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The call for more engagement of local contractors has been gaining support by construction stakeholders especially as a result of the recent economy recession in Nigeria. However, due to the increasing complexity of the construction industry and technological advancement, the influx and engagement of foreign contractors has been on the increase and their contribution is also germane to the economy development of the country. In view of this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of indigenous and foreign contractors in the country with a view to understanding their differences in the quest of improving their service delivery.

A case study research was carried out through the use of interview and questionnaire administered on management staff and professionals in selected construction firms, respectively. In order to obtain a balance view of the subject, professionals from construction consultancy firms selected through Delphi method were also included in the study and sampled accordingly. Appropriate statistical tools were employed in analysing the data gathered and result was presented with the aid of a SWOT template.

Findings of the research show that foreign contractors have better strengths than their indigenous counterparts, and this has made them gain better expertise. Also, they enjoyed more opportunities than the threats they are faced with, but the reverse is the case for indigenous contractors.

There is a need for the two categories of contractors to identify their SWOT as indicated in this study and leverage their strengths, correct their weaknesses, capitalise on golden opportunities and avoid potentially devastating threats to enhance their effectiveness and success in the industry.

This research aimed to investigate the extent to which organisational culture is practised in local and foreign contractors in grade one and two categories and how it affects their performance.

The approach for this research was positivist in nature adopting a mono-method of data collection through a survey using self-administered questionnaires. A total of 138 questionnaires were distributed among public clients and large-scale contractors registered in the stated grades, and 112 questionnaires were returned for analysis representing an overall response rate of 81% for contractors and clients.

Findings revealed that in organisational culture, significant differences were found for management style and dominant characteristics of the organisation between local and foreign contractors. Differences were not found for leadership styles, measures of success and organisational glue. Results suggest that for local contractors to perform better, significant changes are needed to their management style and dominant characteristics of their organisations.

Foreign contractors in the Zambian construction industry are reportedly outperforming local contractors making them preferred contractors on larger public projects accounting for 85% of construction projects by value of works. This study presents the differences in organisational culture between foreign and local firms. It further demonstrates that organisational culture plays a key role in determining performance of a contracting firm. The study presents areas that local contractors can improve in organisational culture in order to remain competitive.

The literature suggests that developing countries must use foreign construction enterprises to undertake much of the building and infrastructure projects which they require for their economic development. Authors suggest that foreign firms can have various impacts, both positive and negative, on the construction industries of the host countries. This study examines the effect of the operations of foreign contractors in Singapore on their local counterparts and on the nation's construction industry. The study assesses the extent to which Singaporean construction companies have grown during the past two decades, and investigates the influence of foreign firms in this growth process. It is based on interviews of prominent construction practitioners and administrators. It was found that Singapore firms grew considerably during the period under review, and that foreign firms contributed to this growth. It is concluded that there is scope for mutually beneficial co‐operation among foreign and local contractors.

The construction programmes of developing countries have constituted a significant part of the international construction market. However, while international contractors seek to exploit these opportunities, the host nations also wish to develop their construction industries over time. This paper shows how conflicting objectives of international contractors and host countries can be correlated for mutual benefit. It outlines strategies adopted by international construction enterprises and contrasts the approaches they adopt in industrialised countries with those in developing ones. It then compares the objectives of international construction enterprises to those of host countries. It uses Singapore's experience to illustrate likely future developments in the construction industries of emerging countries. Finally, it offers suitable approaches that international and local construction enterprises, and governments, should adopt at various stages of development of host countries' construction industries.

The construction industries in developing countries can play a significant role in stimulating economic growth. Like many of these countries, the construction industry in Singapore has similarly evolved through an infancy phase to now reach a stage of maturity as the economy braces itself to officially become the first developed nation on the Equator by the end of the 1990s. The influence of the construction industry on the Singapore economy has been the subject of much study. None, however, has shown the stages through which the industry has evolved over the last 25 years, since Singapore gained independence in 1965, nor the role played by the government in rationalising the marketing capacities and level of sophistication among indigenous construction firms. This article seeks to explore the rationale behind the key development policies, strategies and marketing programmes implemented by the Singapore government for the local construction industry.

Most large‐scale construction projects in developing countries used to be dominated by contracting firms from the developed world. This phenomenon was observed in the construction industry of Singapore. However, over the last two or three decades, local contracting firms in Singapore were groomed to take on more sophisticated and complex contracts in the domestic market; Singaporean construction firms are now even exporting their accumulated expertise overseas. Traces the development of the construction industry in Singapore and synthesizes the Government‐led national marketing effort which has collectively provided assistance and encouragement for local construction firms to venture into overseas markets. Construction export marketing at the national level is emphasized. The lessons which can be learned from the Singapore experience would be useful for other developing countries in search of a similar paradigm in economic development and export marketing.

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.

This study aims to investigate and ranks the critical factors influencing the bid or no-bid decision and their importance for the indigenous small building contractors within the Tanzanian construction industry.

An interpretivist epistemological design was adopted to extensively manually review and search extant literature on bid or no-bid decision-making criteria. A total of 30 most common bid or no-bid decision-making criteria were identified. These were included in a questionnaire survey data collection instrument. The survey was distributed to 40 small indigenous (local) building contractors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In total, 33 responses were received. Response data was subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results show a disparity of ranking of the 30 bid/no-bid criteria factors among the two grades of small contractors, with 11 factors having statistically significant differences (p = < 0.05). Based on the overall sample, the most highly ranked seven factors in ascending order were: availability of capital; financial capacity of the client; project size; profitability; project type; need of work; and current workload. The following were the least ranked: tax liability; the degree of safety; availability of other projects; availability of labor; bidding document price; and uncertainty because of weather conditions. Availability of capital and financial capacity of the client were jointly ranked as the most important by Class VI contractors. In comparison, availability of capital and need of study were rated highly for Class VII contractors.

The sample consisted of indigenous small building contractors in one industry operating in Tanzania only and did not include the perceptions of the foreign contractors based in Dar es Salaam. Future studies are required to expand the current research and investigate this specific aspect further.

The identified “bid/no-bid criteria” information will allow indigenous small building contractors to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their bidding decision-making process. Emergent findings will enable said contractors to: better fit into the competitive construction business environment; increase their awareness of existing decision-making practices; and develop appropriate strategies for evaluation of opportunities encountered. Cumulatively, these findings benefit small indigenous building contractors by increasing their understanding of the factors influencing bid decision.

The study represents the first empirical study in Tanzania on the critical factors influencing the bid or no-bid decision among the indigenous small building contractors, which face fierce competition from foreign contractors.

Increasingly, construction companies from developing countries are succeeding in finding a space in the international market. Their progression deserves academic attention. Using Network Theory, this paper seeks to examine the role and extent of business networks in aiding contractors from Malaysia, as one such developing country, to penetrate foreign markets.

The research adopted the mixed method approach. A postal questionnaire survey, complemented with desk research and interviews, was used to collect data.

The findings show that in fact business networks can account for much of the surveyed contractors' overseas achievements, in terms of markets they entered, overseas projects they secured and market presence mode they adopted, although, without their competitive assets, the networks would have been meaningless.

A limitation was the small sample population, which is compensated by interviews to validate the inferences.

Contractors from developing countries should fully cultivate, nurture, exploit and reconfigure their business networks in order to make their impact internationally.

The paper has provided insight into the power of business networks in configuring competitiveness of contractors from a developing country in the international arena. The paper also draws attention to the limitations of the Network Perspective by highlighting the inseparability of the firms' own competitive strengths and business networks in explaining overseas success, and the dynamics of business networks as the contractors continuously reposition their competitive positions.

This paper examines operating performance and corporate governance of 181 companies over the period 2003- 2008 (563 firm-year observations), whose customers are governmental agencies, and contrasts their performance to that of companies that have no governmental customers. The sample firms are classified into firms whose customers are (1) domestic governmental agencies, (2) foreign governmental agencies, (3) state governmental agencies, or (4) different combinations of the 3 types. The results show that firms that supply domestic and/or foreign government customers have significantly higher operating income, profit margin and return on asset and lower operating expenses than firms that supply state government customers and than their matched industry peers who do not supply any government customers. These government-supplier firms have lower managerial ownership than their industry peers which suggests potential room for agency problems to develop. Firms that supply domestic and/or foreign government customers have significantly lower executive compensation than firms that supply state government customers and than their matched industry peers.