Modelling competition intensity in construction market

Construction market worldwide is characterised by intense competition, wherein contractors' business environments are fraught with uncertainties, and challenges on contractors' viability have been becoming more serious as well. Market competition environment is a key variable determining firms' competition strategy and a major cornerstone influencing the formulation and administration of industry policies. Hence, proper analysis on the competition environment in construction market deserves close attention from both contractors and governments. The key to market competition analysis is the measurement of competition intensity. Although competition is everlasting and all-pervading in socio-economic community, it is particularly difficult to measure the competition intensity in the construction sector due to the peculiarities of the industry. Notwithstanding many existing measures for competition intensity, the research gap of how to measure effectively the competition intensity in construction market remains unexplored. This study therefore aims to develop a new model of competition intensity to promote the effectiveness of the measurement in construction market. The integrative application of multiple research methods including literature review, professional interview, pilot study, questionnaire survey, statistical analysis, and mathematic model analysis results in the development of "Causal-Sequential Coordinate System" (CSCS). CSCS incorporates the competition intensity variables including business diversity, market entry barriers, market growth, market size, market share distribution, profitability, and average wage. All the variables have been quantified using statistical data under causal and sequential dimensions of the model CSCS. As demonstrated by using the data gathered from the Chinese mainland construction market, the model CSCS presents a more dynamic notion of competition intensity in construction industry. Furthermore, CSCS model can assist in identifying the competition feature of construction market. The application results of CSCS support the research findings typically including that the local construction markets in China's developed regions have higher levels of competition intensity than those in the less developed areas. This study contributes to the development of knowledge of competition intensity in the discipline of construction management and economics. The limitations of the study are appreciated, including the limited sources of the data collected only from China's construction market. Future research is recommended to study the application of the CSCS model in other construction markets.