Eriksson, P E (2008) Procurement effects on coopetition in client-contractor relationships. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 134(2), pp. 103-111. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Client-contractor relationships are often criticized for being competitive and adversarial, rather than cooperative. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how construction clients' procurement procedures affect the balance between cooperation and competition (i.e., coopetition) in client-contractor relationships. The empirical results, based on a survey to 87 Swedish construction clients, show that clients' procurement procedures facilitate a focus on competition. It was also found that clients' earlier experience of a certain procedure heavily affects their procurement choices, thereby preserving old behaviors. Although two-thirds of the clients wish to increase cooperation with contractors, this does not affect their procurement decisions. This study therefore concludes that the theoretical framework, based on transaction cost economics, is correct in prescribing more cooperation than is empirically observed in the construction sector. The theoretical framework can increase clients' awareness of how procurement affects cooperation and competition, thereby serving as a basis for more unbiased and systematic procurement decisions, facilitating cooperation-based coopetition.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | client relationships; competition; contractors; partnerships; procurement |
| Index terms: | procurement decision, procurement choice, partnership, construction client, competition, cooperation, construction sector, transaction cost, survey |
| Subjects: | practitioner, data collection methods, contractual arrangements, psychology, procurement strategy, industry analysis, financial analysis, partnership management, market analysis |
| Topics: | Procurement, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Cost Management, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here