Understanding Construction Contractors and their Operations Strategies

Abstract

Abstract All firms have an operations strategy, but it is not always explicit. The operations strategies of construction firms are poorly described as they receive less attention than those of project management, although operations strategies (and operations management) are important actions and processes on the permanent firm level. Within many construction contractors, there is a gap between the tactical and operational levels which, for example, is resulting in business strategies being poorly executed on the project level. In this paper, the operations strategies of construction contractors are compared with those reported in business school literature in terms of the prioritisation of decision categories. The findings based on the semi-structured interviews with the tactical level managers inside the three construction contractors clearly indicate that the priorities when forming an operations strategy in construction differ from patterns commonly specified in business school literature. It is initially recommended that construction contractors should plan their operations strategies with a focus on organisation, quality, human resources and planning.