Journal of Construction Research

An input/output model is proposed to explain business failures in the construction industry. The proposed input/output model argues that organizational and environmental factors are the determinants of failure/survival in that they solely or jointly affect the performance of an organization, whose components in turn constitute the symptoms of failure/survival. Dun and Bradstreet's US business failure data are used in the study to populate the input/output model. The proposed input/output model is generated by two processes. In the initial process, environmental and organizational determinants (i.e. inputs) are transformed into performance symptoms (i.e. outputs). According to the results of the study, environmental factors account for 60.7% and organizational factors for the remaining 39.3% of all the determinants of failure. In the final process, performance factors (i.e. symptoms) are considered to be indicators of failure. The study indicates that the most important symptoms of failure are insufficient profits, heavy operating expenses and burdensome institutional debt. Based on the symptoms and in the light of prevailing environmental conditions, company executives can adjust organizational factors, among which the most conducive to failure appear to be insufficient capital and lack of business, managerial and line experience.

Electronic Networking Technologies (ENT) have already made inroads into the construction industry as communication and information retrieval tools. Even though considered as the laggard in adopting ENT services in construction project activities, many construction companies have entered the ENT age. This paper presents the state-of-the-art of services provided by ENT and the adoption of ENT by the construction industry. The variety of options available to construction companies entering the ENT era, research in academia on exploring the use of ENT for construction activities, and related commercial products are also discussed. However, to implement ENT services in construction project activities successfully, ENT services should be acceptable in the construction environment and the utility assessment of such services is needed. An assessment model to measure the utility of ENT services in construction project activities is then presented. The assessment will determine whether ENT services in construction industry can perform as intended and provide an optimal configuration of ENT services for supporting construction project activities.

The combination of the graphic potential of 3D CAD with the construction project schedule is known as 4D CAD. Since 4D CAD technology links the time-related and physical aspects of a construction project it presents opportunities for use as a tool for construction management. Design and construction planning alternatives and decisions can be evaluated, optimised and justified within the context of space and time. The technology provides the means to integrate the functions, roles, responsibilities and relationships of, and between, all participants in the construction process. This process is examined. Problems that need to be overcome to make 4D CAD more attractive for construction management are also explored.

What constitutes unacceptable client behaviour in competitive tendering is considered based on theoretical, legislative and moral considerations. A range of malpractices is then identified through the examination of reported abuses. Finally, a case study is presented which illustrates some of these practices and the difficulties faced by those affected in offering resistance. It is suggested that a practical solution may found by requiring clients to make a more direct contribution to tenderers' costs.

Within the UK, construction has an unenviable status as being the industry with the lowest representation of women and ethnic minority employees. Despite considerable efforts to diversify the industry's labor force, this has had little tangible effect on the numbers of these non-traditional entrants. Empirical studies that have explored aspects of women's and ethnic minorities' employment have tended to deal with the experiences of these under-represented groups separately. In contrast, this paper uses the findings from two research studies to compare women and ethnic minority employees' experiences of gaining employment and working within the industry. Both studies suggest the construction workplace presents a challenging and hostile environment for non-traditional entrants, and women and ethnic minority employees face both similar and different challenges and attitudinal barriers. Discriminatory behavior perpetrated by the dominant white male workforce is commonplace, as are informal recruitment practices, exclusive networks and a competitive and adversarial culture. By comparing and analyzing the results and recommendations from the two studies, the paper identifies where action is required to lead to a more balanced and socially representative workforce in the future. The similarity of the recommendations put forward by these studies suggests that there would be an advantage in developing a more holistic approach towards managing diversity in the sector. It is argued that addressing a broad range of equal opportunities in an integrated and strategic manner would enhance opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, and for the workforce as a whole.

Technological advancements and continuous fragmentation of the construction industry have resulted in a spiral increase in complexity of building projects. The changes the construction industry has experienced in recent years have influenced production rates, techniques and procedures. Also types of materials, plant and other resources used have being changing. The effect of these continuous changes is exacerbated by the continuous demand for speed, zero defects, higher safety, welfare and environmental standards. Unfortunately, this spiral increase in complexity is not being matched with an equal increase in planning effort, especially at the pre-construction stage. Contractors have failed to adjust their planning to a more detailed level such as the "role" level. The industry still plan projects at the activity level. The failure to plan projects at role level is widening the gap between contractors, subcontractors and the operatives. This is obvious by the lack of use of scientific management tools (such as work-study) on today's construction sites. All these problems make pre-construction planning to be an increasingly important ingredient for successful delivery of projects. Good pre-construction planning can only have a fruitful effect if the production process is well understood and is carefully planned at the right level, at the right time, and using the right procedure, expertise and experience.

This paper therefore, proposes a simple systemic approach or model that can be used in practice to improve and standardise the process of the prime contractor's planning of construction projects at the pre-construction stage. The uniqueness of the proposed approach is stems from planning at the role level and focusing on the effect of project complexity on project time and cost. The work described in the paper is based upon structured interviews with selected practitioners and case studies on current practice in the South East of England. The work concluded that the implementation of the proposed system of pre-construction planning will contribute to capturing knowledge and experience and to producing consistency and reliability in practice, and thus produce innovation and value in project systems implementation with more reliable predictions of construction project time and cost.

The paper presents different strategies for consulting engineering companies in the emergent global economy. It is a common assumption that players can obtain market gain through cross border mergers, acquisitions, or strategic alliances in synchronisation with internal organisation. Many big companies already have considerable international presence, but most of the small and medium-size still operate regional markets. The European market is on the edge of this globalisation. This article discusses corporate strategies and the role of knowledge management in European consulting engineering companies. In doing so, it distinguishes between strategies of super-companies, medium-sized and small companies. Two Danish cases are then presented where knowledge management strategies are intertwined with different responses to globalisation. The first has expanded internationally and has attempted to support this by IT as a lever for virtualisation and accessibility of company knowledge (an export strategy). The second company makes an alliance with a large global player in order to become stronger in its development of local innovative and knowledge intensive solutions (an import strategy).

The construction industry in the UK needs to improve its performance and provide clients with an improved level of satisfaction. The inefficient design and construction process is usually criticised as one of the main causes of poor performance.

A new construction process system, CONstruction Best Practice System (CONBPS), has been developed based on the use of an expert system. CONBPS is based on the traditional procurement strategy as it is probably the most popular procurement method in the UK and yet it is subject to most criticism. This model clearly identifies the roles and responsibilities of the major parties within the building team and identifies the activities and the key issues within the project cycle. The completed model reflects the full project cycle from inception to completion.

The prototype of this system has been demonstrated to the construction participants for their comments. The practitioners included architects, quantity surveyors, planning supervisors, private and public clients. The method of collecting data was through the use of semi-structured interviews.

Following feedback from practitioners, the CONBPS has been updated. This version is more robust; besides, it is more practical and user-friendly as it incorporates the comments from practitioners, who are also the potential users.

The primary aim of this paper is to discuss the development of the updated CONBPS. The improvement of the updated CONBPS includes the information for constructing the system, the computerised functions, system structure, knowledge representation structure and the system operation.

The public are generally becoming more environmental conscious and are demanding strict enforcement of environmental regulations. Whilst such development drives construction companies to adopt environmentally more efficient construction methods, it is important that the level of their environmental performance can be measured objectively and be easily communicated to the public and clients. This paper investigates the feasibility of developing an 'Environmental Performance Scoring System (EPSS)' to measure a construction contractor's environmental performance through deployment of the proposed 'Environmental Performance Score (EPS)'. The system will also assist contractors in diagnosing the causes of poor environmental performance to develop preventive measures. It is proposed that contractor who obtains a certain level of EPS is certified with a 'Green-Construction Award (GCA)'. The EPSS will provide a mechanism for determining the suitability of a contractor to receive a GCA. The GCA will be a simple indicator of accomplishment in environmental performance and the proposed calculation procedures for GCA are presented in this paper. This paper also establishes the primary indicators for measuring the contractor's environmental performance and identifies the important factors in construction activities that affect the environmental performance.