Whang, S W and Flanagan, R (2024) Understanding the competitiveness factors of Korean contractors in the international construction market. International Journal of Construction Management, 24(9), pp. 911-920. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
The international construction markets (ICM) are constantly changing with new pressures creating opportunities and threats., Enterprises from advanced major advanced economies have been successful in venturing overseas and winning projects by exploiting their design, engineering, technological, and managerial competencies. Construction markets have changed with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Turkish construction enterprises securing more projects overseas. Understanding and exploiting the competitive advantage possessed by enterprises from major advanced economies is being challenged by enterprises from newly industrialised economies. This study investigates the competitiveness factors of the Korean construction (KOC) enterprises to understand how they have been successful in exploiting their competitive advantages. The competitiveness evaluation model (CEM) is developed using system dynamics which compares the project performances between the models generated by general and Korea-featured competitiveness factors in winning work in the ICM. The findings reveal that ownership of the enterprise, government strategy and support for the construction industry enterprises, strong leadership, technology-intensive, and special characteristics of large Korean enterprises (Chaebol system) could be critical factors for creating competitive advantage.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competitiveness evaluation model; contractor competitiveness; international construction; system dynamics |
| Index terms: | strategy, system dynamics, competitive advantage, critical factor, ownership, competitiveness, project performance, international construction, construction industry, markets, construction market |
| Subjects: | market analysis, industry analysis, economics, management, project management theory and practice, economic analysis, strategic management, risk assessment, computing systems |
| Topics: | Project Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Risk Management, International Construction, Digital Applications, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 CT |
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