The Small Business of Construction (original) (raw)
Related papers
EMPOWERING SMALLER CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES
Small & Medium Construction Enterprises (SCEs) do most of the actual work in many construction industries, but often receive the least attention. Recent industry development initiatives have mostly targeted the issues raised by large, and therefore prominent, construction enterprises. This paper profiles a recent Hong Kong based initiative to empower the organisational learning and development of Small & Medium Contractors (SMCs). This learning is facilitated by providing a SCE-friendly web-based platform and useful tools for continuous improvement in boosting productivity, quality and image, through strategic information and knowledge management. For example, efficiencies are envisaged through accelerated access via the web-based platform to (a) specially compiled SCE-friendly information modules, (b) a wider range of potential business partners (e.g. suppliers, subcontractors, etc.), and (c) formats and guides to assist in some basic work processes, such as materials management, permit applications, as well as for performance improvements through benchmarking etc. Parallels are drawn with a recent initiative to stimulate innovations in Small Construction Enterprises (SCEs) in Wales. While each approach should be designed to suit specific regional characteristics and priorities, it is concluded that academiaindustry partnerships are valuable in uplifting the lower levels of the construction supply chain; and that without this boost, the industry can never grow to its expected heights.
2020
The paper is about international construction, and the nature of how companies that ventures overseas, face the challenge of operating in changing environments, because of the way that micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (MSME) are integrated into the supply chain for international projects using outdated processes. MSME play an important role in the international construction industry. They are a source of entrepreneurial skills, employment opportunities, and innovation. Large companies receive all the publicity on international projects, all the industry awards, and all the credit, but for most projects, they rely upon their supply chain comprising both local and overseas MSME’s to build the project and provide the work force. Principal contractors have become organisers and managers of complex supply chains, particularly when working on overseas projects. The old world was about directly employing a workforce; the new world is about managing complex supply chains. The chan...
Exemplars of successful innovation delivery by small and medium construction enterprises
Clients driving construction innovation: …, 2008
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make up the great bulk of construction industry companies, however, it is widely reported that such firms are less likely to successfully deliver innovations than their larger counterparts. This may be due to the real pressure of simply surviving in a very competitive economy or to a perceived lack of spare capacity to devote to new ideas. Despite these difficulties, some SMEs are able to meet the challenge and to generate and deliver technological innovations of considerable originality. In order to shed light on how this is possible, case study interviews were undertaken with the proponents of recognised successful innovations. Some common success factors were observed: close relationships with industry and professional bodies covering the innovators' particular areas of construction; strong priority on networking within the industry generally; and consultative, two way relationships with research bodies and industry regulators. Community and individual goals such as environmental sustainability and industrial safety were also significant motivating factors for successful innovators.
Technology transfer in the construction industry
Journal of technology transfer, 2020
The demand for affordable, high-quality homes and premises has increased as society has evolved. Construction companies have shown that an industrialised housebuilding (IHB) platform strategy is an effective way of meeting exacting customer requirements. We decided to apply a managerial perspective and consider the IHB platform as a technological solution when investigating technology transfer (TT) in a construction context. Drawing on a meta-analysis of the literature and a qualitative case study at an IHB company , this work examines how two construction companies participate in TT. The results show that the IHB platform strategy can help a company overcome uncertainties associated with the TT process. Furthermore, the platform strategy supports the transferability of IHB to different markets, which, in turn, provides unique opportunities for companies from other contexts to enter the construction market. Our findings also revealed that CEOs from three construction companies were not only interested in TT due to potential profit improvements, but also considered how the process could benefit their employees and the community. This may be a result that is specific to Nordic culture or insight into a unique characteristic of the broad construction industry. This study contributes knowledge to the scarce research field of TT in a construction context. It provides evidence for how further cases of TT may disrupt the construction industry in terms of new business models or companies from the diverse field entering the market.
THE ROLE OF LEARNING IN CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: A 'SCOT' PERSPECTIVE
Technology transfer (TT) has been given increasing importance since the formulation of the international code of conduct for technology transfer by the UNCTAD in 1985, and has become a preferred medium to bridge development gaps between developed and developing countries. Concomitantly, international joint ventures (IJVs) have been put forward as vehicles for change in the belief that contractors in developing countries can position themselves to receive technology from their developed counterparts. So far, TT has been studied through a variety of theoretical lenses. However, predominantly, the perspectives taken have assumed a linear process, viewing technology merely as an object, and effectively disregarding the multiple interactions involved in TT. In this paper, we argue that such perspectives only provide partial explanations of what construction technology entails, and how it is transferred between organisations. A counter-argument is put forward to view TT as a process of socio-technical interactions that is reliant on learning. Adopting the theoretical lens of the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT), we show how the SCOT framework allows for examining the socio-technical interactions between human actors and construction technology in TT. Specifically, we use the SCOT constructs of 'interpretative flexibility' and, 'closure and stabilisation' to reveal how learning is an integral process within the socio-technical interactions, which plays a critical role in TT between contractors in IJVs. Conclusions are drawn, highlighting the importance of studying TT as a system of socio-technical interactions on a construction project, in order to understand how learning plays a role in the process.
BIM and the small construction firm: a critical perspective
Building Research & Information, 2017
The need for technological and administrative innovation is a recurrent theme in the UK construction reform agenda, but generic improvement recipes are beginning to give way to a more focused prescription; Building Information Modelling (BIM). The current strategy is to mandate the use of BIM for government projects as a way of integrating the design, construction and operation of publically procured buildings. This aspiration represents a partial turn away from a focus on managerialist agendas towards a belief in the power of digital practices to achieve the aspiration of integrated working, collaboration and innovation, a trend that is being reflected globally in relation to both national and firm-level policy interventions. In this paper we subject this 'BIM revolution' to critical scrutiny. By drawing on theories of the digital divide we develop a critical discourse around the ways in which political reform agendas centred on BIM might not stimulate innovation on a wider scale, but could act to disenfranchise small firms who are unable (or unwilling) to engage with them. This critical analysis presents important new research questions around the technocratic optimism which pervades the current reform discourse, the trajectory of industry development that it creates, and the policy process itself.
Procuring for innovation: the integrating role of innovation in construction procurement
Proceedings of ARCOM 2000 …, 2000
Innovation has been one of the key issues in recent business and research agendas of business organisations and all their stakeholders. Meanwhile, a number of reviews around the world have raised grave concerns on the state of the construction industry. The perceived dearth of R&D activities and innovations is often cited as the main issue that has stunted the development of construction organisations. Recent research has argued that the development process in construction from concept, to detailed design and construction is akin to the process of using R&D to deliver successful innovations in manufacturing industries. This paper develops and compares two models describing the organisation and process of innovation and that of construction procurement. The study shows that one of the key differences to be that the development of the "idea" of the new product in manufacturing has the ability to generate a centrifugal force that would pull together several competing paradigms. The fact that there is no "captured" customer in the manufacturing industry as in construction seems to pull the different parties and disciplines together more strongly in order to ensure a successful product. This points to the potentially integrative benefits of innovations in construction procurement systems in the first instance; and secondly across related operational, educational-training and technological systems.