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Purpose -Advocacy for the re-integration of highly differentiated, at times fragmented, construction project "teams" and supply chains has increased in this era of network competition, yet industry targets remain elusive. This paper aims to report on findings of research focused on the development and validation of the building-blocks for relationally integrated value networks (RIVANS) that seeks to redress this issue. Design/methodology/approach -Complementary theoretical streams are identified through an extensive literature review, and are used to shape and inform discussions of the key RIVANS themes of value objectives, network management, learning, and maturity. Four moderated focus groups hosted in each of two workshops in Hong Kong, are used to validate these themes. Each workshop typically comprised thematic focus group sessions in between introductory presentations and a plenary consolidation session. Findings -The findings indicate strong support for the comprehensive coverage, appropriateness and practical relevance of the key RIVANS themes. The findings also suggest that public sector clients and procuring agents need empowerment to provide adequate leadership and create the environmental contexts required in RIVANS.Research limitations/implications -The chosen research approach and context may temper the generalisability of the findings reported in this paper. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed RIVANS concepts in other contexts. Practical implications -Implications for the development of basic implementation templates for RIVANS are discussed. Originality/value -This paper responds to a clearly identified need for integrative value-based models of competitiveness in construction.

Purpose The construction industry is facing challenges because of performance shortfalls. Construction projects are highly complex, distinctive, fragmented and do not have well-established performance assessment models to evaluate their project success. The purpose of this paper is to assess the direction through determination of performance areas that would affect project performance in Indian construction projects. Design/methodology/approach A survey instrument was developed to gather data on the perception of industry professionals on these identified areas. Purposive sampling method was used to select respondents for the survey. These performance areas are ranked using relative importance index to ascertain a level of importance among the group. Factor analysis (FA) was conducted to identify the significant performance areas project performance. Further to identify the most influence performance areas on Indian construction projects, multiple regression analysis was carried out. Findings Findings indicated 28 significant performance areas. This shows the low level of adoption of good construction management practices in Indian construction projects. FA resulted in the areas being grouped to nine broad significant performance areas with 59.49% of the total variance, namely, quality, schedule, environment and stakeholder satisfactions, cost, productivity, safety, communication management, customer relations and finance. Multiple regression analysis revealed two pivotal factors “customer relations” and “schedule” that significantly influence project performance in Indian construction industry. Originality/value The outcome of the study will guide project stakeholders, who desire to improve project performance on construction projects, to prioritize their efforts. It also highlights performance areas of project management which required more focussed research in the context of Indian construction projects. The findings can be extended to the developing countries.

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The Indian construction industry is facing challenges due to performance shortfalls. The construction projects are highly complex, distinctive, fragmented and do not have of well-established performance assessment models to evaluate their project success. Assessing overall project success is not possible to measure by single factor. To address this limitation, the Modified Project Quarter Back Rating (PQR) model was developed for the Indian construction industry. Modified PQR model’s output is a project score based on performance areas affecting project success and outcome. The model integrates ten performance areas that have identified through literature review. Performance areas included in the model are; (i) Cost (ii) Schedule (iii) Stakeholder satisfaction (iv) Safety (v) Quality (vi) Finance (vii) Environment (viii) Communication and collaboration (ix) Customer relation and (x) Productivity. These performance areas are measured through different performance metrics; i.e. performance metrics scores are aggregated to compute performance area scores. The model gives a single score that will help in comparing overall performance for different projects. This paper attempted to highlight the importance of performance metrics in modified Project Quarter Back Rating (PQR) based construction project performance assessment model for the Indian construction industry. The validity of the model needs assigning appropriate weights to the performance metrics as the weightage determines the relevance. Appropriate weights were determined using two round Delphi survey with 12 experts. Findings reveal that two performance metrics; return business from customer relation and OSHA recordable from safety have high weights. This modified PQR model will help key participants of the industry to compare the performance of various projects and to monitor performance areas that impact project performance rating.

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A construction industry encountering uncertain workload, difficulty in workforce renewal, and ultimately endangering its own sustainability jeopardizes not only the long-term health of the industry, but also the sustainable development of a city's infrastructures. Hong Kong is a city facing this problem and there are growing concerns within the industry that there will be an inadequate workforce to meet future demand and that the industry is unable to attract sufficient young talent, in part because of the negative image of the construction industry. This paper aims to examine the role and impact of societal engagement in infrastructure projects. The notion of using societal engagement as a vehicle for enhancing the image and sustainability of the construction industry, thereby also improving the ability to attract new entrants, is proposed in this paper. It is also suggested that the construction industry's interaction with the public should be a continuous process on a daily basis through a professional workforce that promotes safety, environmental responsibility and caring for the needs of society, rather than only during public engagement events for individual projects.