Sommerville, J and McCarney, M (2003) Cross-border holdings in the UK construction industry: The influence on micro-enterprises and entrepreneurs. In: Greenwood, D J (ed.) Proceedings of 19th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2003, Brighton, UK.
Abstract
The UK construction industry relies on micro-enterprises to deliver project objectives. These micro-enterprises contain less than ten souls and operate within a paradigm that is shaped by the large enterprises. This paper describes the underlying structural format of the UK construction industry and the impact of cross-border holdings within large enterprises upon the micro’s. Discussion is given to the reliance placed upon micro enterprises to deliver objectives set by the large enterprises. Major projects delivered in today’s construction environment wittingly and unwittingly place a significant reliance upon a number of the micro-enterprises for overall project success. The UK construction industry harbours a dichotomy that hinders full implementation of a number of significant initiatives. The business objectives of micro-enterprises differ from those of the main/principal contractors and as a result of these differences, the initiatives driven by the main/principal contractor are at best diluted by the time it reaches the micro-enterprise, and at worst, totally negated.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | cross-border holdings; human resources; micro-enterprises; objectives |
| Index terms: | implementation, construction industry, human resource, paradigm, principal contractor, micro-enterprise, major project, harbour, project success |
| Subjects: | infrastructure and transport systems, industry analysis, project management theory and practice, education and knowledge transfer, management, strategic project management, contractual arrangements, business development, practitioner |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Procurement, Roles and Professions, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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