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Past studies highlight a wide range of labour-related problems resulting in productivity loss in the construction industry of many developing countries. This study aims to quantify the impacts of labour-related factors on the productivity of construction operations in Sri Lankan building projects based on the viewpoint of engineers and construction managers for upgrading management/organisational policies and practices.

Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to identify the critical factors. Further, a series of industry consultative discussions were conducted through problem-based communication approaches to analyse the actions required.

A total of 21 factors were determined as critical, where skills shortage, labourers’ thinking abilities, work experience, knowledge in construction works and discipline were leading in the list. The statistical tests and the experts’ discussion outcomes ensured the validity and reliability of the study findings.

The study outcomes will contribute to finding out better ways for directing labour in the industry practices and revising organisational policies towards achieving higher productivity levels in construction operations. Though the study findings are limited to the Sri Lankan context, some findings may be tested in other developing countries in similar scenarios.

The study findings show why the identified factors are critical, how those influence construction practices and what actions need to be considered for addressing the industry’s productivity-related challenges. These can play a key role in upgrading the construction management practices and organisational policies to the near-future stages.

Automated assembly is moving to smaller and more flexible systems and components, offering greater ability for redeployment and adaptability to device assembly as small as micro electromechanical systems.

Purpose: This chapter aims to enlighten the stakeholders on the role and contribution and the issues and challenges of large-scale industries in the wake of the globally unified economies.

Need for the study: Large-scale industries are one of the pillars of any nation and can exercise an immense impact on the numerous facets of the economy of any country. Their role and contribution can benefit all the stakeholders, especially in today’s integrated and interdependent world economies. Hence, there is an absolute need to highlight the issues and challenges and suggest measures to overcome them to promote a resilient global economy.

Methodology: The study gathered data from secondary sources like textbooks, articles, and the internet.

Findings: The findings of the study state that large-scale industries are enormous contributors to employment creation, development of the economy, growth of revenue, research and development (R&D) and innovation, export promotion, and infrastructure. The significant challenges include regulatory compliance, workforce management, economic volatility, political instability, supply chain management, environmental compliance, and technology and infrastructure.

Protectionism, deregulation, public–private partnership, privatisation, and environmental regulation are significant government decisions that affect large-scale industries. The study identifies tax incentives, easy access to financing, and domestic and international trade policies to safeguard large-scale industries’ interests.

Practical implications: Large-scale industries contribute towards the growth of global economic resilience in terms of employment generation, technological advancements, and innovation, fostering international trade in today’s interconnected world.

To elaborate on the model terms for the effective integration in Russia's special economic zones in the long term.

The statistical method, comparative method and a formalised model of game theory are used in this research.

The research is aimed at determining the model conditions for effective integration in Russia's special economic zones. The proprietary methodology envisages the following stages: establishment of the case experience of the development of Russia's special economic zones and determination of requirements that are set to residents (players) for entrance; comparison of the functioning of players of one of the studied integration structures under the conditions of individual development and the conditions of business integration; description of advantages; development of the practical implications to improve the business strategies of residents (players). The analysis is performed based on the materials of the development of Industrial Production SEZ ‘Alabuga’ (Republic of Tatarstan) and its residents, as well as the evaluation of the system of regulation of the parameters of joining special economic zones of different types. The assessed residents of Industrial Production SEZ ‘Alabuga’ (Republic of Tatarstan) are Trakya Glass Rus and Automotive Glass Alliance Rus (in 2021, the name was changed to Shishejam Automotive Rus), which started functioning within the association in 2017.

The originality and scientific value of this research are due to the description of the specific features and perspective directions of integration in Russia's special economic zones.

The American National Red Cross is in many ways the iconic symbol for disaster response and recovery. The organization, founded in 1881, has a long track record for coming to the aid of those in need in the wake of wars, natural disasters, and other crises. However, in the wake of recent disasters, the Red Cross has been criticized for underperforming. By combining the literature on bureaucracy in Austrian economics and the literature on monocentricity in the work of Vincent Ostrom and Elinor Ostrom, we provide an analysis of the Red Cross that helps explain the organization’s evolution over time and that also yields implications for disaster management more broadly. Specifically, the Red Cross is a bureaucracy that has become increasingly centralized and rigid as it has become further enmeshed with governmental responsibilities.

To discover the key elements of the use of the mechanism of public–private partnership for sustainable development, which are studied using the game approach.

Employed methods were as follows: trends method, regression analysis method, and game situation analysis method.

We discovered the key elements of the use of the mechanism of public–private partnership for sustainable development and determined the trends of the dependence of the sustainable development level on the mechanism of a public–private partnership at the level of countries that are leaders in this form of interaction (Denmark, Netherlands, Singapore, China, Switzerland and Finland). We reveal a positive dependence of the influence with China in 2017–2018 and with Finland in 2020–2021. The characteristics and strategies of implementing public–private partnerships are determined, and the spheres of influence of this form of interaction within the indicator of sustainable development are distinguished. We evaluate the perspectives of sustainable development under the influence of the public–private partnership mechanism. Based on the analysis results, it has been revealed that achievement of direct relation between the improved indicator of implementing the public–private partnership mechanisms and sustainable development could be realised within the orientation towards the effective strategic management of the interaction.

The scientific novelty of this research consists in the development of the theoretical and practical specifics of the use of the public–private partnership mechanism for sustainable development which determined using the game approach.

This chapter examines the effect of the division of labor from a Bayesian viewpoint. While organizational reforms are crucial for cost reduction in the Japanese water supply industry, the effect of labor division in intra-organizational units on total costs has, to the best of our knowledge, not been examined empirically. Fortunately, a one-time survey of 79 Japanese water suppliers conducted in 2010 enables us to examine the effect. To examine this problem, a cost stochastic frontier model with endogenous regressors is considered in a cross-sectional setting, because the cost and the division of labor are regarded as simultaneously determined factors. From the empirical analysis, we obtain the following results: (1) total costs rise when the level of labor division becomes high; (2) ignoring the endogeneity leads to the underestimation of the impact of labor division on total costs; and (3) the estimation bias on inefficiency can be mitigated for relatively efficient organizations by including the labor division variable in the model, while the bias for relatively inefficient organizations needs to be controlled by considering its endogeneity. In summary, our results indicate that integration of internal sections is better than specialization in terms of costs for Japanese water supply organizations.

The purpose of this work is to present the modelling of the conditions of provision of growth of public–private partnership using digital technologies based on the game approach.

The methods of a systemic approach, linear programming and linear correlation, as well as statistical method, are used.

We performed the modelling of the conditions of provision of growth of public–private partnership using digital technologies based on the game approach. We also determined the level of development of public–private partnerships at the level of developed (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark) and developing countries (Bulgaria, Venezuela and South Africa) and analysed the level of implementing digital technologies within the studied countries. We note a high level of public–private partnership in developed countries and a low level of this indicator in developing countries (except for Bulgaria, which has the positive dynamics of improvement). We also determine the main competitive advantages of implementing digital technologies, which have an impact on the improvement of the state of public–private partnerships at the level of the studied countries. Using the linear method of programming (game approach), we formulate the models of development of this type of interaction, within which the positive experience of developed countries is taken into account.

The originality and value of this research consist in the study of the specifics of the use of the game approach in the modelling of public–private partnership, which is based on the use of digital technologies.

To reveal the impact of the development of technology parks and innovative networks on the national digital economies.

The following methods are utilised: the complex method, statistical analysis, comparative method, correlation analysis and linear programming (method of the game approach category).

We reveal the impact of the development of technology parks and innovative networks on the national digital economies. Analysis of the formation of the digital economy includes the assessment of its components (Rank Knowledge, Rank Technology, Rank Future readiness) in the context of the development of the analysed developed countries (Belgium, France, Iceland, Spain and Hong Kong). It is discovered that Hong Kong and Iceland have high indicators of digital technologies implementation. We prove that these results are connected to investments in this sphere made by integration structures, including the sphere of business, sciences and government agents (in the case of Hong Kong). We perform an analysis of the clustering of the given countries and describe the main forms of integration that ensure the innovative development of the economy. Based on the study of analytical and statistical materials, we determine the perspective model of the impact of these integration mechanisms on the state of innovative development of the digital economy, which could be applied to developing countries.

The originality and value of this research are due to the development of a model of the impact of implementing the integration mechanisms on the state of innovative development of the digital economy, which could be used in the case of developing countries.