PhD Defence Anna Nikulina
In her dissertation Anna studied various aspects of interorganizational governance in projects, using example of construction projects in particular and focusing on how contracts and collaboration can effectively align diverging interests of multiple parties. This dissertation is one of the few examples of the purchasing and supply management research in the complex construction projects. It brings not only valuable theoretical and practical insights on this phenomenon, but hopefully also demonstrates the potential and the need for more investigations of project settings in this scientific discipline. This work also offers advice to practitioners about the adoption and design of multi-party PBCs, effective approach to contract revisions within ongoing projects, as well as the design and implementation of collaborative strategies. Anna defended her dissertation on Thursday, 25 November at 15:30h. Her supervisors were Prof. Finn Wynstra (RSM) and Prof. Leentje Volker (TU Twente). The members of the Doctoral Committee were Prof. Wendy Van der Valk (Tilburg University), Prof. Erik van Raaij (RSM), Prof. Kostas Selviaridis (Lancaster University), Prof. Anna Kadefors (KTH Royal Institute of Technology), Prof. Hans Bakker (TU Delft), and Prof. Jens Roehrich(University of Bath).
About Anna Nikulina
Anna Nikulina was born in Moscow, Russia. After obtaining MSc degree in international economics from Russian Foreign Trade Academy, she started her career in business. Anna worked in the oil & gas and steel making industries in various roles in the internal audit and in procurement in Russia and the USA.
Anna joined ERIM in September 2016 as a PhD candidate for an open topic project and was supervised by Professor Finn Wynstra (RSM) and Professor Leentje Volker (University of Twente). Anna’s work background influenced the choice of the dissertation focus – contractual and relational governance (collaboration) in complex projects. She presented her papers in several conferences, including International Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association (PSERA) and European Academy of Management (EURAM).
During the PhD years Anna assisted with various courses in Supply Chain Management Master programme, focusing primarily on Purchasing and Supply Management course. She also obtained The University Teacher Qualification certificate, and currently holds lecturer position at the Department of Technology and Operations Management, RSM.
Thesis Abstract
This dissertation studies various aspects of interorganizational governance in projects, using example of construction projects in particular and focusing on how contracts and collaboration can effectively align diverging interests of multiple parties. The first empirical study investigates how clients (buyers) can design effective multi-party performance-based contracts to align interests of contractor and subcontractors on the project outcome. The second empirical project studies how organizations can learn to contract, or revise their contracts during an ongoing project to maintain their role of effective alignment mechanisms. The third study shifts focus to the relational governance and explores the interplay between managerial and behavioural sides of project collaboration. This dissertation is one of the few examples of the purchasing and supply management research in the complex construction projects. It brings not only valuable theoretical and practical insights on this phenomenon, but hopefully also demonstrates the potential and the need for more investigations of project settings in this scientific discipline. This work also offers advice to practitioners about the adoption and design of multi-party PBCs, effective approach to contract revisions within ongoing projects, as well as the design and implementation of collaborative strategies.
View photos of Anna's PhD Defence
Photos: Chris Gorzeman / Capital Images
