Conditions of Success: a platform for international construction development

Abstract

'Conditions of Success' (COS) was organised to study the internationalisation of the construction industry in 1989. At that time few companies, and even fewer researchers, were interested in international construction endeavours. The purpose of the study was to collect information on activities of the 1980s in order to project who might be successful and under what conditions would they be successful in the next century. Extensive interviews were conducted with 60 participating firms from seven countries. While this group has now been reduced to about 20 via mergers and acquisitions they have demonstrated the value of several of the recommendations from the study. Critical to the study was an Executive Symposium held in Stockholm in 1991 where executives presented their view of the future and how best to prepare for it. Professor Ranko Bon, of Reading University, played a pivotal role in this special Symposium, as chair of the diverse interests and adviser to organising the results. Ten major recommendations are outlined in the paper. A critical distinction emerged from the study, which has grown in theoretical importance since 1991. It is between the North American, primarily Harvard-centric, strategic model for internationalisation and the relationship-building approach of Asia (initially Japanese and now Chinese). The Asian approach is closer to that of Europe and gaining in effectiveness and prominence over that of North America.Internationalisation, conditions, success, interdependence, value creation, construction activities, relationship building,

Human resource related factors and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) project success

“…According to Chua et al (1999), budget, schedule and quality are used to measure the success of construction projects. Hawk (2006) defined PS as the completion of an activity within budgeted cost and the allocated time, to the desired or specified technical performance and to the satisfaction of the customer.…”

The new construction industry

“…In this process, the number of firms involved has decreased drastically. This is demonstrated very clearly in Hawk's (2006) recent follow-up study. Of the sixty firms investigated 15 years ago, only 25 were still there as independent entities (see also Seaden et al, 2003).…”

Business Challenges in the Architecture Industry

“…Until now, also the architectural design management as academic discipline has too slowly been integrated into the professional education system of architects and designers. There is another danger (risk) that suggested management tools (packages for design process, planning, organizing and management, as well as tactics and 'soft skills' for team-leaders, advice on cost and budget planning, risk, and procurement) are mostly designed for large famous (starchitects) companies [14]. Ensuring the competitiveness of small architectural design businesses is an open question that can probably be solved by the introduction of open-source software (e.g.…”

“…Both sectors can share the same objectives but require sector-specific skills, tasks, resources, impact, responsibility and management. Management knowledge and skills are highly important for architectural design firms to compete in the market, manage architects' offices and finances, as well as relationships with clients and the profession [14].…”

“…The application of standardized (module-based) construction models and methods reduces the demand for relatively expensive classical architecture services worldwide. Therefore, the most important current and future challenge (also risk factor) for the architectural profession is the attraction of clients 'offering a new basket of architectural design services' [14].…”