Search results

The model and existing practice of the construction supply chain (CSC) in the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia was presented in this chapter. The policies and reports that support the practice of the CSC were examined in both countries. It was discovered from the review of literature that the UK has a more detailed report targeted at improving the CSC than Australia. However, both countries have a common factor affecting their CSC which originates from fragmentation experienced within their supply chain. Construction stakeholders in the UK and Australia believe that collaboration and integration are vital components for improving performance. The majority of the contractors in both countries embrace collaborative working for the sole purpose of risk sharing, access to innovation and response to market efficiency. However, most of the models developed for managing the CSC in the UK are built around building information modelling (BIM). Also, the reviewed studies show that supply chain management practice will be effective following the following principle: shared objectives, trust, reduction in a blame culture, joint working, enhanced communication and information-sharing. Finally, the UK has a more established framework and more CSC models compared to Australia.

The prevalent practice of construction supply chain (CSC) in developing countries with a focus on Africa was presented in this chapter. Two African countries (South Africa and Ghana) were selected due to the extensive literature on the CSC emanating from the countries. The impediment to the effective management of the CSC in the two African countries was also examined in this chapter. It was discovered that the vital inhibition to the performance of CSC in developing countries is the adoption of culture from developed countries without a proper model for ensuring its implementation in developing countries. Also, no model has incorporated the principles and technologies of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) to manage the CSC. The failure to adopt the 4IR technologies like block chain, big data and the internet of things has prevented the proper application of CSC practices in developing countries. CSC practices like collaboration, integration, lean supply chain, information sharing, financial management and communication are the primary practice in developing countries. Finally, this chapter called for the development of a model for managing the CSC in developing countries in alignment with the principles of the 4IR.

The COVID-19 pandemic came with a lot of stress, uncertainty and disruption for managing the construction supply chain (CSC). The disruption in return caused weak resilience of CSC activities. Unfortunately, the existing models for managing CSC focus on preparedness and recovery while neglecting the visibility perspective of resilience CSC. Towards creating a resilience CSC, this study modelled construction 4.0 as the vaccine for supply chain resilience in the construction industry.

A survey questionnaire was used to collect data randomly from construction stakeholders. The questionnaire was analysed with a structural equation model analysis using SmartPLS while conducting tests such as path coefficient analysis, discriminant analysis and importance-performance analysis.

This study discovered that construction 4.0 is a significant tool and vaccine for ensuring visibility, recovery and adaptation within the supply chain. Construction 4.0 will function as a vaccine for ensuring resilience because of its capacity to optimise CSC management by introducing an evidence-based management approach and less dependent on implicit knowledge. Towards reaping the full potential of construction 4.0, it should be adopted as a moderating variable.

The research is limited by the use of a single methodology (quantitative) without including a qualitative method to understand better and explore the impact of construction 4.0 on CSC resilience. The qualitative part can be carried out by conducting interviews targeted at construction stakeholders.

In spite of the limitations, the findings of this study contributed to building a more responsive and resilient CSC during the pandemic period. Furthermore, this study also presented the crucial construction 4.0 technology capable of ensuring resilience within the CSC.

This paper presents a model for applying construction 4.0 as a vaccine for ensuring CSC resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic period. This study contributed to ensuring that decisions made within the CSC adopt an evidence-based approach.

This chapter focused on presenting the result of the Delphi study from the questionnaire distributed to the experts. The Delphi technique was used for modelling the construction supply chain management (CSCM) practice in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. The technique was also used to predict the supply chain management's (SCM) possible trends in the construction industry. A total of 15 experts were selected for this study based on their working experience. The Delphi study also validated the gaps (organisational culture and 4IR component) identified from the existing CSCM model. The findings from the Delphi study revealed that organisational culture has a significant impact on the practice of CSCM in the 4IR era. Regarding adopting the 4IR component for the CSCM in Nigeria, the Delphi study revealed that smart management and virtualisation are the most adopted. Unfortunately, the cyber-physical system, the heartbeat of the 4IR, is yet to be fully implemented for CSCM practice in the Nigerian construction industry.

In a departure from the efficiency theory assumptions implicit in most supply chain risk management (SCRM) literature, this study aims to explore the role that external neo-institutional pressures play in shaping the risk management strategies deployed to mitigate transaction cost risks in construction supply chains (CSC).

A theory-elaborating case study is used to investigate how regulatory, normative and mimetic neo-institutional pressures underpin SCRM strategies in state-led and private-led CSC in China.

The study finds that institutionalized Confucianist networks serve as proxies for regulatory accountability and thereby create a form of dysmorphia in the regulatory, normative and mimetic drivers of SCRM strategies in state-led and private-led CSC in China.

The findings reveal that relational costs such as bargaining, transfer and monitoring costs underpin SCRM in state-led CSC. Behavioral costs associated with search, screening and enforcement are the core drivers of SCRM in private-led CSC. These differences in transaction cost drivers of SCRM arise from the risk-buffering effect of personalized Guanxi networks, creating variants of institutional pressures on actors' risk analysis, identification and treatment strategies in China. Considering China's global hegemony in construction and related industries, this study provides valuable insights for practitioners and researchers on the need for a constrained efficiency view of SCRM in global CSC.

The construction industry's application of supply chain management (SCM) principles is confronted with numerous Gordian Knots ranging from late delivery, fragmentation and others. The challenges could be attributed to multiple factors. The most crucial amongst them are adopting management ideas rooted in the second and third industrial revolution without taking consideration of the present industrial revolution. Evidence from literature and practice revealed that we are presently in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). This chapter calls for developing a model that supports construction supply chain management (CSCM) in tandem with the principles of 4IR. This chapter presents the idea behind the conception, development and benefit of this research book to construction stakeholders and academia. The various shortcomings in the existing model for CSCM were also discussed in this chapter extensively.

The idea of implementing supply chain management (SCM) principles for the construction industry was embraced by construction stakeholders to enhance the sector's performance. The analysis from the literature revealed that the implementation of SCM in the construction industry enhances the industry's value in terms of cost-saving, time savings, material management, risk management and others. The construction supply chain (CSC) can be managed using the pull or push system. This chapter also discusses the origin and proliferation of SCM into the construction industry. The chapter revealed that the concept of SCM has passed through five different eras: the creation era, the use of ERP, globalisation stage, specialisation stage and electronic stage. The findings from the literature revealed that we are presently in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. At this stage, the SCM witnesses the adoption of technologies and principles driven by the 4IR. This chapter also revealed that the practice of SCM in the construction industry is centred around integration, collaboration, communication and the structure of the supply chain (SC). The forms and challenges hindering the adoption of these practices were also discussed extensively in this chapter.

This paper aims to evaluate the construction supply chain (CSC) by examining its relationships with various key areas and its development, identifying gaps and outlining potential future research directions that affect the implementation of CSC standards during the timeframe of the United Nations’ “Decade of Action” plans in the past two decades.

This paper reports on a systematic literature review with bibliometric analysis that investigates publications from around the world on various aspects of CSC. These aspects include research methodology/data collection technique, inquiry mode, country-specific research, focused areas of study, the research aims and publication periods.

The findings of the study reveal that information technology, information sharing, collaboration, performance measurement and CSC configuration have received considerable attention and analysis. However, financial management, supply chain resilience, logistics, vendor managed inventory and rural CSC have been identified as significant areas that require further investigation since limited attention has been given to them in the existing literature.

CSC is a very dominant topic in the current study, but there are some limitations to it. Scopus and Web of Science databases were used to conduct the study. A future study can therefore consider papers related to other databases. As the focus was specifically dedicated to construction material SC only, the papers associated with SCs of labours and equipment have been eradicated.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first structured and systematic literature review that identifies the issues related to the CSC during the timeframe of the United Nations’ “Decade of Action” plans and proposes future research directions to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of CSC.

This chapter presented the model for the effective practice of construction supply chain management (CSCM) in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. The model was developed after discovering that the failure of adopting the 4IR component has hindered the synchronisation of construction supply chain (CSC) activities. While some stakeholders are willing to manage their CSC under the 4IR era, most have no clue how to go about it. Most stakeholders are familiar with an existing practice built around collaboration, integration, supply chain structure and trust. This chapter bridges the gap by introducing organisational culture and 4IR components for modelling the CSCM in the 4IR era. The model was backed and grounded with a robust theoretical framework. The theories include social identity theory, change theory and resource-based view theory. It was discovered that the organisational culture adopted by construction stakeholders determines their willingness to embrace the 4IR component for the management of CSC. The 4IR components were divided into smart management, virtualisation and cyber-physical systems. The chapter recommended that the practice of SCM in the Nigerian construction industry should be modelled around the six constructs that were used in developing the model for this study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the client–contractor relationship affects the project performance in light the theory of relational contracting. The empirical study evaluates the effect of project trust (PT) mediating through the dyadic factors and procurement-specific factors (PSFs) on the project performance.

Research design is carried out in three phases. The first phase of review of literature has identified the key constructs of the study and the conceptual model is formulated. Subsequently, the constructs of the study are validated through expert opinion and pilot study. In the third phase, the questionnaire of the study is administered on 320 samples in various cities of India. The exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis is carried out on the two different sample sizes. The structural equation model is finally tested with satisfactory fit.

PT not only improves the dyad factors in construction supply chain (CSC), but also influences the project performance. However, project risk and relationship commitment are not associated with enhancing project performance directly. PSFs and dyad factors are the two mediators in transforming PT into relationship commitment and project performance. Client-led supply chain initiatives and contractor-led supply chain initiatives differ in the CSC.

The present research has employed behavioral data to understand the effect of project procurement on project performance. Nevertheless, future studies should use objective data to support the constructs of the study. This study outlines the common and socially rooted relational governance of the project. This study is useful to the clients, contractors and policy makers in understanding the interplay of various control mechanisms to ease the procurement of large and complex construction projects. Future studies should focus on separating client-led control mechanisms and contractor-led control mechanisms of the relational contracting and its effect on project performance.

The research study contributes in formalizing the governance structure of supply chain in dealing with the complex construction projects. The study has contributed in understanding the client-led initiatives and contractor-led supply initiatives of establishing the supply chain of construction projects. It has demonstrated the mediating role of dyadic factors and PSFs in improving the project performance.