Cooperation Management on Construction Business Market in the Slovak Republic – an Insight from a Company

Abstract

Continuous research in the area of cooperation, its theory and practice, gradually moves us closer towards the applicability of cooperation management in specific environments. In the Slovak Republic one such environment is the construction business market, which is characterized by various cooperation networks. Statistics of the construction business indicate slow economic growth, which is in fact lower compared to the time period before 2007. The main challenge is to stay competitive in the environment where supply of construction services is considerably higher than the demand for such services. Companies that are competitive and have a strong cooperation basis are characterized by frequent activity, long-term interactions, high performance, and adherence to the supply & construction terms. In the discussion part of this article we focus in detail on a model of cooperation management for this specific environment. The main part of the model is a managing unit, which coordinates cooperation activities of the collaborating and competitive companies. Successful cooperation is one of the elementary activities of cooperation management suitable for strategic management of a group of companies. Competitive environment at this construction market can be generalized and the results of this study can be used for applying cooperation management in other industries and collaborative settings.