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To improve organizational performance and sustain a competitive advantage many Australian businesses have begun to embrace e‐commerce. For example, businesses from the automotive, banking, insurance and retail industries have been able to leverage the benefits of information and communication technologies. Yet, those from the construction industry have been slow, perhaps even reluctant, to implement information and communication technologies to support ecommerce. Thus, this paper aims to determine the barriers that small‐medium sized contractors are experiencing when confronted with the need to implement e‐commerce to sustain their competitiveness. Unstructured interviews were undertaken with managers from 20 small‐medium sized contractors from the State of Victoria in Australia, which had annual turnovers ranging from $1‐50 million. The financial, organizational, technical and human barriers that were identified from findings are presented and discussed. The paper concludes by proposing strategies that small‐medium sized contractors may adopt if they to leverage the benefits of e‐commerce.

The construction industry is highly fragmented and adversarial in nature, which has resulted in it being criticized for its poor project performance and lack of innovation. To improve performance, particularly inter‐organizational relations, organizations need to consider the formation of alliances with their project partners. Some construction organ‐ izations are beginning to initiate short‐term alliances with their customers and suppliers as part of a supply chain management strategy. However, such short‐term alliances inhibit feedback, which in turn supports learning and the development of mutual trust and cooperation. It is proffered that construction organizations should consider developing long‐term alliances, so as to enable parties to form learning alliances. The implications of forming different types of strategic alliances/partnering in construction are discussed. An inter‐organizational model that can be used to support learning and is founded on the principles of total quality management (TQM) is described. A case study is used to demonstrate that cooperative relationships can be used to cultivate a culture for reflective learning and mutual trust, beyond merely project‐specific performance improvements.

It has been said that the effective performance of the Project Manager (PM) is the single most critical factor affecting successful project outcomes. Little is known, however, of the nature and extent of the hindrances to PM effectiveness in the Construction Industry (CI). This paper reports on the results of a worldwide survey of PMs concerning these issues and shows that they have the potential to be more effective and more productive in their working. Associated with this is a need to be more aware of progress and developments in the CI generally, more aware of progress and developments in their own organization, more delegation of contract administration tasks and more general administrative support. Also highlighted is the lengthy working hours of PMs.

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify factors affecting adoption and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in large ICT‐experienced Australian construction organizations. During 2002 the researchers undertook an online survey, supplemented by a hardcopy collection option, to gather data from three major construction organizations with many years experience with implementing and adopting IT. The analysis concentrated on a common class of ICT adopted across the three organizations so that factor analysis could be validly undertaken. Results identified 11 factors that were found to influence ICT diffusion and adoption by the organizations that were grouped into management, individual, technology and workplace environment categories. These concurred with theory from the change management, innovation diffusion and organizational learning literature. Further, in‐depth qualitative analysis through case studies (beyond the scope of this paper) also helped to explain and make sense of the results. The results help to better explain human related factors in particular in terms of the broader and emerging literature of organizational learning and innovation adoption with a clear focus on how the people‐side of ICT diffusion and adoption is undertaken. This ICT diffusion and adoption study is undertaken at the firm‐level (micro analysis) as opposed to the industry level (macro analysis) and so provides insights into the interplay between diffusion and adoption concepts.

The construction industry resides in a period of intense introspection as it seeks to improve its performance and productivity. Yet, yielding such improvements requires each individual organization to adopt a customer value strategy that enables organizational learning to become an integral part of an organization’s fabric. This paper reviews the elements of a learning organization within the context of the construction environment. A conceptual framework that can provide managers with a better understanding of how a learning organization in construction can be nurtured is presented. Embodied within this framework are factors such as strategic shift, organization transformation, customer orientation and quality centered learning. The paper concludes by suggesting that the key success factor for each individual organization may no longer be a matter of size or the number of assets, but the amount and quality of experience it can apply and manage.

To examine the development of a viable framework for the enhancement of construction site management practices through an integration of knowledge management (KM) processes ‐ underpinned by case study findings from construction organizations that have implemented knowledge management. A multiple case study approach (that incorporates qualitative comparators with observations made within five construction sites) was adopted. The main aims were to investigate the key problems of site management practices, to observe existing practice in managing knowledge on the construction site, and to present opportunities for improvement. The case study findings revealed that services obstruction, poor site communication and information, incomplete design, local residents, and cooperation and motivation issues are major problems inhibiting construction site performance. They also identified that the site management team used conventional approaches (meeting and observation) to resolve management and technical problems onthe construction site. The site management teams should be prepared to deal with on‐site problems and risks in a systematic and efficient way.KM can help to prevent the site management team from repeating past errors; by capturing best practices, lessons learned,and especially, the solutions to problems that arise on site, similar situations in the future can be dealt with efficiently and effectively.There is little written on how to improve site management practices through knowledge management.This paper focuses on a KM deployment at site management level and demonstrates that site management teams still do not have any systematic methods for the creation, capture, storage, sharing and reuse of knowledge.

The need for the improved implementation of information technology (IT) has been identified in both empirical and highly structured research studies as being critical to effective innovation and development at an industry and enterprise level. This need is greater in the construction industry as it has been relatively slow to embrace the full potential of IT‐based technologies. In an attempt to understand why the construction industry lags other industries in the uptake and effective implementation of IT, this study reports on an investigation of the Australian construction industry, which identifies the impediments or barriers to IT implementation and the most effective coping strategies to overcome them. A questionnaire‐based research approach was adopted for this purpose and a total of 134 valid survey responses were received from various architectural, engineering and construction professionals. The questionnaire was designed to identify perceptions of the most significant barriers to IT implementation and to determine the most “practical” and “effective” corresponding coping strategies to mitigate their effects at three decision‐making levels: Industry; Organization; and Project.

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.

Architectural and engineering firms (design firms) have eschewed implementing quality assurance (QA) and other subsequent aspects of quality such as continuous improvement. Their reluctance to embrace QA has been found to be a contributing factor in the production of poor quality contract documentation. Missing, conflicting and erroneous information contained within contract documentation are major sources of rework and customer dissatisfaction in construction projects. If design firms are to significantly improve the quality of the service they provide, they should implement ISO 9000 quality management and assurance standards. By implementing such standards, it is suggested that design firms will be able to contribute more effectively to the value adding process in the construction supply chain. It is argued that the service offered by design firms should be viewed as a key component of value that drives its success. Therefore, because rework is a major source of dissatisfaction in projects, a case study was used to determine how its occurrence inhibited value creation and thus the quality of service provided. From the case study findings, the need for design firms to implement ISO 9000 quality management and assurance standards so as to improve their service quality is discussed.

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.