Economics and technological change: Some implications for the study of the building industry

Groák, Steven; Ive, Graham J.

doi:10.1016/0197-3975(86)90076-7

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This is limited by its implication that contracting organizations are interchangeable and that they originate in a single 'industry'. It does not B See, for example, discussions in Drewer (1975), Groak and Ive (1986). The term 'paradigm', in the sense of framing theoretical concepts, acceptable terminology and normal working methods, the parameters of meaning, was first devised by Kuhn to describe scientific practice.…”

Section: Is Construction An Industry? 289mentioning

confidence: 98%

Is construction an industry?

Groák

1994

Construction Management and Economics

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There has been a frequent misconception in analyses of construction sectors of the national economy: the tendency to describe these activities as 'an industry' or a small and stable set of 'industries'. This has led to confusion. Construction was inappropriately assimilated to various forms of manufacturing industry. Characteristics of the construction process were treated as 'problems', to whose solution substantial energies were unnecessarily diverted. There has been muddle about the extent to which macro-level planning is appropriate, notably on R&D strategies and innovation for improved industrial efficiency. Construction projects increasingly use unfamiliar technological bases, comparable to 'technology fusion' in other sectors. A more fruitful emphasis may be to regard construction as organized as agglomerations of projects -rather than as a discrete industry or a fixed constellation of firms. The idea of the 'demand chain' is introduced. The paper concludes that a 'technological paradigm' should replace the 'industry paradigm' and that an enduring question remains to explore what is meant by construction 'capacity'.

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Section: Is Construction An Industry? 289mentioning

confidence: 98%