Motivating small construction companies to adopt new technology

Construction companies are increasingly being challenged to transfer and use new technology. However, little investigation has been undertaken on technology transfer from the perspective of the small construction company. A contribution to this underdeveloped area is based on results from an interview survey of seven small UK construction companies. The results stress that the technology which small construction companies tend to transfer more successfully is that which can contribute to the business in a quick, tangible fashion, and which can fit into existing organizational capabilities. Any technology that is too far removed from this 'comfort zone is seen to require too much investment and to contain too much risk, and thus tends to be intuitively and swiftly sifted out. This is in marked contrast to the relevant literature that depicts large companies operating in more complex networks, drawing upon them for new tacit and explicit technologies that support more long-term, formal technology strategies, and which often complement some form of specialized internal research and development capability. The implication for policy is that any technology transfer initiatives need to appreciate and actively manage the different motivations and capabilities of small and large construction companies to absorb and use new technology.