Impact of competitive strategies on achieving the sustainable development goals: Context of Ghanaian construction firms

Abstract

The Ghanaian construction industry is struggling to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in projects. This study seeks to evaluate competitive strategies adopted by construction firms; assess construction related elements within the SDGs and investigate impact of competitive strategies on achieving SDGs. Mean score ranking and one sample t-test were used to establish relative significance of the variables. Factor analysis clustered the competitive strategies into three components: Pricing and innovation strategies (PIS), Unique products and segmentation (UPS) and Innovative financing and packaging (IFP). Structural Equation Modelling was used to estimate the impact of competitive strategies on achieving the SDGs. The significant competitive strategies were pricing products lower than rivals; packaging same product in different ways to target different markets; and offering individual attention to customer needs. Furthermore, recycling and reusing greywater (under SDG 6); reduction of emissions and waste (under SDG 11) and promotion of sustainable technologies (under SDG 17) were the significant construction-related elements within SDGs. PIS and IFP had positive impact on achieving the SDGs in the construction industry while UPS had a negative impact. Study makes unique contribution to the Ghanaian construction industry through benchmarking the most significant competitive strategies and how these achieve SDGs.