Tan, Y; Shen, L and Langston, C (2012) Competition environment, strategy, and performance in the Hong Kong construction industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 138(3), pp. 352-360. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Given a changing competition environment, strategic management has become of essential importance to construction firms. Effective strategy enables construction firms to match their activities to the changing environment and achieve superior performance in competition. Therefore, there is a need for studying contractors' competitive strategies. This paper does that in relation to the Hong Kong construction industry. The impact of competition environment on contractor performance, and the relationship between competitive strategy and performance are examined by a questionnaire survey. The findings show that competition environment has a great impact on contractor performance, and four generic competitive strategies have been applied by contractors. Contractors can indeed be classified into four groups according to their different strategic orientations: prospectors, analyzers, defenders, and reactors. As a result, the strategies that contractors should pursue in the local construction industry can be identified with confidence.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competition; competition environment; competitive strategy; contractor; contractors; Hong Kong; performance; resource management; resources and capability |
| Index terms: | contractor performance, Hong Kong, resource management, construction industry, construction firm, survey, strategy, competitive strategy, questionnaire, competition, strategic management |
| Subjects: | organization, data collection methods, control systems, economic analysis, management, contract management, Geography, market analysis, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Business Strategy, Contract Administration |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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