Emuze F, S T S W (2013) Perceived impact of the market on the business of regional contractors: A South African context. In: Smith, S D and Ahiaga-Dagbui, D D (eds.) Proceedings of 29th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2013, Reading, UK.
Abstract
The economic system is central to the wellbeing of all industrial sectors, especially the construction industry. During economic stability and growth, the construction industry has been observed to thrive in terms of full order books and high levels of profitability. However, in period of limited economic growth, increased competition for works that beget opportunism seems to be rampant in the industry. The principal subject area researched is the impact that economic cycles that leads to sluggish state of the economy has on the competitiveness of the business of regional contractors that are focussed on private sector projects. The methodological approach adopted for the discourse is quantitative in nature as a semi structured questionnaire was distributed among a purposive sample of general contractors (GCs) registered with the East Cape Master Builders Association (ECMBA). Selected findings suggest that in the area of strategic management and transaction cost theory, it would be valuable to assess the factors that would aid regional GCs in South Africa. In addition, there appears to be a need to foster governance structures and strategic thinking attributes that would enable GCs to weather the storm of low order books. The implication is that it is important for GCs to have the ability to deploy strategic management approaches that would ensure the longevity of their firms when outcomes are highly uncertain in the business environment as reputations are difficult to establish and the payoff from opportunism cannot be overlooked in such situations.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | economic cycle; transaction cost; South Africa |
| Index terms: | builder, private sector, stability, general contractor, governance, transaction cost, opportunism, weather, economic cycle, South Africa, economic growth, construction industry, questionnaire, competition, profitability, competitiveness, strategic management, well-being |
| Subjects: | financial analysis, industry analysis, market analysis, Geography, structural engineering, management, economic development, economic analysis, business management, practitioner, mental health and wellbeing, business, air quality, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Health and Safety, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Governance, Sustainability |
| 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