Connaughton, J N (1993) Making and implementing industrial building investment decisions. PhD thesis, University of Greenwich, UK.
Abstract
This thesis aims to increase current understanding of the ways in which large firms make and implement industrial building investment decisions. The study reported involved an investigation, from the corporate perspective, of the decision and implementation stages of capital investment projects in two large UK firms. The orientation of the study is towards a consideration of investment decision making and implementation as a problem for management involving a process of resource allocation occurring over time and throughout the corporate organisation. Drawing on research in the business administration area of social science, the process model of resource allocation by Bower (1970) is used as a conceptual framework and to suggest propositions for study which direct attention at key features of the process. By viewing corporate capital investment decision making and implementation within this framework - and as part of an in-depth, case-based, exploratory research strategy - rather than in terms of its financial or economic consequences, the study reaches an understanding of the ways in which both firms studied actually made and implemented their capital investment decisions. The analysis utilised the study propositions to explore the resource allocation process and yields important observations on the role of the construction industry in the investment decision process and of the role of the corporate client in the construction process. The central finding is that the implementation of corporate capital investment, seen from the firm's perspective, is more a continuation of the process of capital investment than an end result of it. The study suggests that the construction industry participates rather more in the investment decision process, and the corporate client participates rather more in the construction process, than is generally recognised in the literatures on corporate capital investment and construction management.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Raftery, J; Bishop, D and Sherratt, A |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | social science, business administration, capital investment, decision making, investment, UK |
| Index terms: | implementation, business administration, construction industry, investment decision, social science, exploratory research, investigation, investment decision-making, building investment, resource allocation, conceptual framework, construction process, decision-making, strategy, drawing, capital investment |
| Subjects: | research methods, management, theoretical framing, cognitive psychology, building construction, decision analysis, asset management, industry analysis, business, data collection methods, technical documentation, economic analysis, resource management, contractual arrangements |
| Topics: | Site Management, Design Practice, Procurement, Risk Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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