Thuesen, C; Koch-Ørvad, N and Maslesa, E (2016) Organising sustainable transition: Understanding the product, project and service domain of the built environment. In: Chan, P W and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 32nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2016, Manchester, UK.
Abstract
This article presents a framework for understanding and facilitating sustainable development in the build environment. The framework was developed through a 4 year innovation project based on theories on sectorial and business model innovation and 10 detailed case studies of different types of companies. The framework interprets the construction industry as a collection of "at least" three generic domains with widely different markets, companies, business models and regulation. All domains are central in the realization and operation of the build environment. The three domains are the project, product and service-oriented domain. The project-oriented domain is the most prevalent and visible in construction today, as this is where buildings are realized. Here the production form is based on project organizing and substantiated by business models with low fixed and high variable costs. The product-oriented domain represents all the materials and products that go into the building – represented by the construction materials industry. Here the vast majority of products are produced through mass production in manufacturing environments with high fixed costs. The service-oriented domain contains all of the organizations and companies that provide services to the build products. It may be cleaning, maintenance and general Facilities Management but also includes companies that provide energy, water, sewage and garbage collection. The challenge is that these domains are interdependent, but largely live their own lives with internal development agendas. The domains are not stable, but are subject to a more or less consciously coordinated development. This is found in energy companies' increasing interest in energy refurbishment in the project-oriented domain due to their commitments to CO2 reduction. The ambition of the framework is to understand these dynamics within and between domains, as they are believed to be essential for a sustainable development of the build environment.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | sustainability; sectorial innovation; business models |
| Index terms: | garbage, sustainable development, energy refurbishment, commitment, case study, CO2 emissions, cleaning, facilities management, markets, construction industry, built environment, business model, regulation, construction material, dynamics, sewage |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, political science, systems engineering, management, design practice, maintenance engineering, health safety and environment, psychology, building materials, economic analysis, data collection methods, business, waste management, climate science |
| Topics: | Governance, Sustainability, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Organizational Design, Design Practice, Urban Studies |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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