Wang, T; Tang, W; Qi, D; Shen, W and Huang, M (2016) Enhancing design management by partnering in delivery of international EPC projects: Evidence from Chinese construction companies. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 142(4): 04015099, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) approach has been increasingly adopted in competitive international markets, in which design management is critical to project performances. Existing studies have embraced a partnering strategy to integrate stakeholders' diverse expertise and need for better solutions to design. This study has quantitatively investigated the cause-effect relationships among partnering, design management, and project outcomes by developing and testing a conceptual model. With the support of data collected from Chinese construction companies as EPC contractors, this study reveals that contractors' design management should focus on four factors: planning and executing, resolving disputes, optimizing design, and promoting techniques. Path analysis confirms that partnering can not only significantly facilitate design management, thereby improving project outcomes, but also directly promote project performances and create long-term strategic benefits. Canonical correlation analysis further quantifies the different extents to which two groups of partnering critical success factors (CSFs) interact with four design management factors, together with their effects on five indicators of project outcomes. This research has important primary contributions to the body of knowledge by establishing interdisciplinary linkages among knowledge areas of partnering, design management and international project delivery, demonstrating the multiorganizational dynamics in delivering international EPC projects on a holistic view. Understanding the in-depth underlying causes to improve design management will be crucial for EPC contractors to optimally integrate all stakeholders' resources into designs by considering project lifecycle processes.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Chinese contractors; design management; engineering-procurement-construction; international project delivery; partnering; project performance; project planning and design |
| Index terms: | testing, path analysis, dynamics, project performance, international market, linkage, dispute, project lifecycle, correlation analysis, project outcome, partnering, international project, critical success factor, body of knowledge, project planning, design management, evidence, strategy, construction company |
| Subjects: | statistical analysis, systems engineering, partnership management, design process, project management theory and practice, development economics, management, knowledge management, professional practice, dispute resolution, control systems, project completion, organization, business, strategic management, evaluation and assessment methods |
| Topics: | Information Management, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Stakeholder Management, International Construction, Legal Issues, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
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