Abstract
The analysis and understanding of the conduct and performance of an industry beginswith a study of its structure. However, before analysing an industry's structure it isnecessary to define the industry and identify its size, scope and scale to establish itstrue economic contribution. This paper discusses the size and scope of the Australianbuilding and construction industry, firstly, from a traditional industry economics approachby firm size and business characteristics using data from three construction industrysurveys done over 15 years by the ABS. Secondly, data from an industry 'cluster'perspective is shown. The objective of the paper is to compare the differences found inindustry size and scope in the structure-conduct-performance approach and thealternative industry cluster approach. Each model reveals different characteristics of theindustry. The conclusion finds that the building and construction industry is a casewhere the traditional structure-conduct-performance model cannot be easily applied.53
Highlights
The traditional structure-conductperformance approach to industry economics originated in the US in the 1930s with the work of Mason (1939) and Bain (1959)
This paper has presented data from two different perspectives on the size and scope of the Australian construction industry
The industry activity data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Construction Industry Survey data is in this form
Summary
The traditional structure-conductperformance approach to industry economics originated in the US in the 1930s with the work of Mason (1939) and Bain (1959). Some analysts see the construction industry as a manufacturing system, similar to the automotive industry This view underpins the recommendations in the Egan Report (1998) in the UK, which emphasises lean thinking in construction. This analogy argues the industry in Australia has a few very large key players whose task it is to 'assemble' constructed items, complete buildings or transport facilities for example. These key firms play the same role in both 'production' and innovation as the automotive assemblers, except that they do not have a fixed place of assembly. The objective of this paper is to review the current data available on industry size and scope and compare differences between the structure-conduct-performance approach and the alternative industry cluster approach
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