Fernandes, D S and Joseph, G (2020) Organisational strategies for competitive advantage in the construction industry: Chinese dominance in southern Africa. Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, 25(2), pp. 1-38. ISSN 1823-6499
Abstract
Chinese enterprises are presently dominating various sectors of businesses abroad, offering a wide range of low to high-end quality products and services. The construction sector in Africa is now being dominated by Chinese multinational contractor companies, who find in Africa their next preferable market to grow. The available literature on the field has serious gaps in explaining which organisational strategies increase the competitive advantage and the market dominance of Chinese multinational contractors, especially in the Southern African region. This research aims to uncover the organisational strategies, implemented by Chinese multinational contractors operating in the Southern African region, who have paved the way and consolidated their success in the region. Through a mixed methods process, qualitative and quantitative data are obtained. The construction markets of the Southern African region are analysed (environmental analysis) and the main multinational Chinese contractors are identified, through a literature review and organisational analysis. Several organisational strategies are shortlisted and, finally, through an online questionnaire, the opinions of the participants to rank the organisational strategies previously identified in terms of contribution to the actual success, copying capability, etc., are carried out. The findings revealed that the capability to offer a lower price for construction services, the easy access to loans and funds from the organisation's home government and the capability to trade debt for local resources, such as wood, land and minerals are the organisational strategies that mostly contributed to the recent Chinese contractor dominance in the Southern African construction market.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Chinese multinational contractor company; competitive advantage; construction industry; environmental analysis; market dominance; organisational strategy |
| Index terms: | environmental analysis, competitive advantage, Africa, multinational contractor, mixed method, wood, organizational analysis, construction industry, land, construction market, organizational strategy, market dominance, strategy, literature review, questionnaire, construction sector |
| Subjects: | traditional and composite building materials, management, market analysis, industry analysis, business, data collection methods, strategic management, environmental impact, real estate economics, regions and continents, data analysis and analytics |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, International Construction, Urban Studies, Sustainability, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Construction Materials, Business Strategy |
| 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