Abstract
The growing importance of international construction activity forces companies to find out what competitive advantages to provide and barriers to overcome to achieve success, considering the particular characteristics of their origin and destination countries. Seventy six articles regarding success in the international construction market in the period 2008–2017 are reviewed to identify the barriers and the competitive advantages that most affect the international success of contractors. The Chi-Square (χ²) statistical test is used to verify the influence of the origin and destination countries on these variables. The literature identifies the provision of trained human resources as the most important competitive advantage and cultural differences and political risks as the main barriers. The Chi-Square (χ²) test indicates a dependency relationship between the origin country and the competitive advantage “managerial ability” to achieve international success, and between the external barriers “link between countries”, “political environment” and “economic environment” with the target market. Results of this paper provide valuable information for any construction company seeking international success.
Highlights
The growth of the international construction market in the last decades (Zhao et al, 2017) has generated new opportunities for contractors (Lee et al, 2016)
In spite of the importance of the origin country and destination market in the international success of companies, the relationship between competitive advantages and the origin country and between barriers and the target market has not been addressed yet; a holistic approach is required to analyze the literature in an effort to deepen the characterization of the competitive advantages and barriers that determine the internationalization success of the contractors. This analysis will help companies to understand the process and to establish strategies that promote better results from their internationalization considering the origin country of the company and the country where this is to be implemented. To cover this knowledge gap, this paper focuses on the following research goals: (G1) to determine the competitive advantages that have the most influence on the international performance of the companies; (G2) to identify the barriers that pose the greatest threat to obtaining the international success of companies; (G3) to determine if there are relationships between competitive advantages and origin countries; and (G4) to detect if there are relationships between barriers and target markets
The second phase of the analysis aims to find out if there are relationships between the competitive advantages that most influence the international success of the companies and their origin country (G3) and determine if relationships exist between the main external barriers that companies must face abroad and the host countries they access (G4)
Summary
The growth of the international construction market in the last decades (Zhao et al, 2017) has generated new opportunities for contractors (Lee et al, 2016). This analysis will help companies to understand the process and to establish strategies that promote better results from their internationalization considering the origin country of the company and the country where this is to be implemented To cover this knowledge gap, this paper focuses on the following research goals: (G1) to determine the competitive advantages that have the most influence on the international performance of the companies; (G2) to identify the barriers that pose the greatest threat to obtaining the international success of companies; (G3) to determine if there are relationships between competitive advantages and origin countries; and (G4) to detect if there are relationships between barriers and target markets. Conclusions of the paper are described together with limitations, recommendations, and future lines of research
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