Jennings, M J and Betts, M (1996) Competitive strategy for quantity surveying practices: The importance of information technology. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 3(3), pp. 163-186. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Strategic planning in pursuit of competitive advantage has become a wide-spread modern business objective. The construction industry shows some evidence of strategic planning implementation; however such concepts are mainly adopted by large contracting companies that have the resources to identify and develop competitive weapons such as information systems/technology (IS/IT). For professional service firms in construction, the nature of the service, the form of client-customer relations and thus the style of competition are quite different from those followed by contractors. The relevance of competitive strategy and the competitive use of weapons such as IS/IT for professional service firms in construction has not, as yet, been quantifiably tested. Therefore this paper aims to address this imbalance in construction organization research by identifying the competitive strategies used by quantity surveyors based in the UK and assessing the support that IS/IT provides to the competitive strategies of members of this profession. A survey of quantity surveying practices questioned which competitive strategies are followed, how these strategies are implemented and the extent to which IS/IT is being used in each strategy's implementation. The results of this survey, in association with existing competitive strategy and IT literature, are used to derive a new model which proposes specific strategies that UK quantity surveyors can and are using to influence their competitive positioning.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competitive strategy; information technology; quantity surveying |
| Index terms: | professional service firm, quantity surveying, competitive advantage, construction organization, customer relation, implementation, construction industry, profession, strategic planning, strategy, survey, surveying, quantity surveying practice, information system, competitive strategy, information technology, competition, evidence |
| Subjects: | health monitoring assessment and metrics, economic analysis, contractual arrangements, participation process, organization, profession, evaluation and assessment methods, data collection methods, computing systems, institututions, market analysis, information systems, industry analysis, management |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Procurement, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, 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