This paper presents an analysis of the Polish construction market with examples of project risk assessment taking into consideration one of the biggest markets in Central Europe. The writer has conducted research in identification and quantification of construction risks based on the Polish market that has developed considerably since joining the European Union. The risk analysis consists of verbal and quantitative description. The specification of risk indicators is directly linked to the Polish construction market and the writer has provided examples for applying the risk assessment process in construction projects. A summary of the analysis is presented in the final part of the paper.

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The paper presents an approach for evaluation of the likelihood of damage to the transportation infrastructure in the context of the terrorist attacks on the example of a number of bridges located in Wrocław (Poland). Assuming that there will be only one bridge destroyed in a given area, in order to determine the probability of damage to one of the objects, there was one of multi-criteria optimization methods used, i.e. the method of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The main advantage of the analysis carried out was that the accepted hierarchy of decision-making options could be easily explained in a scientifi c manner, not only with reference to personal knowledge, experience, and intuition.

The paper proposes a new method for project risk management. It is proposed how, after risk identification, the countermeasures for risk mitigation and elimination can be selected, taking into account the cost and effort linked to them as well as the weights assigned by the decision maker to risk attributes, such as probability or consequences, and the values of those attributes. The risk attributes and weights, as well as the maximal total risk and the maximal total effort of risk mitigation accepted by the decision maker for the project are expressed as fuzzy numbers, which in turn constitute models for linguistic expressions.

Purpose In the literature, there are many methods that can be helpful in strategic management of universities. Some of them are related to the aspect of sustainability, in terms of balancing the level of fulfillment of different, often conflicting objectives, which must be considered when building strategies. These methods include product/service portfolio ones. However, their use is often intuitive and detached from the quantitative aspects of management. The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal of the modification of the portfolio methods through the use of one of discrete optimization problems, namely, the multiple knapsack problem. The proposal is applied to a selected university. The results are presented and discussed. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology consists in a conceptual work: combining non-quantitative portfolio methods used in strategic management and the quantitative multiple knapsack problem. The analogy is established between a market sector (capacity) and a knapsack (capacity), a university department value and an object value, the university improvement budget and a knapsack, an object cost and an improvement measure cost. Then, the case study is used to conduct an initial validation of the proposed approach. Findings A quantitative model for strategic management of university as a whole or university departments is proposed. It allows to plan and control the application of improvement measures, allowing the university units to take on a better position in the educational market. It has been initially applied to a small university. Research limitations/implications The model requires much more real-world case studies. Also, it will usually be difficult to establish the cost of running individual university units as well as the cost of corrective measures. The capacity of knapsacks – here of market sectors – will also be difficult to calculate. The method to be used here is activity-based costing, but it will not solve all the problems immediately, as its practical application is difficult. Practical implications The proposed model will allow to plan and evaluate strategic changes of university as a whole and its units’ position using quantitative values and to consider various strategic scenarios. Social implications In order to establish the data necessary to construct the model, various stakeholders will have to cooperate (the university promotion department, the accounting representatives, the student and industry representatives etc.), probably for the first time. Such cooperation will improve the university position even if the model itself will not be able to be applied immediately. Originality/value The link between portfolio methods and a quantitative optimization method for university management purposes has been established in the paper for the first time in the literature.