Value management (VM) has become a useful tool for achieving sustainability in many countries. This paper aims to assess VM implementation and its activities towards achieving sustainable building projects in Egypt. Data were obtained from the literature, followed by a qualitative approach through a semi-structured interview and a quantitative approach via a questionnaire survey. In Cairo and Giza, data were collected from a sample of 200 building professionals using a questionnaire, while exploration of the country’s VM activities practice was completed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), including descriptive statistics such as “frequency analysis” and ”measures of central tendencies”. The results show that VM awareness was demonstrated by 64% of the sample, which means that they know about VM. On the other hand, most respondents, 85.3%, did not adopt VM and did not receive any VM training. The results also show, through EFA, that the correlations between these activities show five main components: an information phase, a function phase, a creativity phase, an evaluation phase, and a development/presentation phase. This study will help building professionals to eliminate unwanted costs and enhance project sustainability by adopting VM in building projects in developing countries. Finally, the results of this study will enhance building management through the implementation of VM elements, with a view to ensuring value for money and meeting sustainability goals.

The construction industries’ unsafe conditions require increased efforts to improve safety performance to prevent and reduce accident rates. Safety performance in the Iraqi construction industry is notoriously poor. Despite this condition, safety research has so far been neglected. Implementing a safety program is a proven initial step to improve safety. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the key elements of a safety program in the Iraqi construction industry. To verify and validate a list of safety program elements identified in the literature review, a mixed method approach was used by using interviews and questionnaire surveys. A final list of 25 elements were then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. The analysis found that these elements can be grouped into four interrelated dimensions: management commitment and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control systems, and safety and health training. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on safety in the Iraqi construction sector, a research area which has not been adequately investigated previously. They also help decision-makers focus on key elements that are needed to start improving safety performance in this context.

Lean 4.0 (L4.0) is a transformed form of traditional lean to suit Industry 4.0’s (I4.0) requirements. The L4.0 has a great deal of potential to match the I4.0’s challenges in terms of speed, dynamics, and efficacy once it has been digitalized. The study aims to identify and model the L4.0 CSFs for successful lean implementations in SMEs to suit I4.0 needs. The thorough analysis of the literature led to the identification of the L4.0 CSFs. The expert panel from SMEs was involved in selecting the relevant 22 L4.0 CSFs that suited the needs of manufacturing SMEs. Based on the feedback of the expert panel, a questionnaire survey was carried out. Further, collected responses were analyzed using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The EFA results identified four major groups: ‘worker-enabled technologies’, ‘IT-enabled technologies’, ‘management’, and ‘L4.0’ related CSFs. Furthermore, the study uses partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to simulate the L4.0 CSFs and identify the influence of each CSF toward successful lean implementation. The PLS-SEM results confirm that the lean CSFs have positive effects on successful lean implementation. The present research contributes to enhancing the knowledge and L4.0 practices of manufacturing SMEs. The results show that successful implementation will promote ‘productivity improvements (PI)’, ‘waste reduction (WR)’, ‘competitive advantage (CA)’, and ‘sustainable manufacturing system (SMS)’.

The construction sector is recognized as one of the most dangerous industries in the world. The situation is worsening in Iraq, as a result of a lack of attention to safety in the building industry and the poor implementation of safety programs. This research aims to identify the critical safety factors (CSFs) of safety program implementation in the Iraqi construction industry. The CSFs were first identified from a review of literature before being verified by construction practitioners, using semi-structured interviews. A questionnaire, based on the verified CSFs, was distributed to construction practitioners in Iraq. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to analyze the quantitative data, and the results show that the CSFs can be categorized into four constructs: worker involvement, safety prevention and control system, safety arrangement, and management commitment. Following that, partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was executed to establish the connection between safety program implementation and overall project success. The result confirms that safety program implementation has a significant, positive impact on project success. This article contributes to knowledge and practice by identifying the CSFs for implementing safety programs in the Iraqi construction industry. The successful implementation of a safety program not only improves safety performance, but also helps to meet other project goals.

Implementing a safety program is an essential step toward improving safety performance. The research aims to develop OPS model for building projects through investigating the direct and indirect impact of safety critical success factors on OPS mediated by safety program elements. To achieving the research aims, First, Interviews were carried out with experts in the Iraqi construction industry. Second, a questionnaire survey was utilized to obtain feedbacks from construction professionals. The study results revealed that there are 20 elements needed to confirm and improve the effectiveness. The elements categorized into four constructs, management commitment and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard and prevention control, and health and safety training. The analysis confirms the relationship between safety critical success factors and OPS are mediated by safety program elements. These findings offer a glimmer of hope for implementing safety program in the Iraqi construction sector, it can also be used to enhance the safety performance.