Abstracts – Browse Results
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Burton, R, Dickson, M and Harris, R (1998) The use of roundwood thinnings in buildings: a case study. Building Research & Information, 26(02), 76–93.
Cheung, S O and Li, K (2019) Biases in construction project dispute resolution. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 321–48.
Chiang, Y-H, Tang, B-S and Wong, F K W (2008) Volume building as competitive strategy. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 161–76.
- Type: Journal Article
- Keywords: competitive advantage; strategy; prefabrication; Hong Kong
- ISBN/ISSN: 0144-6193
- URL: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0144-6193&volume=26&issue=2&spage=161
- Abstract:
The competitive strategy and advantage of building contractors is examined. In Hong Kong, just a few contractors have dominated the market of public housing construction, where prefabrication is mandatory. Does prefabrication technology lead to business success? Based on quantitative analysis of a questionnaire survey and its validation with interviews, we find that prefabrication by itself is not regarded as a sustainable source of competitive advantage. Instead, market share is the most statistically significant factor related to business growth. The experience curve theory suggests that, upon acquiring a critical volume of business, contractors have the opportunity to exploit economies of scale, bargaining power and learning to reduce costs to get more business. Through this iterative process, some contractors would manage to innovate their building process to make their supply chain management more efficient and effective than others', thus attaining competitive advantage in cost leadership and getting more business in return to sustain their volume building strategy. The findings suggest that, to succeed in a mature industry such as building construction, it takes clever harnessing of the construction process rather than simply the mastery of prefabrication technology itself.
Edirisinghe, R (2019) Digital skin of the construction site. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 184–223.
Hong, Y, Hammad, A W, Sepasgozar, S and Akbarnezhad, A (2019) BIM adoption model for small and medium construction organisations in Australia. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 154–83.
Hwang, B-G, Thomas, S R, Degezelle, D and Caldas, C H (2008) Development of a benchmarking framework for pharmaceutical capital projects. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 177–95.
Langston, Y L and Langston, C A (2008) Reliability of building embodied energy modelling: an analysis of 30 Melbourne case studies. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 147–60.
Lin, Y-H, Lee, P-C and Chang, T-P (2008) Integrating grey number and Minkowski distance function into grey relational analysis technique to improve the decision quality under uncertain information. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 115–23.
Lizarralde, G and Root, D (2008) The informal construction sector and the inefficiency of low cost housing markets. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 103–13.
Loosemore, M and Galea, N (2008) Genderlect and conflict in the Australian construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 125–35.
Parn, E A and Edwards, D (2019) Cyber threats confronting the digital built environment. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 245–66.
Petrovic-Lazarevic, S (2008) The development of corporate social responsibility in the Australian construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 93–101.
Plantinga, H, Voordijk, H and Doree, A (2019) The reasoning behind infrastructure manager’s choice of procurement instruments. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 303–20.
Steemers, K, Baker, N, Crowther, D, Dubiel, J and Nikolopoulou, M (1998) Radiation absorption and urban texture. Building Research & Information, 26(02), 103–12.
Sutrisna, M and Goulding, J (2019) Managing information flow and design processes to reduce design risks in offsite construction projects. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 267–84.
Thomas, T (1998) Domestic water supply using rainwater harvesting. Building Research & Information, 26(02), 94–101.
Ungureanu, L C, Hartmann, T and Serbanoiu, I (2019) Quantitative lean assessment of line of balance schedules’ quality. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 224–44.
Utama, W P, Chan, A P, Zahoor, H, Gao, R and Jumas, D Y (2019) Making decision toward overseas construction projects. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(02), 285–302.
Waara, F (2008) Mitigating contractual hazards in public procurement: a study of Swedish local authorities. Construction Management and Economics, 26(02), 137–45.