for information management, engineering drawings, interdisciplinary collaboration, and data exchange. The focus of the industry case study was to customize and use an evaluation method in practice on SmartPlant. The research used an evaluation method based on quality characteristics from the ISO/IEC 25010:2011 standard. We collected qualitative data on the digital engineering tools' usage in practice from semi‐structured interviews and a survey. In addition to this, we investigated the appropriate analysis methods for survey results, such as mean value vs. net promoter score. The research concluded that the evaluation method provided the company with valuable insight into the tool's benefits and drawbacks.

Creative Hubs in Hanoi, Vietnam

Creative Hubs in Hanoi, Vietnam

İŞTEN ÇIKARILANLARA DESTEK HİZMETİ (OUTPLACEMENT) ÜZERİNE NİTEL BİR ARAŞTIRMA

İşten Çıkarılanlara Destek Hizmeti (İÇDH), küçülme, birleşme, yeniden yapılanma gibi kurum kaynaklı veya performans düşüklüğü gibi bireysel sebeplerle işten personel çıkaran işletmeler tarafından, bu zor sürecin olumsuz etkilerini en aza indirmek için sürdürülmektedir. Bu kapsamda kariyer danışmanlığı, işe yerleştirme yardımı, mülakat koçluğu gibi hizmetler sunulmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’de işten çıkarılanlara destek hizmetini kendi bünyesinde veya danışmanlık firmalarından sağlayarak sunan 6 işletmenin üst düzey insan kaynakları yöneticileri ile görüşmeler yapılmış ve toplanan işletme düzeyinde veriler literatüre dayanarak tema analizi ve betimsel analiz ile tartışılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, bu uygulamanın katılımcıların yarısı tarafından rutin bir İK sürecine dönüştüğü, kalanı tarafından ise ekonomik kriz dönemlerindeki toplu işten çıkarmalar sırasında sistematik uygulandığı saptanmıştır. Hem iç hem dış paydaşlar açısından kurumsal imajı olumlu etkilediği görülen hizmetin süresi danışmanlık firmalarından alındığında artan maliyet sebebiyle daha sınırlı tutulmaktadır.

Control Self Assessment (CSA) In Improving Company Performance

Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to determine the effect of the internal control system using control self assessment in improving the company’s financial and non-financial performance. Method: This study uses descriptive analysis and verification analysis with partial least square, the sampling technique used in this study is a saturated samping technique where all members of the population are used as samples, which are 45 employees at the D’Specialist consultant company. Result: Control self assessment can improve company performance which is represented by financial customer, intercal process, growth and learning perspectives by implementing environmental control, risk identification, activity control, supervision, and information and communication. Limitation: The limitation in this study is in the use of research tools which are only in the form of questionnaires and online interviews because the research period was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic large scale social restriction so that many employees worked from home. Contribution: Implementation of CSA, D'Specialist Consultant can make efforts to improve the internal control system that is able to minimize business risks and improve the company's operational and financial performance. By evaluating the internal control system regularly and thoroughly.Keywords: Control Self Assessment (CSA), Kinerja Perusahaan, Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Pengendalian internal, Risiko. Keywords: 1. Control Self Assessment (CSA) 2. Kinerja Perusahaan 3. Balanced Scorecard (BSC) 4. Pengendalian internal 5. Risiko

Extent of Utilization of E-Marketing Application by Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Anambra State

This study focused on the extent of Utilization of E-Marketing Applications by small and medium enterprises in Anambra state, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 1,846 SMEs (owners/managers) in the area. Stratified random sampling technique was used for the study. A sample of 1,473 SMEs managers were randomly selected using stratified random sampling. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. Finding of the study indicated that SMES in South Eastern Nigeria utilize e-commerce and e-invoicing marketing applications in their operations to a low extent. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that SMEs owners/managers should be trained by business schools and business consultancy firms on how to use e-marketing applications. The importance of e-marketing should be clearly spelt out for them so that they can acquire the skills to fully integrate into their business operations.

Simple Compressive Strength Results of Sodium-Hydroxide- and Sodium-Silicate-Activated Copper Flotation Tailing Geopolymers

Geopolymers are created by mixing a source of aluminosilicates, which can be natural or by-products of other industries, with an alkaline solution, which dissolves the aluminates and silicates present in this source, where after a polymerization process, an N-A-S-H gel is formed, which is responsible for providing the properties that characterize geopolymers. Among the variety of existing geopolymers, those based on by-products from other industries stand out since they were demonstrated to be a less-polluting alternative for concrete production than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Due to the above, it is essential to study copper flotation tailings as raw material to generate geopolymers. The excessive amounts of existing tailing deposits also produce different risks for the nearby communities. Therefore, using this industrial waste as a construction material would provide several environmental and economic benefits. This article reports on the experimental work carried out in the laboratory of the Sustainable Mining Research Center CIMS of the Engineering Consulting Company JRI, where the effect of the alkaline activator type on the compressive strength of geopolymers based on copper flotation tailings was analyzed. For this purpose, two geopolymeric mixtures were made with different kinds of alkaline activators; one activated using 100% NaOH and the other activated with 100% sodium silicate (SS). From the results, it was found that the geopolymers activated with 100% SS obtained the highest compressive strength, reaching 36.46 MPa with 7 days of curing at 90 °C, followed by the geopolymers activated with 100% NaOH, where a compressive strength of 22.98 MPa was obtained under the same curing conditions. On the other hand, it was found that both geopolymers created were not leachable according to the TCLP test performed, and thus, these geopolymers were classified as non-toxic materials. In addition, it was found that both geopolymers presented a high infiltration value, making them practically impermeable.

Awareness of 3D Printing for Sustainable Construction in an Emerging Economy

3D printing has been popular in the manufacturing industry as a means of automating processes, speeding up production, and reducing waste. It is frequently seen as a relatively new technology, even though it has been in use for more than three decades. This article aims to analyse 3D printing awareness in an emerging economy towards sustainability in the construction industry. A survey research design was used to obtain primary data from the respondents using structured questionnaires. The sample frame for the research survey comprises professionals in construction and consultancy firms such as architects, quantity surveyors, projects managers, and engineers. Mean item score, standard deviation, and factor analysis were used to analyse the data. The findings from this study show that majority of the professionals acknowledged that they were aware of the existence of 3D printing, but most of them attested that they had not utilized this technology before the survey. The study reveals that the professionals in the construction industry of the emerging economy have low awareness of 3D printing technology, therefore its practices in the construction industry of the study area are significantly low. More awareness of 3D printing technology should be raised by bodies shouldered with management and regulation of the construction industry to increase professionals' awareness and enlighten them on the benefits of adopting the technology towards sustainable construction.

Machine Learning – Based Risk Assessment on Stress of IT Employees Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses shifted their operation in a work from home (WFH) basis to prevent outbreak among their employees and to comply with mobility restrictions imposed by the government. With this, employees must adjust to working in their own homes and juggle their time with household chores and work. This study assesses the stress level of employees because of work from home set up in an IT consultancy company. Furthermore, a questionnaire was asked to the employees about the advantage and disadvantages of working from home. The data will be interpreted to be able to recommend solutions and policy changes to address employees concerns and to guide the company on planning and strategy of the business after the pandemic.

Evaluation of Service Quality Gaps in Construction Professional Service Firms in Nigeria

The study aims at evaluating and comparing service quality of consultancy firms who provide professional services in building projects in Nigeria. The article seeks to address the general perceptions of dissatisfaction with the quality of services in order to enhance performance of building projects and ensure competitiveness in the industry. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire as an instrument of data collection. The population of the study consisted of 488 representatives of public and private clients with a sample size of 385. Data were analysed using weighted mean and paired-sample t-test to determine the severity of differences in the expected service quality and perceived service quality. The result shows significant differences between the expected service quality and perceived service quality in structural engineering, mechanical/electrical engineering and quantity surveying services along all the dimensions of service quality. However, "Tangibles" dimension of architectural services had no positive differences in the service quality, but had differences in "Responsiveness", "Empathy", "Reliability" and "Assurance" dimensions. The results imply that professional service providers require fundamental improvement in their services to their clients. This study offers an opportunity for consultancy firms to evolve global best practices by creating and maintaining high service quality as a team.

Business Competitiveness Strategies of Tax Consulting Firm amidst Covid-19 Pandemic (Case Study at PT XYZ)

This study aims to examine the competitive strategies of companies in facing the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic with a case study on a tax consulting firm in Jakarta ("PT XYZ"). PT XYZ was selected because, during the pandemic, it employs even more employees, with the current number of permanent employees above a hundred. We use qualitative methods in conducting this study with data collection through in-depth interviews and analysis techniques using SWOT analysis. This study indicates that it is becoming increasingly necessary for firms to have a competitive strategy in order to address the challenges of the coming years. Digital marketing development should be focused to ensure long-term survival and profitability, particularly for PT XYZ and other tax consulting firms in a similar situation. This study adds to laying the groundwork for firms to become more resilient by converting challenges to growth opportunities.

The savvy and cheerful employee innovation champions: The roles of political skill and trait‐positive affect in employees' championing and salary levels

As successful innovations depend on how much support an innovation can receive, champion and promote, role theories have investigated characteristics of certain individuals, who promote innovations. Taking an employee‐driven innovation approach, this study enlarges the lens to also include nonmanagerial employees. Compared with champions and people in promotor roles, nonmanagerial employees' championing has received little attention in research. We help in filling this gap by analysing longitudinal questionnaire data from 152 employees from a Danish branch of a global IT consultancy company, who replied to all three questionnaire waves. We investigated how stable championing is across time and examined the relationship between political skills, positive affect, championing behaviour and employee salary level. The findings reveal that employees' level of championing is rather stable. Moreover, the higher level of political skill employees report to have, the more they engage in championing. High levels of positive affect strengthen this relationship between political skill and championing. Additionally, the results reveal a relationship between the level of championing behaviour and the employee's salary band level. This study adds to the extant research in champion and promoter role theories by showing that a sociopolitical approach is also relevant for a broader range of employees.

Modeling Information Support for Startup: Theoretical Aspect

The business provides many alternatives, and an investor-entrepreneur has always to make a decision on how best to use his fund. The first challenge for a potential investor is that the business environment is constantly changing, becoming more complex. The process of data acquisition and subsequent information generation is continuously cyclical, time and cost consuming. The second challenge is analytics. The typical small business owner makes decisions by trial-and-error. In today's data-driven AI-first environment to make frequent and quick strategic, tactical, and operational decisions, the owner/entrepreneur needs advice and guidance on startup specific issues, which should only be provided by professional experts. The goal of this research is to elaborate a theoretical foundation of an information support model for a startup – the Startup-Information-Support Model (SISM). The study uses a deep theoretical study - a qualitative method - by applying content analysis of relevant literature and primary research techniques. PESTEL and the Porter's five forces model are employed as analytical tools of expert-opinion technique. PESTEL provides a framework for information collection and data analysis at mega level, while industry attractiveness analysis is based on the Porter's five forces model. The strength of each factor (each force) is analyzed through well-defined concrete indicators, and then is measured by scoring their values. Finally, the SISM presents the whole portrait of attractiveness of specific industry. The SISM equips consultant companies with an effective tool for conducting business intelligence and analytics. The companies would be able to offer additional value added to B2B services to potential investor-entrepreneurs. The Model has the potential to employing AI, which can more systematically incorporate environmental issues at both levels – mega forces and industry factors - into the monitoring process. Equipped with such tools, decision makers can perform complex simulations, test many possible scenarios, and quickly evaluate various impacts at low cost.

An Evaluation into the Factors Influencing Project Harmony Potential in Construction Projects in Kenya

Construction projects are widely fraught with conflicts probably as a result of their unpredictability, intricacy, and heterogeneity of players. The management of these conflicts remains ineffective. Empirical evidence from a review of literature has unveiled conflicts to have a detrimental impact on construction projects' performance level, posing a significant barrier to project implementation success, frequently resulting in an increase in project costs, delays in completion, or, in the worst-case scenario, suspension of the project. This study used the measure of the existence or absence of conflicts in under-construction building projects to define the Project harmony aptitude level. This study sought to evaluate into the factors influencing Project Harmony Potential in Construction Projects in Kenya, using a cross-sectional research approach. The cluster technique was used to sample 128 construction building projects registered with NCA in Nairobi within a five-year timespan, which had the embedded unit of analysis under this study. Project developers and financiers, and consultants operating in consultancy or construction firms were randomly sampled and administered with questionnaires. The study utilized inferential statistical analysis of Pearson’s bivariate correlation and regression analysis to identify the significant factors influencing project harmony. The analysis revealed a positive and statistically significant linear relationship between project harmony potential and delay management, partnering orientation of the project team, promptness of Monitoring and Evaluation, direct conflict management provisions in the Project Handbook (PMBOK), the technical experience of the Construction Project Manager (CPM), and communication plan. These parameters were deemed crucial in determining the project harmony potential for Kenyan building projects. These indicators were used to develop a model, which contributed to 69.2% of the project harmony potential. The established model may be used to estimate a project's potential for harmony throughout its execution.

When do we eat? Food ordering platform strategies

PurposeFood ordering apps have registered phenomenal growth during the pandemic and will continue to register high growth in the years to come. This paper has three objectives: first, to differentiate between the sales funnel of traditional vs platform businesses; second, to understand the sales funnel optimization strategies of a leading food ordering app in India; and third, to draw lessons from these strategies to enable food ordering apps in particular, and platform businesses in general to achieve the goals of customer acquisition and retention in a highly competitive market.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on interviews conducted with company officials of two leading food delivery platforms in India, and a rich qualitative analysis of secondary data sources including news reports, government policies, reports and statistics from global consultancy firms. The interviews were analyzed to understand various stages of the sales funnel for the food ordering apps and the strategies implemented by the companies based on their understanding of the customer journey.FindingsThe findings of the study reveal that the sales funnel of a food ordering platform can be divided into three stages – top of the funnel (ToFu), middle of the funnel (MoFu) and bottom of the funnel. In the ToFu stage, the goal of the food ordering app is to create awareness about their brand and induce app download, which results in customer acquisition. In the MoFu stage, the food ordering app initiates personalized promotion strategies to trigger maximum orders via the app. The customer is then targeted for retention and referrals. Customer app navigation and order data are the most crucial inputs for navigating the sales funnel effectively.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, app-based service firms, especially food ordering platforms, can understand how the digital sales funnel can be optimized to generate an appropriate customer mix. Second, they need to understand various interventions at different stages of the sales funnel to move the customer from the app download to loyalty. Third, the food ordering platforms and app-based service firms need to understand how to use customer data to design customer relationship management strategies that can convert retention into referral strategies to expand the funnel.Practical implicationsIncumbents in the intensely competitive food ordering industry need to understand the process of customer acquisition and retention. An understanding of the digital sales funnel can enable them to achieve the right mix of customers in their fold. Other companies that offer app-based services can also understand various stages of the digital sales funnel, and how customers can be moved from one stage to the next one by planning appropriate interventions using app data.Originality/valueThe research contributes by offering clear insights on how food delivery platforms in India acquire and retain customers through an understanding of the digital sales funnel. The paper also offers insights on the interventions that are adopted by such firms to move customers from one stage of the sales funnel to the next one. The paper clearly brings out the value of the 3Rs for a food ordering platform – revenue, retention and referral.

People as Our Most Important Asset: A Critical Exploration of Agility and Employee Commitment

In this article, we examine how employees experience different types of work commitment at an IT consultancy company using agility to give staff greater autonomy and decision-making latitude. We analyze its agile practices through an in-depth case study comprising interviews and non-participative observation of managers and employees, concluding that the company aims to increase autonomy and decision-making latitude by introducing agile approaches to project management, but thereby risks eroding its employees’ commitment. Indeed, the new social dynamics engender new professional insecurities and decision-making passivity and appear to lack a clear organizational purpose, thus challenging certain aspects of employee commitment.

Organisational learning and sustainability of service-based firms: a canonical correlation analysis

Organizations commit to internal practices such as organizational learning (OL) to achieve competitive advantage. Due to the frail knowledge processes in service-based organizations and the dearth of empirical research specifying the role of OL in institutional sustainability (IS), this study examined OL and IS settings in quantity surveying consultancy (QSC) firms and investigated the latent association between OL and IS. Data from a questionnaire survey of 226 registered quantity surveyors in QSC firms in Nigeria were analyzed using multivariate approaches. The findings show that the effective models of OL in QSCs are information technology-enabled practice, literature guidance, mentoring and competitive benchmarking. Practice internalization, promoting career/welfare advancement, expanding services and having rational commissions are likewise, priority indicators of IS in QSC. A cluster of OL practices was strongly correlated positively with IS, IS performance also altered directly with OL, while variations in OL are projected to govern IS. Planned OL practices, therefore, fortify the firms’ capability to internationalized practice, expand services and secure a rational commission as the hallmarks of business continuity in the professional service-based sector. Sustainable QSCs must embed and maintain a structured learning framework for continuous improvement of human capital to be able to innovate towards IS.

Sanitation planning for resettlement sites in Laos

Abstract Hydropower plants have been making both direct and indirect impacts on the environment and society on many levels in Laos as they require people who live in downstream and upstream areas to relocate to new resettlement sites. A sanitation planning process for resettlement sites in Laos is evaluated by an evaluating tool which has been developed according to three international sanitation planning guidelines, namely Community-Led Urban Environmental Sanitation Planning (CLUES), the Sanitation Safety Planning methodology by the WHO, and Sanitation 21. Four resettlement sites were selected, based on their differences in terms of project developers, scales, consultancy companies, and the number of people impacted. All four cases had positive performances in their project preparation and the implementation phases which showed a strong institutional arrangement and high engagement by the stakeholders. However, the technical planning phase was overlooked and given a low priority, the boundary of the systems was roughly defined, and there was no clear support to develop a treatment system for the reuse of wastewater, and no health risk assessment. We propose six concise sanitation planning steps and resource-oriented sanitation for resettlement sites which aim to support project developers' decision-making and planning for sanitation systems in resettlement sites.

RLS Model for Forecasting Resource Fulfilment in IT and Consulting Firms: The Global Context

Global IT and consulting firms are predominantly dependent on skilled manpower for their business. There are many skills and locations with multiple roles which may not be easily traced in the organizations where large number of employees are working in multiple locations having many skill sets. In such a situation, the resources fulfilment across the organization with diverse skill sets becomes an issue. It is an important aspect to have an efficient method to fulfil the resources appropriately without losing the revenue leakage due to delays in resource fulfilment. In that context, a Resource Location & Skill (RLS) model has been developed in the present research to provide the forecast for resource fulfilment as per the skill and location. The model forecasted about 48 employees at an average of 50% accuracy based on only five skill sets data (resource indent data at SOW [Statement of Work]/project level) from 1 May 2018 to 31 August 2018. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series model in R statistical software was used for the analysis.