Joint Ventures in the South African Construction Industry: Factors Militating against Success (original) (raw)
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Research Trend of Joint Ventures in Construction: A Two-decade Taxonomic Review
Purpose – This paper aims to systematically and critically explore the research trend of construction joint ventures (CJVs) in some selected leading construction journals over the past two decades between 1993 and 2012. It is also expected that some valuable insights into the extended application of JVs to facilities service management and maintenance could be generated from the research findings. Design/methodology/approach – A powerful search engine " Scopus " was selected to identify those journals that have published CJV related articles. Papers related to CJVs, as retrieved from the selected journals, were firstly classified based on their relevance to CJV study and were then analyzed in terms of the annual number of CJV related publications, research focus of CJV studies and the applied research methods and techniques. Future research directions are suggested to enrich and add value to the extant literature about CJVs. Findings – An apparent increasing trend of research on CJVs has been witnessed over the past two decades. A critical analysis of the two-decade research outputs indicated that research topics of CJVs published in the selected journals consist of several key areas: (1) theory and model development; (2) motives, benefits and other strategic demands of application; (3) performance measurement or management; (4) risk assessment or management; (5) influential factors for practice; (6) problematic issues and challenges in practice; and (7) Managerial practices of CJVs in the industry. This study also identified that the research methods employed in CJV studies are predominantly questionnaire survey, case study, literature review/analysis, and interview. Research techniques applied in CJV studies were classified into seven main groups, with rank-order analysis, structural equation modelling and regression analysis being the three mostly adopted analytical tools. Research limitations/implications – The critical review of CJV literature reveals several inherent limitations of the existing research and practices of CJVs, The research findings also help visualize future research directions associated with the identification of barriers to the adoption and successful operation of CJVs, investigation of the appropriateness and effectiveness of CJV contracting strategies, and exploration into possible strategies for improving the industrial applications in future.
Performance Characteristics of International Joint Ventures in Construction
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Joint ventures have become a very popular strategy among international contractors over the past three decades, since it allows achieving a temporary partnership between the participating firms in a project environment. Partners can combine their distinctive competencies and complementary resources for the period of a project as well as they can share project related and host country related risks. This situation also allows international contractors to conform to the host government policies. Besides these advantages, IJVs are difficult to manage due to diversification in the goals of partners and the host country related risk factors. Thus, managing international joint ventures (IJVs) and measuring the performance of IJVs in construction have become one of the most popular subjects of the literature after 2000. However, there isn’t any study concerning the key performance characteristics of IJVs in construction depending on empirical analysis and meta-analysis. That’s why; the mai...
A Comparative Study of Construction Joint Ventures in Australia and Malaysia
A Construction Joint Venture (CJV) refers to the collaboration of at least two construction organisations with a view to accomplishing mutually-agreed-upon objectives, wherein they share project risks, knowledge and resources. The Governments of Australia and Malaysia are encouraging and supporting local contractors to implement CJV approaches based on their expertise and experiences in construction. Although both countries fall into the Asia-Pacific region, but their experiences with CJVs might be different. A comparative study would help to indicate how well both countries have fared using this method. The aims of this research are to identify the reasons, perceived benefits and potential difficulties of implementing the joint venture approach, and to understand how the project performance on joint ventures are being measured. Four in-depth case studies of CJV projects were carried out by means of interviews with project or contractor representatives to compare their perceived project performance and cost risk allocations. The results suggest that the most common barriers to CJV success in both Australian and Malaysian construction industries include differences in organisational policies, inconsistent management styles, a lack of mutual understanding between joint venture team members and a lack of mutually-agreed-upon conflict resolution mechanisms between joint venture contracting parties.
Factors affecting international construction joint ventures: a systematic literature review
International Journal of Construction Management, 2020
International construction joint ventures (ICJVs) have become an important way of exploiting business opportunities for construction companies worldwide. Yet, several barriers and risk factors contribute to their failure. This study aims to identify the barrier and risk factors affecting ICJVs through the lens of a systematic review methodology. Findings from 43 peerreviewed articles showed an increasing publication trend for the past three decades (1990-2020). The bulk of the studies were conducted in Asia and Europe, particularly China and the UK, respectively. Overall, 37 barrier factors were identified, and these fall into six categories, namely, inter-organizational differences, lack of expertise and confidence, lack of effective planning and strategies, lack of knowledge of ICJV's fundamentals, conflicts, and management difficulties. Next, 53 risk factors were identified and grouped into six, namely, policy and political risks, legal risks, financial risks, management risks, project and technical risks, and market risks. More importantly, knowledge gaps in existing studies are highlighted and future research directions are then proposed. The list of failure factors creates a valuable frame of reference for researchers and practitioners to develop more reliable, comprehensive, and proactive management strategies for ICJVs.