Marketing Management Functions of Construction Companies: Evidence From Turkish Contractors

Abstract

Abstract. Globalization, the restructuring of the world economy, changes experienced in project financing and delivery systems, the pervasive utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT), and the intensity of the competition prevailing in the market compel contractors to rethink the competitive forces and client expectations, which in turn necessitate a well planned marketing orientation for business planning. The Turkish construction industry is not different from the global construction industry in the context of intense competitiveness as Turkish contractors do not only undertake projects in the domestic market but also in foreign markets including the Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia, etc. They also often face intense competition from local and foreign companies such as U.S., Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, German, U.K., and Korean contractors. Given the intense competition, effective marketing of their services is imperative for Turkish contractors in achieving competitive advantage. This study explores the marketing management functions of Turkish construction companies and the extent to which they carry out traditional marketing practices via a questionnaire survey of 71 Turkish contractors. The survey results revealed that Turkish contractors made use of marketing management functions to some extent, yet responding contractors did not attach adequate importance to differentiating their products/services from the products/services offered by their competitors. Since achieving client satisfaction by means of product and/or service differentiation is the ultimate goal, Turkish contractors should carry out all of the traditional marketing practices in order to differentiate themselves in the market, and thereby create competitive advantage.

Characteristics of the Construction Industry from the Marketing Viewpoint: Challenges and Solutions

“…The experts indicated that "competitive bidding mechanism based on lower price" has the greatest effect on marketing management. This result is compatible with prior studies which state that this feature is one of the primary reasons that construction firms neglect marketing [12,14,32]. The project-based nature of the industry was determined to have the second greatest effect.…”

Pricing Policies as a Marketing Strategy in the Construction Industry: Case Study of Turkish Companies

“…In particular, the marketing challenges in the traditional contracting (TC), design and construction (D&C) and speculative building (SB) procurement systems were investigated. Similar studies about the marketing mix have been conducted by Ojo (2011) among Nigerian contractors, by Polat and Donmez (2010) among Turkish contractors and by Xu et al (2012) for public-private partnership highway projects. Their analyses have indicated that pricing from a marketing perspective may help inform price setters in industry about the issues to take into account in specific contexts.…”

Construction Marketing: Developing a Reference Framework

“…The majority of these few studies, especially in the past decade, have endeavored to recommend and investigate the practical applications of traditional marketing theories, with only minor modifications for the construction industry. The works by Arditi et al [14], Polat and Donmez [12], and Dikmen et al [10] about marketing practices and orientation of American and Turkish contractors and research works by Polat [3] and Polat and Donmez [7] on marketing resource allocation are examples of such studies. However, like many other management fields of construction in which there is inadequate theory-building/modification according to the nature of the industry [15], the marketing field suffers from this problem too.…”

“…Similarly, construction companies can achieve several benefits from effective marketing, including an increase in profits, sales, and client satisfaction, developing a brand identity, creating and entering into new markets, and improving customer loyalty, reputation, and overall quality [10]. However, marketing has been either misunderstood or completely neglected in many construction companies [11,12].…”