Soetanto, R and Pan, W (2009) Strategic planning of UK housebuilders: Case study of a major property developer. In: Dainty, A R J (ed.) Proceedings of 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009, Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
Current global economic crisis has presented the UK housebuilding industry with unprecedented period of volatility and uncertainty. In light of this, the development of strategic plans is becoming more critical for ensuring future competitiveness. Evidence from early literature suggests that firms in the development sector have not put sufficient emphasis on this management function. Further, there is little information on the manner by which housebuilders formulate their strategic plans, let al.one how the actors participate in the process of strategising. The research intends to contribute to this important but little understood area by presenting case study of a leading UK housebuilder, and a proposed activity framework, with a view to obtain a greater understanding of the strategic process within the organisation. Contrary to the popular belief, the finding provides evidence that longer-term thinking underpinned by sound and defendable business principles which are mobilised within organisation, does contribute to successful business in volatile and competitive environment of construction sector. Further, their longer-term thinking might have been responsible for their survival in the current difficult economic time. However, there is little evidence of any attempt to further utilise potential knowledge and creativity of staff. Further research should look at possible barriers to staff participation as professed by the activity framework.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competitiveness; corporate strategy; housing; property development |
| Index terms: | creativity, becoming, corporate strategy, case study, housebuilder, staff participation, strategic planning, evidence, competitiveness, construction sector, property development, housing, housebuilding, survival |
| Subjects: | market analysis, leadership, philosophical process, industry analysis, innovation and creative processes, economic development, management, construction integration, environmental science, data collection methods, evaluation and assessment methods, construction type, business, practitioner |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Design Practice, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Governance, Construction Technology, Business Strategy, Research Practice |
| 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