Meng, X and Brown, A (2018) Innovation in construction firms of different sizes: Drivers and strategies. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 25(9), pp. 1210-1225. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: The importance of innovation has been increasingly highlighted in construction as a large and complex industry sector that is more challenging than ever before. To bridge the knowledge gap about how firm size affects innovation in construction, the purpose of this paper is to explore firm-level innovation through an empirical investigation and compare innovation in construction firms of different sizes in terms of drivers and strategies. Design/methodology/approach: This research adopts a combination of a literature review, a group of qualitative interviews and a quantitative questionnaire survey. In this research, the questionnaire survey is the main instrument to collect empirical data. Main contractors, subcontractors and specialist contractors as well as suppliers of labor, material and equipment are used in this research to represent construction firms of different sizes. On the other hand, client organizations, design firms and management consultants are not included in this research. Findings: This research provides clear evidence for the embrace of innovation in construction. Many forces can drive construction firms to innovate and many strategies can be applied to construction innovation. Innovation drivers can be either internal or external. On the other hand, innovation strategies fall into four categories: technology, resource, marketing and management. For innovation drivers and strategies, both commonalities and differences can be found among construction firms of different sizes. Originality/value: The finding of commonalities describes the general trend of innovation development in construction. It also encourages all construction firms to innovate regardless of firm size. On the other hand, the finding of differences enables construction firms of different sizes to realize what forces better drive their innovation and what strategies are more appropriate for their innovation. A thorough understanding of innovation drivers and strategies offers an important framework for construction organizations and practitioners to pursue best practice.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction; innovation; strategic management |
| Index terms: | main contractor, construction organization, design firm, innovation strategy, best practice, investigation, marketing, literature review, strategy, construction firm, client organization, survey, interview, innovation development, industry sector, construction innovation, subcontractor, specialist contractor, strategic management, methodology, evidence, questionnaire, practitioner |
| Subjects: | data analysis and analytics, practitioner, innovation studies, organization, client relations, business, evaluation and assessment methods, data collection methods, industry analysis, building construction, research methods, management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions |
| 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