Fitch, T; Keki, I and Smyth, H (2010) Power and perceptions in business development: The case of a major contractor and design consultancies in civil engineering influencer and referral markets. In: Egbu, C (ed.) Proceedings of 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2010, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
Relationship marketing has become more prevalent in construction over recent years through both strategic intent and informal tactics. This research is part of a two-year programme examining the application of relationship marketing and management within a major contractor. The paper reports the findings on the relationships between the contractor and design consultancies. The findings are analysed according to four dimensions of power. The first dimension is the overall market power of contractors compared with consultants, especially where contractors have financial leverage and where consultants are subcontractors. The second dimension is power derived from the status accorded to professions and their disciples compared with contractors. The third dimension concerns the specific power consultants and contractors apply in transactions during project stages. The fourth dimension is the lack of awareness and power business development managers have in leveraging relationship value in relation to consultants and internally through systems to link with project management. These four dimensions are also analysed in terms of the perceptions key personnel hold that constrain relationship building between contractors and consultants. The findings arise from a combination of action research in the contractor organization and observation conducted through semi-structured interviews with the ten leading design consultancies in the contractor’s market and with their business development managers. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the findings in terms of relationship marketing theory, particularly drawing upon influencer and referral markets within the IMP six markets model, to assess constraints experienced in developing relationship marketing derived from perceptions and power.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | business development; customer; influencer market; market power; referral market; relationship marketing |
| Index terms: | consultancy, project management, subcontractor, business development, dimension, markets, referral, profession, programme, drawing, action research, contractor organization, personnel, interview, manager, relationship marketing |
| Subjects: | professional development, project management theory and practice, management, project controls, institututions, practitioner, data collection methods, business, organization, economic analysis, health monitoring assessment and metrics, technical documentation |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Project Management, Information Management, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Time Control, Organizational Design, Human Resources, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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