Liang, L (2005) Small project benchmarking. PhD thesis, University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Abstract
Benchmarking is recognized as an important function in improving practices and therefore capital effectiveness. In 1999, the Construction Industry Institute (CII) defined benchmarking as a systematic process of measuring one's performance against recognized leaders for the purpose of determining best practices that lead to superior performance when adopted and utilized. It is conservatively estimated that 40 to 50 percent of today's industry capital budgets are spent on small projects, making successful small project execution especially important. However, many companies deliver small projects with comparatively reduced capital effectiveness. The primary reasons are the combination of compressed project life cycle and less management support due to low visibility. Research investigating small project execution has been insufficient up to this point; however, it is evident that providing general practices for small project execution and the validation of their value will contribute to the overall effectiveness of the construction industry. Data from 194 small capital projects were collected and analyzed for this research. This research (1) identifies the differences between large and small projects; (2) utilizes newly collected information to provide industry norms for small project metrics; (3) evaluates the impact of practice use for small project execution; and, lastly, (4) develops a sustainable system to collect and continuously benchmark small project data.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Gibson Jr., G E and Thomas, S R |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | benchmarking; best practice; life cycle; industry norms; validation |
| Index terms: | effectiveness, best practice, capital project, small project, construction industry, Construction Industry Institute, life cycle, validation, industry norm, benchmarking |
| Subjects: | research organizations, business, value management, strategic project management, performance measurement, performance management, production management, professional development, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy, Project Management, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here