Hardie, M; Miller, G; Manley, K and McFallan, S (2006) Innovation performance and its impact on profitability among different sectors in the Australian construction industry. Construction Economics and Building, 6(1), pp. 1-11. ISSN 2204-9029
Abstract
The BRITE (Building Research Information Technology and Environment) project was established by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation to encourage innovation in the construction industry. While innovation is generally perceived to be broadly beneficial, there has been little formal study of its occurrence or impact in Australian construction or of the factors which foster an innovative atmosphere within an enterprise. In order to benchmark innovation performance, the BRITE project conducted a survey in 2004 into the nature, incidence and variety of technological and organisational innovations in various sectors of the industry. With some exceptions, the survey found that clients and consultants engaged in significantly higher levels of innovation than did suppliers, main contractors or trade contractors. Within the industry sectors those organisations classified as high innovators favoured the adoption of advanced management practices and had formal evaluation systems in place to judge their progress. They reported significant positive impacts on their profitability from innovation and can therefore provide instructive examples for the rest of the industry to follow.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction innovation; innovation performance; profitability effect; innovation blockers; industry sectors |
| Index terms: | building research, management practice, main contractor, research centre, innovation blocker, industry sector, innovation performance, profitability, construction industry, organizational innovation, construction innovation, survey, information technology, trade contractor |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, economic analysis, building construction, research management, innovation studies, practitioner, computing systems, management, data collection methods, performance measurement, construction type, business |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Business Strategy, Construction Technology, Roles and Professions, Quality Management, Digital Applications, 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