Critical capabilities of improving supply chain resilience in industrialized construction in Hong Kong

Abstract

PurposeIndustrialized construction (IC) has accelerated the technological advancements of construction supply chains (SCs) in Hong Kong (HK). However, the usually fragmented IC SCs often lead to friction and turbulence that retard their performance. Streamlining these workflows call for resilient SCs that can proactively overcome various vulnerabilities and avoid disruptions. Having identified supply chain capabilities (SCC) as essential precursors to supply chain resilience (SCR), this paper reports on a vital segment of a study on SCC for IC in HK that focused here on critical SCC (CSCC). Specifically, this paper aims at identifying and probing the CSCC for improving SCR in IC in HK.Design/methodology/approachAfter drawing on the plentiful relevant literature, an empirical study using a questionnaire survey and interviews was conducted following the multi-stage methodological framework of this study. Relevant significance analysis of the collected data enabled the selection of CSCC. Next, factor analysis facilitated grouping them under nine underlying components.FindingsThe results reveal 41 CSCC pertinent to achieve resilient SCs in IC in HK under critical capability components of resourcefulness, flexibility, capacity, adaptability, efficiency, financial strength, visibility, anticipation and dispersion.Originality/valueIt is expected that industry practitioners would benefit from prior knowledge of CSCC and their levels of criticalities, so as to prioritize integrating them suitably into SC processes, to develop value-enhanced-resilient SCs. Further, these findings lay the foundations for developing a powerful evaluation model to assess, then improve, SCR in IC in HK by mapping the identified CSCC with relevant critical vulnerabilities, based on study outcomes.

Dynamic Supply Chain Capability Analysis of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Construction: A Topic Modeling Approach

“…Data cleaning was first done by extracting the contents from the raw data files using keywords related to SCCs, prefabricated construction and the HZMB to begin the research data analysis. The keywords associated with SCCs were extracted from the study of Ekanayake et al (2020), since those terms were already empirically verified for the prefabricated construction domain in HK. Therefore, the data extracted through the cleaning process can be considered to be highly relevant for this specific study.…”

“…Collaboration and 'coordination ' [#4] are essential in prefabricated construction to avoid supply chain fragmentation issues (Ekanayake et al, 2020). Therefore, the HZMB has maintained this capability throughout the project span by enabling better 'communication' among the 'professionals'.…”

“…Also, transparent and decentralized decision-making must be adopted in other such projects to demarcate resilient supply chains. Other supply chain capabilities such as resourcefulness, flexibility, efficiency and dispersion would initiate more resilient aspects of prefabricated construction (Ekanayake et al, 2020). More importantly, vertically integrated supply chains may solve some problems associated with supply chain fragmentation.…”

“…On the other hand, there is a rising demand for a comprehensive understanding of SCCs targeting resilient construction supply chains (Zainal and Ingirige, 2018), while it has become more significant in the prefabricated construction subdomain (Ekanayake et al, 2021). In response, Ekanayake et al (2020) have identified the critical SCCs associated with prefabricated construction in HK through an expert opinion survey. Notably, the results of Ekanayake et al (2020) were not tested using a more specific case study of an infrastructure development project.…”

“…In response, Ekanayake et al (2020) have identified the critical SCCs associated with prefabricated construction in HK through an expert opinion survey. Notably, the results of Ekanayake et al (2020) were not tested using a more specific case study of an infrastructure development project. Also, the results were subjective and depended on respondents' quality (Yin, 2017).…”