Abdul-Aziz, A R (1995) Examination of the eclectic paradigm as applied to international contracting ? With emphasis on the internalization dimension. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 2(2), pp. 105-120. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Seymour's application of the eclectic paradigm to the international construction industry is examined. As with other theories on multinational enterprise, the paradigm was conceived by Dunning to explain the phenomenon of foreign direct investment in the manufacturing sector. In retaining it to explain international involvement of construction companies, certain conventional economic reasoning was modified. It is the contention of this paper that Seymour's conceptualization is incongruent with the peculiarities of international contracting. Neither does it reflect the extensive debate on the suitability of well-grounded economic thoughts to international services. In the course of preparing this paper, it was found that a few government and international agencies have had to confront the difficulties of applying the existing theoretical framework to the services sector. Refinements are proposed here to make Seymour's theoretical construct more robust as a tool for future research, simply by referring to direct observations and materials which were at his disposal.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | eclectic paradigm; foreign direct investment; internalization theory; international construction industry; non-equity foreign involvement; trade |
| Index terms: | suitability, foreign direct investment, dimension, non-equity foreign involvement, paradigm, internalization theory, construction company, reasoning, eclectic paradigm, agency, direct observation, international construction industry |
| Subjects: | strategic management, economic theory, design criteria, cognitive psychology, economic analysis, sociology, data collection methods, health monitoring assessment and metrics, education and knowledge transfer, organization |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Health and Safety, International Construction, Design Practice, Business Strategy |
| 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