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Assessment of cost control systems: a case study of Thai construction organizations

CHOTCHAI CHAROENNGAM (School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand)
EKNARIN SRIPRASERT (School of Science and Technology, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK)

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

ISSN: 0969-9988

Article publication date: 1 May 2001

1803

Abstract

The most important function that facilitates construction organizations to accomplish profit maximization is cost control. However, the absence of a well‐established cost control system has caused failures to many Thai contractors especially during the current economic recession period. To comprehensively understand cost control systems in practice, this study theoretically assessed effectiveness as well as the deficiencies of the ‘traditional’ systems vis‐à‐vis the ‘effective’ systems. In addition, by contrasting what are found in ‘effective’ systems but not found in ‘traditional’ systems, critical attributes most contributing to the systems' successfulness were identified so that the improvement steps can be suitably prioritized. The validated findings indicated remarkable contrasts between ‘traditional’ and ‘effective’ systems. Two critical aspects, including advancement of cost control framework and systematic participation of site personnel in cost control, were found to be the major differences. Interestingly, similar conditions were encountered in various countries such as Greece, Pakistan and Australia; hence suggestions from this study could be internationally useful.

Keywords

Citation

CHAROENNGAM, C. and SRIPRASERT, E. (2001), "Assessment of cost control systems: a case study of Thai construction organizations", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 8 No. 5/6, pp. 368-380. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb021197

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited

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