Enhancing financial success among electrical contractors
This paper provides electrical contractors with significant information related to enhancing company financial performance. The methodology involves understanding the determinants of contractor financial success through: (1) an extensive literature review; (2) collection of financial- and management-related data from electrical contractors; and (3) analysis of data to identify management trends that are more prevalent in profitable firms. Ninety-six usable responses were collected from small, medium, and larger electrical contracting companies. General trends reveal that more profitable firms place greater emphasis in the areas of certain management initiatives (higher lines of credit and supporting continuing education), marketing initiatives (involvement in formal alliances and partnering), and technology initiatives related to spending more capital resources on computers and software. Significant differences are revealed with financial ratios as well. A Financial Success Scorecard is created for firms to compare their management inputs to those of successful firms. Findings from this study could provide helpful guidelines for nonelectrical contracting firms. Recommendations for achieving future financial success are also provided.
Predictive modeling of prefabrication feasibility for the United States electrical contracting firms
Electrical contractors have promoted offsite prefabrication after experiencing its potential in improving their operations. However, prefabrication is not a one solution that fits all. Accordingly, there is a need to develop better understanding of prefabrication feasibility for electrical contractors by analyzing its operational requirements and surrounding industry factors. The objective of this paper is to identify and model the determinants of electrical contractors’ prefabrication feasibility within the U.S. industry context, which can be used to predict the viability of prefabrication as a production approach for individual electrical contracting firms. The methodology of this study included four main phases. First, a qualitative analysis was performed to initially understand current prefabrication operations and practices of electrical contractors through a set of semi-structured interviews, site visits of prefabrication facilities, and prefabrication case studies. Second, a quantitative data collection task was performed by: 1) acquiring the internal business variables of a sample of electrical contractors using an online questionnaire; 2) complementing the questionnaire data with location-based economic data to represent external industryrelated variables. Third, the collected data was used to develop and validate a binary logistic regression model that relates the prefabrication feasibility to its significant determinants. Fourth, a sensitivity analysis was performed for the developed model to provide a larger understanding of electrical construction prefabrication feasibility beyond the collected data. The developed predictive model provides useful insights about prefabrication feasibility dependency on union relations, labor conditions, market competition, supply chain relations, and building information modeling.
Dawn or dusk of the 5th age of research in educational technology? A literature review on (e-)leadership for technology-enhanced learning in higher education (2013-2017)
The aim of this article is to establish the extent to which the concept of e-leadership has taken off as a lens through which to study leadership for technology-enhanced learning (TEL) in higher education. Building on a previous study conducted in 2013, this article thus covers an exploratory review of the literature for the period 2103-2017. It analyses 49 articles which explore both the specific concept of e-leadership as well as other work dealing more generally with leadership and organisational change for TEL in higher education. The findings show that while none of the empirical studies identified in the literature refer explicitly to e-leadership, there are a number of interesting insights to be found in the theoretical articles. The results also highlight the widely different interpretations and applications of the concept of e-leadership and the consequent need for the definition to be refined. The paper concludes with recommendations for further multidisciplinary research at the intersection of the fields of educational technology and educational management, focusing on values, strategy, organisation and leadership interactions at meso level, the economy and public policy at macro level, and teaching and learning at the micro level, as well as for research in Leadership Development for TEL.