Abstract
This article analyses motivations for innovation in construction using the service sector adaptation of the Sectoral System of Innovation (SSI) framework. Interviews and site visits were conducted with four Malaysian firms. Innovation in construction is similar to the service sector. There is evidence of technology-push, capability-push and demand-pull; capability push is the most important. Construction firms innovate to gain commercial opportunities, to solve project-related problems and to improve processes. By simplifying construction work, process innovation saves time and costs, increasing efficiency and productivity, and providing increased competitiveness. Innovation is also motivated by committed and passionate actors within construction firm.
Highlights
Construction faces intense competition for international job opportunities (Abdul-Aziz & Wong, 2010) with cross-national trade agreements and globalization providing developing countries with greater freedom of access to markets
We found evidence that construction firms, like firms in the service industry, innovate to solve problems or to seize a business opportunities in the market
Technical and business problems are seen as commercial opportunities or as a stimulus for improvement for internal practices and processes
Summary
Construction faces intense competition for international job opportunities (Abdul-Aziz & Wong, 2010) with cross-national trade agreements and globalization providing developing countries with greater freedom of access to markets. Increasing sophistication in societal demands and environmental pressures bring increased demand for safer, higher quality and sustainable construction, creating a further challenge for policy makers. Against this backdrop of challenges, the construction industry worldwide faces problems in safety, quality and delays (Oakland & Marosszeky, 2006), and a poor public image (Samuelsson, 2003). In the mid-2000s, lack of investment in research and development (R&D) was identified as the main cause of low innovation in construction in several countries, including the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore (Lim, 2006). Despite substantial investment and research, innovation remains rare in the construction sector. One explanation is that research on construction innovation has relied on theories and methods drawn from manufacturing, but because the construction industry is project-based and requires specific processes (Reichstein et al, 2005), this has hindered rather than aided efforts to understand innovation in construction (Koskela & Vrijhoef, 2001)
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