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1 – 10 of over 2000Robin de Graaf, Rens Pater and Hans Voordijk
In the construction industry, an under researched area of study is how main contractor (MC) sub-contract design responsibilities to sub-contractor (SC). This lack of knowledge is…
Abstract
Purpose
In the construction industry, an under researched area of study is how main contractor (MC) sub-contract design responsibilities to sub-contractor (SC). This lack of knowledge is particularly serious in the context of delivery methods such as design and construct where design responsibilities are pushed down the supply chain. In this study, it is aimed to explore which level of design responsibility MCs sub-contract to SCs, for what reasons, and what the impact of sub-contracting decisions is on projects.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative in-depth multiple case study was conducted. Six sub-contracting cases were examined in two civil engineering projects. In each project, the MCs sub-contracted pre-fabricated beams, reinforcement and railing to SCs. Data collection included document analysis and interviews. A within-case and cross-case analysis was conducted to examine emerging empirical patterns. These patterns were used to elaborate theory and develop propositions.
Findings
MCs sub-contracted design responsibilities to SCs as suggested by literature. However, despite that sub-contracting was in keeping with literature, several problems were reported in the cases where MCs involved SCs no earlier than in the construction stage. This is not to be expected according to theory.
Originality/value
This study adds value to the sub-contracting field as it provides new insights in relationships between the level of design responsibilities sub-contracted and the impact of that on projects. The study also revealed new factors such as building information modelling (BIM) interoperability that should get more attention in sub-contracting.
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Richard Croucher and Jan Druker
The article examines decision‐taking in European construction companies. It confirms the increasing importance of MNEs in the industry. The extent to which corporate…
Abstract
The article examines decision‐taking in European construction companies. It confirms the increasing importance of MNEs in the industry. The extent to which corporate decision‐taking on human resource matters in construction MNEs is distinctive and is examined. Construction MNEs show an increased use of certain types of flexible working. It is shown that this is in turn linked to decreased union influence, even in some countries with strong regulatory regimes. The argument’s implication is that the emergence of a new order in the industry poses a substantial threat to construction unions. This may in the long term endanger unions’ legitimacy within the European model of co‐operation between management and employee representatives.
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The benefits and drawbacks of sub‐contracting distribution are reviewed. The financial aspects of the decision, whether sub‐contracting is to be wholly adopted or in part, are…
Abstract
The benefits and drawbacks of sub‐contracting distribution are reviewed. The financial aspects of the decision, whether sub‐contracting is to be wholly adopted or in part, are discussed together with the implications for management.
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Discusses the predicted impact on industrial structures of these developments considering various important points relative to this area. Examines the new technologies based on…
Abstract
Discusses the predicted impact on industrial structures of these developments considering various important points relative to this area. Examines the new technologies based on sophisticated data analysis techniques such as CAD, CAM, FMS, CAT, etc., which encompass the new production procedures. Advocates that firms are being encouraged to sub‐contract work previously maintained in‐house ‐ this is expected to flourish with the growth of CAE. Contends that as the use of sub‐contractors grows, long‐term commitments between customer and supplier are less likely to develop. Concludes that sub‐contracting is likely to become more common with the development of CAE and points out that, under CAE sub‐contracting's nature will change from its existing state in many industries. Asks what form effective marketing will take under such circumstances.
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The variety and change of organization forms in the agri-business industry are analyzed, extending available comparative economic organization approach (most notably transaction…
Abstract
Purpose
The variety and change of organization forms in the agri-business industry are analyzed, extending available comparative economic organization approach (most notably transaction cost economics) with negotiation analysis and organization design theory. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Three extensions are proposed and argued to be particularly useful for analyzing economic organization in conditions such as those prevailing in agri-food industries. First, more consideration is given to horizontal structures and associational contracts as a particularly important response to transactional problems in this field. Second, it is acknowledged that different conditions of substitutability in different stages of the chain make it likely that transaction costs are different for different parties, bringing them to have different preferences over governance solutions, whereby a negotiation problem on efficient arrangements has to be solved. Third, the very process of integrating different parties’ interests contributes in explaining the emergence of “hybrids” and in designing more efficient and more fair forms within the (very) large class of hybrids, and even within any sub-type of hybrid, such as sub-contracting, licensing, franchising, consortia, etc.
Findings
New Pareto-improving and Nash-improving solutions are specified, and shown to provide indications for organizational change that differ from those predicted and prescribed by standard organizational economics. Those solutions are also shown to be realistic (possible in reality) through case studies on actual non-main-stream experiences approximating those arrangements. Both the analytic method proposed, and the solutions found, provide useful and currently missing tools to private and public policy makers for improving the organization of the sector.
Research limitations/implications
The study specify pre-conditions for reaching superior agreements, that suggest hypotheses for empirical further research on the factors that may favor or hinder those changes.
Practical implications
A “trend” for change is recommended for the agri-food sector, toward more associational and horizontal arrangements, rather than either toward market or hierarchical governance or any hybrid intermediate point between them. It has been shown that this prescription should hold not only across stages of the value chain, but also among firms within the same stage (in the case, the farming stage).
Social implications
The proposed changes should improve the fairness of economic organization in the sector. Re-equilibrating negotiation power is an alternative way of reducing transaction costs across stages and a pre-condition for reaching more efficient and fair agreements across stages.
Originality/value
Both the analytic method proposed, and the solutions found, extend economic organization theory, and provide useful and currently missing tools to private and public policy makers for designing and assessing the organization of the sector.
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Jeroen Bemelmans, Hans Voordijk and Bart Vos
Recent developments in the construction industry resulted in an increased importance of collaboration with and managing of suppliers by prime contractors. The focus of this study…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent developments in the construction industry resulted in an increased importance of collaboration with and managing of suppliers by prime contractors. The focus of this study is on getting insights into existing knowledge on this topic and the gaps in this knowledge base. The goals of this study are threefold: to verify the current state of, to gain insights into, and to provide suggestions for supplier‐contractor research.
Design/methodology/approach
The current state of supplier‐contractor research in the construction industry is verified through a taxonomic approach to the literature on buyer‐supplier research over the last decade (2000‐2009). The method followed consists of the following three steps: journal selection, initial article selection and final article selection.
Findings
Supplier‐contractor research in the construction industry is still a relatively under‐researched phenomenon. The major topics discussed in the identified articles are aspects of partnering (conditions, characteristics and barriers/obstacles) and (sub)contracting/procurement issues (practices, selection criteria, performance and characteristics).
Research limitations/implications
This study concludes that future research should focus on longitudinal studies, testing organisational barriers to partnering, the benefits of partnering in practice, conditions under which the formation of collaborative relationships between suppliers and contractors takes place, and experiences with this formation process.
Practical implications
In practice, contractors do see a need to develop closer and more collaborative relationships with their suppliers. This study highlights the topics that need to be addressed to achieve these goals.
Originality/value
This study is a literature overview of relatively scarce research on collaborative relationships between suppliers and contractors in the construction industry.
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Ohood Al Roomi and Mohamed Ibrahim
This paper addresses the effects of a set of variables on sales performance of home‐based business in Dubai. The variables includes owner’s gender, private sources of funds…
Abstract
This paper addresses the effects of a set of variables on sales performance of home‐based business in Dubai. The variables includes owner’s gender, private sources of funds, external sources of funds, usage of technology, business expenses, number of weekly hours an owner works, outsourcing or sub‐contracting, age of business, and number of the family members assisting the owner in running the business. The results showed significant positive effects for the average weekly hours an owner devotes to the business and mild effects for the use of technology. However, the remaining variables did not show any significant relationship with homebased business performance. Of particular importance is the lack of significant effects for gender. This indicates that business performance is not tied up to gender. Both men and women could do equally well in the field of home‐based business.
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Details the service provided by Mitutoyo’s expertise in the inspection of turbine blades for the aerospace industry, along with many other components. Describes the advantages of…
Abstract
Details the service provided by Mitutoyo’s expertise in the inspection of turbine blades for the aerospace industry, along with many other components. Describes the advantages of sub‐contracting inspection of components.
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During the last decade of the Twentieth Century the advanced North Atlantic economies performed in a markedly profitable way seen from the perspective of corporate business. This…
Abstract
During the last decade of the Twentieth Century the advanced North Atlantic economies performed in a markedly profitable way seen from the perspective of corporate business. This has neither led, however, to the impediment of a deepening social crisis, nor to the arrest of a crisis for liberal political values and norms of citizenship. On the contrary social exclusion was exacerbated, increasingly racialized and associated with immigrants and new visible ethnic minorities. A perhaps more conspicuous, but closely related, manifestation of this crisis of welfare and political values has, within the European Union, been the upturn of new nationalist, racist-populist political movements centered on the “problem of immigration.” This change of the political spectrum, brought about by the new right nationalist-populist upsurge, may eventually jeopardize the whole project of European integration, and the current tightening up of European regimes of both immigration and the societal incorporation of immigrants obviously reflects such worries. Simultaneously, however, influential employers, politicians and public servants have, time after time, cried out for the need for continued and increased large-scale import of low- as well as high-skilled migrant labor, seen as a remedy to Europe’s imminent “demographic crisis.”