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This study aims to investigate the impacts of procurement strategies on the growing proportion of construction small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and whether the size of the construction company moderates the effect.

This study adopted a quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional questionnaire survey in achieving its objectives. The survey requires the respondent to identify both the most successful and most outstanding project that the respondent was involved in between 2010 and 2016.

The study found that only traditional and management-oriented procurement strategies ensure the achievement of all growth plans for construction SMEs in South Africa; and that medium-sized construction enterprises achieve social growth such as community empowerment, managerial skills and advancement on the cidb Register of Contractors.

The findings of the study imply that policymakers should base their decisions regarding macroeconomic issues and growth plans for construction SMEs on the internal and external factors such as differences in the sizes of construction SMEs and differences in the suitability of procurement strategies affecting the growth of construction SMEs.

In past studies, the diversity amongst SMEs is often overlooked and SMEs are erroneously assumed to share similar objectives, possess equal capabilities and face challenges of the same magnitude. The original contribution of this study is shown in the investigation of the moderating effect of SMEs’ diversity (in terms of company size) on their growth proportion as influenced by procurement strategies.

This study aims to investigate whether clients’ knowledge about construction procurement systems influence project performance objectives and the role of procurement systems on project performance objectives in South Africa.

Using a two-round survey, 90 usable questionnaires from construction professionals in South Africa plus 3 expert clients were collected. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics – means, percentages and the analytical hierarchy process to determine the rank of client project performance criteria, while inferential statistics – Pearson product-moment correlation was used in establishing the relationship between the level of clients’ knowledge and project performance.

It was found that the common procurement systems used are traditional, followed by management-oriented and integrated procurement systems. In addition, it emerged that client’s knowledge of procurement systems shows a positive relationship with the achievement of project performance objectives. Based on these findings, it is concluded that some procurement systems being selected by clients in South Africa are inappropriately selected. This is despite the emergence of more efficient procurement systems. If procurement systems are selected based on the knowledge of the client, it will give better chances of a successful project outcome.

The research suggests the need for clients to seek ways to improve their understanding or increase their knowledge of procurement systems in construction. Policymakers’ responsibilities in driving policies that will place responsibilities on clients to seek a reasonable way to improve their knowledge where possible is implied in the study.

It contributes to improving project performance by examining whether the level of knowledge possessed by a client influences project performance.

The purpose of this paper is to select a suitable procurement method for steel building construction in Sri Lanka following a systematic method which weigh, both procurement selection factors and existing procurement systems.

An abductive research stance is followed in this empirical study. Procurement selection factors were selected through a critical literature review which was followed by a quantitative questionnaire survey. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis and relative important index.

The critical literature review outlined 46 procurement selection factors, out of which 26 factors were very important in steel building procurement selection. Short construction period and higher constructability of design are ranked at the top with the highest priority rating factors. Management-oriented procurement system was selected as the most appropriate procurement system for steel building constructions within the Sri Lankan context.

The study is limited to widely use three procurement systems in Sri Lankan construction industry. Yet, the process followed in selecting the most appropriate procurement system could be applied for other contexts. The implications of the study are mainly identifying management-oriented procurement as the most suitable procurement method for steel building construction in Sri Lanka.

The systematic procedure of procurement method selection for steel building construction may use in the Sri Lankan construction industry to limit the resource loss due to wrong selection of procurement.

A study which critically and comprehensively presenting a procurement selection process for steel building construction is not recorded in Sri Lanka prior to this study.

The purpose of this paper is to review the use of various construction procurement systems in the past and present, specifically within the Australian construction industry and to overview the historical development of procurement both globally and in the Australian context through the existing literature.

The paper is an in-depth literature review of various construction procurement systems used in the past and present, both in general and within the context of Australian construction industry.

The findings suggest that even though relationship-based procurement (RBP) systems offer significant benefits to all project participants, they are unproved by many decision makers because of lack of robust theoretical concept and inability in demonstrating value for money (VfM) for public projects, which would be one of the factors causing move away from RBP in the future.

This review is one of its kind. There is no such review done before within the context of Australian construction industry in such a detail. This review is a part of a recently completed PhD study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine different categories of building project procurement routes based on organisational, contractual, financial and technical issues.

The paper is based on review of literature and conditions of contracts. The UK construction industry serves as a general frame of reference. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors survey of Contracts in Use from 1985 to 2004 is used to probe the share and value of contracts along different procurement routes and across different conditions of contracts in the UK. The logic is that the value and the share of contracts will indicate the behaviour of different procurement routes in the UK construction market while the in‐depth analysis of conditions of contracts will show the gaps and relationships between the general definition/categorisation and contractual context (conditions of contracts) of each of the procurement routes.

The preliminary result of the analysis shows that traditional routes remain the main type of procurement route for the construction project industry sector, within which different management and incentivisation systems are applied for greater efficiency. The conditions of contracts in the UK support this assertion by aligning different procurement routes to different conditions of contracts and additionally specifying different forms of agreements, special provisions and incentivisation in order to increase performance, reduce risks and improve compensation methods.

The study can serve as a learning opportunity for construction project stakeholders internationally, and clients in particular, to differentiate between procurement routes, management‐oriented systems, relational contracting and incentivisation.

The research provides an original assessment of construction procurement which can be used as intervening tool in different levels of private and public procurement strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive literature review that seeks to address modern factors worldwide that are associated with the selection of current procurement methods. The aim is to develop an up-to-date multi-attribute procurement decision-making chart for selecting the appropriate method for the project.

Stage 1 (literature review). The search engines, Emerald; Business Source Premier; Science Direct and Sage were selected to identify journals that have published the most procurement methods-related articles. The search covered the period 1980-2015. Stage 2 (Survey) – after analyzing and appraising the literature, an up-to-date utility decision-making chart for selecting the appropriate procurement method for the project was developed. The chart was based on findings from a survey that included 57 construction professionals and who have demonstrated sound experience about the various procurement options.

There is no one best procurement method for all projects. The selection depends on the nature of the issues or problem at hand. Decision making is not a punctual act. It is often a complex process. Effective decision making also demands quality and timely information, and a careful consideration of alternatives. The multi-attribute decision-making chart presented in this paper has included modern criteria and the client would have end up with different recommendations and consequences should these criteria were not included in priority weightings.

The literature review provides states-of-the art research in the field of procurement methods in construction and the multi-attribute chart is intended to offer decision makers an opportunity to broaden their horizon on the different alternatives procurement routs that could lead to different consequences.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, very few publications have discussed modern selection criteria for procurement methods in construction under one study. Therefore, this paper has established a platform for scholars and researchers to obtain more useful insights into procurement methods concerns. It has identified research trends in procurement methods which may allow industrial practitioners to appreciate the key concerns in their development of modern concepts and principles such as supply chain, lean construction, sustainability, innovation, value engineering, e-procurement and Building information modeling. The inclusion of these modern criteria will present and add value to procurement decision makers within the construction industry.

International development projects are a dominant means by which aid is distributed to countries. Over the past 70 years, the distribution of trillions of dollars of development aid has been mediated by the United Nations (UN). However, most of this aid has failed to deliver the expected outcomes for which it was assigned. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of projects can be considered successful. Despite the glaring question as to which factors contribute to the success or failure of projects, no study has comprehensively documented the relationship between procurement mechanisms invoked to deliver aid projects and project outcomes. This study aims to assess this relationship.

Leveraging network analysis methodology, this study examines the World Bank data set of over 247,000 developmental contracts worldwide granted over the past 20 years. It identifies the range of procurement practices used and interrogates their ability to deliver satisfactory project outcomes.

Eleven prevalent practices are identified covering aid projects across twelve sectors. As might be expected, Africa is the largest recipient of aid, while the Middle East is the least. Overwhelmingly, international competitive bidding (ICB) is the leading procurement procedure, both in terms of contract number and total dollar value. However, ICB does not always deliver the best outcomes, with other, more boutique approaches sometimes doing better.

The breadth of this study, encompassing such a vast data resource, and generating such a rich pool of findings will now empower researchers to take the next important step, which is to progress this study in exploring why it is that certain procurement strategies have worked for some sectors, but not others. Countries, financial institutions, the UN and construction enterprises alike will be very interested in the results.

The spectrum of outcomes identified will be of interest to academics and practitioners alike wishing to investigate further the drivers behind the results described here.

This paper proposes assessing the context within which integrated logistic support (ILS) can be implemented for whole life performance of building services systems.

The use of ILS within a through‐life business model (TLBM) is a better framework to achieve a well‐designed, constructed and managed product. However, for ILS to be implemented in a TLBM for building services systems, the practices, tools and techniques need certain contextual prerequisites tailored to suit the construction industry. These contextual prerequisites are discussed.

The case studies conducted reinforced the contextual importance of prime contracting, partnering and team collaboration for the application of ILS techniques. The lack of data was a major hindrance to the full realisation of ILS techniques within the case studies.

The paper concludes with the recognition of the value of these contextual prerequisites for the use of ILS techniques within the building industry.

Literature on business models (BMs) has grown ve ry rapidly since the beginning of the twenty-first century, and although the theoretical and empirical literature has developed significantly, the number of practical and management-oriented studies remains relatively low. A recent debate in the field has focused on the definition of BM invariants: sensing customer needs, creating customer value, sustaining value creation and monetizing value. Extant empirical studies have mainly focused on multinational enterprises (MNEs) and successful BMs; however, this study concentrates on the failure of BMs in the case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). An important source of a BM’s failure is the misalignment between MNE and SME involved in an acquisition.

Looking through the lens of the four BM constants, the aim of this study is to examine the case of the acquisition Domestic Heating (an SME) by Ventilair (an MNE).

Although both separate entities were achieving good results and each had a specific BM, the acquisition produced poor results mainly due to the misalignment of the two BMs. The findings lead the authors to make recommendations to practitioners on avoiding BM misalignment during an acquisition.

The authors encourage practitioners to enhance communication, promote organizational experiments, acknowledge specificities of both entities, foster employee commitment and ensure homogeneity in IT system usage.