Seriki, O and Murphy, R (2019) Competitive strategies in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs): A cross-case analysis of Irish construction professional service firms. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 35th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2019, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
The aim of strategy formulation is to attain strategic fit between an organisation and its business environment in pursuit of competitive advantage. Although competitive strategy research is long established within industries such as manufacturing, financial services and IT, strategy within construction is still under-investigated by comparison. For construction professional service firms (CPSFs), the dearth of academic inquiry is even more apparent, partly due to the intangible and highly customised nature of their service offerings, and reliance on intellectual capital. Although the overwhelming majority of Irish CPSF's are small in size, there remains a paucity of evidence pertaining to the competitive strategies adopted by Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME's) within the construction sector. This study presents a cross-professional investigation of Quantity Surveyors (QS), consulting engineers and architects in Ireland. The aim of the study is to investigate the overall corporate objectives (corporate level strategy), the mechanism adopted in realising these corporate strategy (business level strategy) and the role and impact of leading strategist in the strategic decision-making process. Using a structured questionnaire, the study found that although CPSFs adopt varying corporate strategic objectives, the methods to reach the objectives display many similarities. The results of the survey also show a positive correlation between size and characteristics of the leading strategist across the specific professions under scrutiny. The contributions of the study are in two parts. First, it provides unique empirical evidence regarding the competitive strategies adopted by QS, Consultant Engineering and Architectural practices in Ireland. Secondly, the cross-profession comparison of CPSF's presented provides insight into the role of the leading strategist in the determination of future corporate direction. This is critically important in an industry in which collaboration between the professions under scrutiny is vital for the success of a construction project.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competitive strategy; construction professional service firms; corporate strategy; business strategy; cross-case analysis. |
| Index terms: | corporate strategy, competitive advantage, quantity surveying, survey, small and medium sized enterprise, business strategy, strategy, decision-making process, consulting engineer, investigation, questionnaire, cross-case analysis, evidence, architect, architectural practice, construction project, collaboration, profession, construction professional, Ireland, strategic fit, construction sector, competitive strategy |
| Subjects: | evaluation and assessment methods, data collection methods, profession, business, organization, institututions, data analysis and analytics, economic analysis, management, production management, Geography, professional development, market analysis, decision analysis, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Information Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Business Strategy, Governance, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Organizational Design |
| 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