de Lemos, T; Almeida, L; Betts, M and Eaton, D (2003) An examination on the sustainable competitive advantage of private finance initiative projects. Construction Innovation, 3(4), pp. 249-259. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a long-term concession of services used by the UK Government to capture private capital to fund public projects. This model is being increasingly applied in Portugal and the assessment of its competitive advantage is very important to Portugal. The empiric study undertaken both in Portugal and the UK has permitted some conclusions to be drawn already. PFI has developed the way the construction industry is managed, and has increased the competitive advantage of UK construction industry acting in the four vectors of competitive advantage: innovation, quality, efficiency and attention to the client. Innovation occurred through new designs that were more efficient and cost effective through the project's whole life cycle. There is the widespread use of management tools: whole life cycle costing, risk management and benchmarking. PFI also improved communication in the UK construction industry, forcing interaction and feedback from all stakeholders in a project.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | attention to the client; competitive advantage; construction companies; efficiency; innovation; PFI; quality; sustainable competitive advantage |
| Index terms: | private finance initiative, public project, benchmarking, construction company, risk management, construction industry, interaction, costing, whole life cycle, efficiency, competitive advantage, Portugal |
| Subjects: | behavioral psychology, industry analysis, market analysis, infrastructure engineering, Geography, performance management, accounting and finance, performance measurement, sustainability assessment, contractual arrangements, organization, risk assessment |
| Topics: | Procurement, Sustainability, Risk Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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