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Large infrastructure projects in the Netherlands are often subject to discussion due to large time and cost overruns. Project management instruments are developed by the projects for the efficient management of time, cost and scope. These collections of methods, tools and approaches are often modified and further developed when projects face problems and situations that are not encountered before. When projects find solutions for problems in the complex world of large infrastructure problems, other projects might benefit from these developments as well. However, the literature study in this thesis shows that projects often re-invent the wheel instead of learning from other projects. Therefore, the main research question in this master thesis is to what degree the large infrastructure projects in the Netherlands share and implement knowledge about their developed instruments, and what might be the possible barriers that disturb this process of inter-project learning. First, a literature study is performed where all topics in the area of organizational learning, knowledge management, inter-project learning and learning barriers are explored. The findings of this study are used to develop a framework that can be used to describe the knowledge activities that are performed by the projects in the process of inter-project learning and the barriers that prevent that projects learn from each other. This framework connects learning processes inside projects with learning processes between different projects. The framework identifies four steps of knowledge activities: creation of knowledge, evaluation of knowledge, sharing of knowledge and implementation of knowledge. The barriers are present in the framework between the ‘share’ and the ‘implement’ steps and are grouped in four categories: social, organizational, project-related and knowledge- related. The developed framework is used in case studies where 14 large infrastructure projects in the Netherlands are researched. Project managers and operational project managers (managers projectbeheersing) of these projects are interviewed in order to find out which instruments are developed in the projects, how the projects deal with the knowledge activities in the four steps of the framework and what the possible barriers to learning are. The findings show that the two barriers that are identified most are the uniqueness of projects that makes it difficult to implement knowledge from a project with a different context and the lack of a higher level knowledge management system, that establishes knowledge connections between the different projects in a structured way. The main conclusions that can be drawn from this research are that all kinds of project management instruments are developed and that the projects are willing to share these developments with other projects. However, they are not able to see which knowledge is required in the other projects. A recommendation is to let the functional organizations use a higher level knowledge management system. People or a department from the functional organization that are on a higher level above the individual projects, should fulfill the role of ‘knowledge broker’. By having contact with the projects on a regular basis, they keep an overview of the knowledge supply and the knowledge demand. With this system, projects that can learn from each other are connected in a structured way, based on the overview of created knowledge in one project and the problems that are faced in the other project. Inter-project learning would also be more effective when more knowledge is transferred between projects that are in the same project phase, instead of only transferring knowledge between new projects and projects that are already in a later phase or are even completed. Knowledge transfers between projects that are in the same phase are more effective because direct interaction is possible, even as sharing of tasks and mutual adjustment.

Trends of public accountability guide the introduction of performance measurement in municipal subsidy awarding of non-profit organizations in The Netherlands. Specific characteristics of this relation make that there are limitations on the application of existing performance measurement practices, which may cause a lack of essential stakeholder support. In this explorative case-study research, we analyze what key factors influence stakeholder support for performance measurement in the arts and culture-, housing association- and sport sector. Successively, we develop hybrid arrangements that increase the level of stakeholder support by varying, mitigating or conditioning the alternative values of the key factors. As well as the practical value of the hybrid arrangements, this research has its theoretical value in showing that the traditional ‘hard’ instrument of performance measurement transforms in ‘softer’ negotiated arrangements by the Dutch stakeholder-collecting Polder model. It would be valuable to research the sustainability of the hybrid arrangements in other sectors and on the longer term.

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The liberalization of the energy sector transformed this sector into a dynamic and competitive environment. To cope with this transformation and to build competitive advantage, energy companies expand their businesses through downstream customer interfacing businesses in energy-related markts. These new markets are not the core business of energy companies, and as a consequence that energy companies do not have all the needed resources in-house to commercialize the energy-related products and services succesfully. Energy companies source the needed resources through organizational relationships. However, there is no garantueed success for entering into organizational relationships. It is therefore vital for strategic purposes to control and manage these relationships through appropriate organizational governance structures. Organizational governance structures are structures through which risks that accompany organizational relationships are managed and controlled. Appropriate organizational governance structures are designed along complex decision-making processes. This research focuses on the design of a framework for the support of decision-making processes concerning organizational governance structures. Based on theory, and knowldge gained during a case study analysis and a workshop a decision framework is designed. The decision framework consists of three layers: factors, risks, and organizational governance structures. Together with a risk matrix, the decision framework provides guidance by illustrating the aspects that need to be considered, the relations among these aspects, and the steps decision-makers should take in order to design appropriate organizational governance structures.

This thesis treats the adoption of policy instruments based on the ecosystem services concept in Dutch nature and rural area policy. Despite the extensive environmental and economic research and the emphasis on the concept in international policy, the adoption of instruments based on the concept is staying behind in the Netherlands. In this thesis explanations based on policymaking theories for this lack of successful policymaking are presented.