Search results

An appropriate choice of strategies helps firms to survive and develop in a turbulent economic environment. The problem is that there are many strategies that can be adopted, but it is not clear which ones would boost profitability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how architectural, engineering and construction (A/E/C) firms headquartered in mainland China (Chinese A/E/C firms) can achieve profitability in China; specifically, to uncover the critical strategies and practices adopted by Chinese A/E/C firms to achieve profitability using Porter's generic competitive strategies, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and the networking approach.

The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire. The data collection methods were mail survey and face‐to‐face interviews. The population comprised all A/E/C firms headquartered in China. Samples were randomly drawn from the China Construction Industry Association's database. Stratified sampling was adopted to select only firms that operated in Shanghai or Beijing.

The finding is that profitable Chinese A/E/C firms are more likely to adopt practices that differentiate them from competitors instead of pursuing a low‐cost strategy or focus strategy. In addition, they adopt practices that make them adaptable and flexible. Also, practices that involve collaboration, knowledge sharing, and obtaining resources from firms in the network are adopted by profitable firms.

The data gathered might not be easily generalized to Chinese A/E/C firms operating in other parts of China because interviews were conducted with Chinese A/E/C firms operating in Beijing and Shanghai which are members of China's Construction Industry Association.

The paper is to inform practitioners of the practices and strategies that lead to profitability. Foreign firms that are planning to partner with Chinese A/E/C firms may also use the findings to assess whether their prospective Chinese partners are adopting some of these practices, so that they would be profitable and not face financial difficulties in the course of the partnership.

The paper shows that profitability could be achieved by certain critical practices, which are underpinned by Porter's generic competitive strategies, Sun Tzu's Art of War based on military tactics, and Granovetter's network approach based on social network theory.

Many organizational approaches and technological opportunities are available or under development to improve the integration of design and construction. The opportunities offered by information technology are especially promising. Combining organizational approaches with state‐of‐the‐art technologies in a systematic manner will allow firms to derive the full benefits of computer‐aided design for construction. The present paper describes a framework that helps researchers and practitioners approach computer‐aided design for construction systematically. The framework identifies six interactions between design and construction. It is based on frame‐works for design for manufacture and on an analysis of current building practice. Design for manufacture has proven most effective when integrated into a cyclical product development process. The present framework serves as a road map for the building industry to formalize its information flows, to integrate design for construction into its linear facility delivery process and to approach a more cyclical delivery process.

This study aims to explore the relationships between knowledge management (KM) enablers, employee innovativeness (EI) and market development performance (MDP) in architecture, engineering and construction (A/E/C) firms.

A questionnaire survey is conducted to collect empirical data from A/E/C practitioners in Vietnam. First, factor analysis is used to identify KM enablers in A/E/C firms. Then, a framework which shows the links between KM enablers, EI and MDP is proposed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine the proposed relationships.

This study identifies five constructs which can enable A/E/C firms to achieve effective KM implementation, including mutual trust and collaboration, organizational values and norms, information and communication systems, organizational policies and empowerment. Furthermore, the SEM results show that except for organizational policies, four remaining KM enablers significantly affect EI. It is also found that EI has a significant impact on MDP.

The findings could help A/E/C firms to know which KM enablers are critical to EI and provide a better understanding of the link between EI and MDP. Hence, they could make appropriate investments in KM practices to improve both EI and MDP.

The results of this study fill the gap in knowledge by empirically structuring the relationships between KM enablers, EI and MDP. Such results may provide A/E/C firms with useful information to enhance EI and MDP in today’s intensively competitive construction environments.

The aim of this paper is to research the acceptance mechanism of building information modeling (BIM) technology and to explore the differences among Architecture/Engineering/Construction (A/E/C) professionals with different individual characteristics. The proposed acceptance mechanism of BIM technology is intended to be used by industry stakeholders to propose decisions and measures, and improve the degree of BIM adoption.

Traditional hypothesis testing is adopted by the current study to empirically research the specific mechanism of A/E/C professionals accepting BIM technologies. In the one phase, a conceptual model based on technology acceptance model (TAM) and technology organization environment (TOE) theory was established and a large-scale questionnaire survey was conducted. In the other phase, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze acquired sample data, so as to empirically test the validity of the proposed linkage.

The results show first that perceived ease of use has no significant influence on perceived usefulness, and perceived usefulness has no significant effect on behavior intention as well. Second, BIM technical features and government BIM policies have positive effects on perceived usefulness, BIM technical features and organization supports have positive effects on perceived ease of use. Third, the BIM acceptance mechanism of A/E/C professionals is diverse from respondents with different characteristics, e.g. regions and working time.

The authors highlight the large sample size, as well as the nationwide context, of the questionnaire survey. Meanwhile, acceptance differences among A/E/C professionals with different demographic characteristics have been clarified using profound data and t-test. The findings of this study enrich the research on the acceptance mechanism of BIM technology, and contribute to relevant stakeholders taking targeted measures to promote the effective application of BIM technology nationwide.

Compared with traditional approaches, integrated project delivery (IPD) improves project performance by enhancing integration. To adopt IPD, however, existing practices need to be changed, which creates barriers to implementation. This study aims to identify the barriers to IPD practices in China and Singapore, whose practitioners show different types and levels of integration experience.

A questionnaire survey was administered to two groups of respondents: Chinese and Singaporean. The data were analyzed using three nonparametric techniques, including Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test, and Spearman rank correlation.

(1) Of 39 possible barriers, 36 were consistently felt by both Chinese and Singaporean practitioners with different backgrounds; (2) The Chinese group perceived more issues to be significant barriers than the Singaporean group; (3) The Singaporean group had more experience than the Chinese group in performing integration in five areas. This lessens some barriers to adopting IPD practices.

This study is important because it uncovers barriers to the effective implementation of IPD and shows the importance of certain types and levels of integration experience in overcoming these barriers. The results will be useful to practitioners planning to adopt IPD in China or Singapore.

This paper aims to systematically and critically explore the research trend of construction joint ventures (CJVs) in some selected leading construction journals over the past two decades between 1993 and 2012. It is also expected that some valuable insights into the extended application of JVs to facilities service management and maintenance could be generated from the research findings.

A powerful search engine “Scopus” was selected to identify those journals that have published CJV-related articles. The papers related to CJVs, as retrieved from the selected journals, were first classified based on their relevance to CJV study and were then analyzed in terms of the annual number of CJV-related publications, research focus of CJV studies and the applied research methods and techniques. Future research directions are suggested to enrich and add value to the extant literature about CJVs.

An apparent increasing trend of research on CJVs has been witnessed over the past two decades. A critical analysis of the two-decade research outputs indicated that research topics of CJVs published in the selected journals consist of several key areas: theory and model development; motives, benefits and other strategic demands of application; performance measurement or management; risk assessment or management; influential factors for practice; problematic issues and challenges in practice; and managerial practices of CJVs in the industry. This study also identified that the research methods employed in CJV studies are predominantly questionnaire survey, case study, literature review/analysis, and interview. Research techniques applied in CJV studies were classified into seven main groups, with rank-order analysis, structural equation modelling and regression analysis being the three mostly adopted analytical tools.

The critical review of CJV literature reveals several inherent limitations of the existing research and practices of CJVs, The research findings also help visualize future research directions associated with the identification of barriers to the adoption and successful operation of CJVs, investigation of the appropriateness and effectiveness of CJV contracting strategies, and exploration into possible strategies for improving the industrial applications in future.

Joint ventures have been extensively used in the construction sector, which calls for the need of more rigorous and meaningful research to guide the appropriate and effective use of it. The findings of this taxonomic review could provide useful insights towards researchers into shaping their research foci under the umbrella of CJVs to suit the demands of both the literature base and the real construction market.

More attention should be paid to project managers’ (PMs) job satisfaction as they play an important role in ensuring projects are completed successfully. The purpose of this paper is to identify human resource management (HRM) policies and practices that lead to higher PMs’ job satisfaction.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on PMs who are working in construction firms and project management consultancy firms. Data were collected via random, convenience and snowball sampling. The data collected were analysed using partial least square-structural equation modelling, independent samples t-test and Pearson’s correlation.

The findings show that PMs who are satisfied with their firms’ HRM practices and job rewards also have higher job satisfaction. Several HRM strategies that give rise to higher job satisfaction are identified, e.g. a system to recognise and develop talent, and taking active steps to identify and develop backups in case of emergency. Unfortunately, some practices are not implemented to a significant extent, and these include: systematically recruiting and retaining talented PMs, encouraging PMs to plan for their careers, offering performance and development coaching, and appraising employees.

The limitations include the low response rate and the relatively small sample size of 81. The profile of respondents is largely from construction companies with more than 150 staff, and, therefore, the findings are more applicable to medium- to large-sized construction firms.

The study identified many HRM practices and policies that are significantly associated with PMs’ job satisfaction, yet many of these are not implemented to a significant extent by the employers. The practical implication is that employers of PMs should systematically implement these in order that their PMs have higher job satisfaction which is important for a project’s success.

The originality of this research is that the HRM practices and policies that are associated with job satisfaction of PMs are uncovered. Its value is in showing that PMs derive greater job satisfaction when HRM policies encompass talent development, career coaching and a personalised management style. Among these important practices, those that have been neglected were also identified. The study offers recommendations on the HRM practices that firms should be put in place for their PMs to experience higher job satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of public projects in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney to uncover which areas project managers should focus on when managing public projects in different countries.

Based on the literature review, a structured questionnaire was designed to collect data of completed public projects. In total, 244 sets of data of completed public projects were collected.

Significant cost and schedule overruns are found in all four cities. Hong Kong’s public projects have the highest cost and schedule overruns. Singapore’s public projects have the lowest cost overrun and Beijing’s projects have the lowest schedule overrun. Public projects in all four cities recorded significantly good project quality.

The findings are not easily generalizable due to the relatively small sample size in Sydney, low response rate and data being collected from only four cities. The research implication is that the plethora of project management strategies does not seem effective in preventing cost and schedule overruns in public projects.

This study found that across the four cities, there are significant cost and schedule overruns. Projects in Hong Kong perform the worst in terms of cost and schedule, when compared to Beijing, Singapore and Sydney. The implication is that more attention should be paid to managing cost and schedule, especially in Hong Kong.

The originality is that the study discovered which areas project managers should focus on when managing public projects in different countries. In laissez-faire or free market economies, more attention should be paid to managing project cost and schedule. When a country has lower transparency index, more attention should be paid to controlling project quality. Project team members should focus on delivering public projects to the highest level of quality in developed countries.

Obtaining, handling and distributing information among participants in the building design process has become more difficult with increasing project complexity. In individual areas such as scheduling, estimating and drafting, it is possible to have access to computerized tools but it is clear that there is a gap in architects’ offices regarding the integration of these tools into a unified system. Architects work closely with engineers, clients, suppliers, and public authorities. Managing the information flow among these participants may not be much of a problem in small offices. But the larger architectural offices face serious management‐related problems in the design process because of the lack of an efficient information system. This paper presents a computer‐based information system called ASAP that was developed to respond to the stated problem of large architectural offices. The conceptual framework as well as a description of the prototype are presented in this paper.