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The purpose of this study was to identify key areas for benchmarking (BM) towards the improvement of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) construction firms in developing countries.

The study employed the use of the quantitative research method in the collection and analysis of primary data collected from field surveys using a piloted close-ended questionnaire created following a review of available literature on BM. Based on 63 solicited views of professionals with SMEs (quantity surveyors, project managers and architects) data collected were statistically analysed using a one-sample t-test.

The findings of the study indicate that the key areas for BM towards the improvement of SME construction firms in developing countries in order of relevance are “Financial Performance”, “Competitiveness”, “Customer Satisfaction”, “Technology Advancement”, “Communication Skills”, “Collaboration”, “Employee Satisfaction” and “Product orientation”.

The study has given more insight into the areas that need more attention for SMEs BM to achieve improvement. It can therefore be suggested firms that adapted identified areas will derive the benefits of BM. It is further opined that more BM education should be provided to various SMEs construction firms to facilitate an effective and efficient BM regime aiming at performance enhancement in project delivery.

This forging research attempts to identify the key areas for BM towards the improvement of SMEs construction firms in developing countries. Although there have been several efforts to create BM tools for the construction industry.

The urgent need to preserve the ecosystem, which faces a threat from non-environmentally-friendly anthropogenic activities, has led to the study of adaptive capacity implementation. There is an indication that the construction industries in developed countries are relatively better equipped to pursue sustainable construction than those in the developing world. Despite this, sustainable construction is yet to be established in developing countries. This research aims to develop a framework to drive and enable small and medium-sized (SME) firms in Ghana to implement adaptive capacity.

The study adopted a quantitative approach, and 400 responses were retrieved as a sample size for which a six-factor adaptive capacity implementation framework was arrived at for SMEs in the Ghanaian construction industry. The data gathered from the respondents were analysed using IBM SPSS version 26 and AMOS version 24, and a structural equation modelling was also used to determine the work's validity based on the AMOS software.

The findings revealed that education and training, government support and a centralised information hub significantly influence adaptive capacity outcomes in Ghana.

It is recommended that the government, corporate and professional institutions that desire to preserve the country's ecosystem be guided by this study's adaptive capacity implementation framework.

This study's novelty also lies in the integrated framework for adaptive capacity implementation developed to aid small- and medium- sized enterprises in Ghana's construction industry to ensure environmentally-friendly construction activities.

The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the impact of project-factors and organization-factors on five indicators of project performance for small and medium enterprise (SME) and large construction contracting firms that are fully responsible for the successful completion of the projects. The five performance indicators are time, cost, safety, quality and financial.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit responses from project managers/directors from 342 construction firms in Malaysia. The construction firms included in this study came from various sectors: civil, building and infrastructure; oil and gas; marine and multidiscipline. Hierarchical multiple-regression was used to analyze the data.

The salient findings are as follows: (1) impacts of project-factors and organization-factors on performance indicators are different for SMEs and large construction firms and (2) relative impact of organization-factors on performance is much higher than the project-factors.

Analyzing the relative impact of project- and organization-factors on the performance of SMEs and large construction firms can significantly enhance the body of knowledge about performance levels and boost best practices in this respect related to construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the quality of work-life experiences of workers in construction firms of differing sizes and explored the work conditions and circumstances that impact upon the work-life experiences of workers in small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Australian construction industry.

Data were collected in two stages. First, data from a sub-set of construction industry workers were extracted from a large scale survey of workers in Victoria, Australia (the VicWAL survey). The survey measured work-life interference using the Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI). Next a subset of survey respondents was identified and interviewed to gain more detailed explanatory information and insight into work-life experiences.

The survey results indicated that respondents who reported working for a construction firm with between 16 and 99 employees reported significantly higher AWALI scores (indicating high work-life interference) than workers in organisations employing 15 or less or more than 100 workers. The follow-up interviews revealed that workers in small construction organisations were managed directly and personally by the business owner/manager and able to access informal work-life supports that were provided on an “as needs” basis. In comparison workers in medium-sized firms perceived higher levels of work pressure and an expectation that work would be prioritised over family life.

The research shows that the findings of work-life balance research undertaken in large construction organisations cannot be generalised to SMEs. Organisation size should also be treated as an important variable in work-life balance research in construction.

The research suggests that a better understanding of how workers in SME construction firms experience work-life balance is important in the design and development of work-life balance programs. In particular the challenges faced by workers as companies grow from SMEs require careful consideration and management.

Previous research has focused on the work-life balance experiences of employees in large construction firms. Little was previously known about the experiences of workers in SME construction firms. The research provides new insight into the work-life experiences of construction workers in organisations of varying sizes.

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.

The purpose of this article is to determine safety culture indicators that can improve the health and safety performance of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) contractors in Ghana.

A three-round Delphi method was used. The first round consisted of 31 experts out of which 18 of them rated their agreements with a set of 87 potential safety culture indicators using a 10-point Likert scale of importance (1 = important and 10 = very important) and the 16 experts who completed the final round were given the opportunity to suggest other indicators. The 87 indicators were categorised into 14 core health and safety elements. Indicators that attained a group median value of 5–10 for 50% or more expert ratings were accepted.

At the end of the third round, a consensus was reached on the indicators when they attracted median scores of 5–10 for at least 50% or more of the health and safety experts rated the indicators between 5 and 10. Out of a total of 87 indicators at the start of the Delphi process, the consensus was reached on 70 that were retained.

The health and safety experts were not given the opportunity to add new indicators to the structured questionnaire until the third round.

This is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to have a consensus by health and safety experts on leading indicator metrics of positive culture of construction safety in Ghana for improved SME construction company’s health and safety performance in Ghana. If these indicators are adopted and used effectively in Ghana, they would ensure positive culture of construction safety and subsequently help to protect construction workers.

This paper aims to provide insights into how supply chain integration may occur for small housebuilders adopting modern methods of construction (MMCs). The process of creating an empirically informed road map is described, whereby the practical day-to-day challenges of adopting a timber-frame solution on a small housing development in Southeast England were fed into a road map of future supply chain integration scenarios. The intention is to better position small housebuilders to contribute in addressing the shortfall in housing that continues to face the UK.

Interviews with supply chain members along with on-site observations captured key aspects of integration. Findings were used within two collaborative forums to guide discussion in a dual approach; discussing the challenges of timber-frame on the project and what would be needed on future projects for the firms analysed.

Empirically informed malleable roadmaps, of the kind developed within this study, provide feasible options for small housebuilders and suppliers of MMCs to collectively collaborate when transitioning towards fully integrated supply chains. Practically, the roadmapping approach, and the roadmap itself, would help small housebuilders and suppliers of MMCs transition towards full integration. Opening up avenues of integration that are spread across yet connected through numerous phases, firms and technologies helps construction professionals use more sophisticated modular and volumetric off-site solutions.

Data collection took place over the course of a year. Future research could expand this relatively short duration to analyse the potential for construction professionals within the supply chain to integrate further over a longer period of time.

The novelty and contribution of this paper lie in the development and application of an alternative approach to roadmapping that departs from the normative linear examples of roadmaps found within the technology-roadmapping literature. The authors present a structured yet flexible approach to roadmapping that is both representative of the strategic planning and innovation activities that occur within small housebuilding firms and open to adaption to account for firm-level characteristics and contingencies. Positioned alongside firm-level dynamics (e.g. business cases and approaches to design), the roadmapping approach also reinforces the potential of incremental rather than whole-scale transitions.

This study aims to examine the influence of market logics on tendering capabilities and small and medium enterprise (SME) involvement in public procurement, the influence of SME governance mechanisms on tendering capabilities and SME involvement in public procurement and the influence of tendering capabilities on SME involvement in public procurement.

Data was collected from owners/managers of SMEs registered by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority. The SPSS software and CB-SEM software were used to obtain results on the influence of market logics on tendering capabilities and SME involvement in public procurement, the influence of SME governance mechanisms on tendering capabilities and SME involvement in public procurement and the influence of tendering capabilities on SME involvement in public procurement.

Findings indicated that SME involvement in public procurement is mainly influenced by their governance mechanisms whilst both market logics and governance mechanisms had a positive influence on tendering capabilities of SME firms. Market logics and tendering capabilities had no effect on SME involvement.

The study mainly focussed on SMEs’ involvement in public procurement. The research has implications for decision makers in government and SME firms concerned with enhancing levels of SME involvement in public procurement activities.

Many governments are now focussing on procurement lot sizing so as to increase SME involvement in public procurement. Despite the use of lot sizing, SME involvement in public procurement is still low in many developing countries and also declining in others. Aspects such as market logics and governance mechanisms that may help understand the variations in involvement have not been given significant attention.

The intent of this research is to determine whether any common lessons can be drawn from the experience of individuals who have gone against the trend and delivered successful technical innovations in construction small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

A value tree of contributing factors to technical innovation was developed from the literature and tested by surveying established technical innovators using analytic hierarchy process methodology. This approach aimed at capturing the experience of company decision makers who manage to deliver successful change with limited resources.

The results reveal the importance of supportive clients and performance‐based building standards for innovative practice in construction. Significant differences were observed between small and medium‐sized companies and between product and process innovators.

In order to avoid a skewed sample, considerable effort was made to ensure that all survey participants had significant peer recognition as innovators. A high response rate (75 percent) from the target group also contributed to the reliability of the sample.

Industry employment rates and profitability are both positively correlated with high rates of innovation in many industries. Innovative solutions to environmental and social problems have potential benefits for the future direction of the construction industry, which is perceived as lagging somewhat in these areas.

The paper provides suggestions for managers of construction firms who wish to improve innovation performance rates by studying the insights of successful innovators in their field.

This paper aims to identify the critical factors causing construction disputes in small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland during the recent recession period from 2007 to 2013.

This study used a mixed-method approach incorporating a literature review, case studies and questionnaire survey, with results analysed using exploratory (data reduction) factor analysis.

The results indicate seven core critical factors which result in construction disputes in SMEs in Ireland during a recession: payment and extras; physical work conditions; poor financial/legal practise; changes to the agreed scope of works; time overrun; defects; and requests for increase in speed of project and long-term defects.

With Ireland emerging from the current economic recession and the prevalence of SMEs in the construction sector, it is essential to document the core critical factors of construction disputes which emerge within this particular segment of the built environment.

To address the adversarial nature of the construction sector and the prevalence of SMEs, it is essential to identify and document the critical factors of construction disputes within this remit. It is envisaged that the results of this research will be acknowledged, and the recommendations adopted, by construction SMEs, particularly within Ireland, as they emerge from the economic recession.

This paper fulfils a gap in knowledge with the emergence of the economic recession and the identification of critical factors of construction dispute within SMEs in the Irish construction industry.