Chinese Construction Industry Research Articles

Exploring the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China, and to provide useful suggestions and possible implications for decision‐makers to adopt this collaborative approach to project procurement.Design/methodology/approachDocument analysis was first employed to identify the favourable conditions and potential difficulties in the application of partnering in Mainland China. A series of face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews targeting academic experts and industrial practitioners was undertaken to solicit their perceptions of the benefits and difficulties of implementing partnering in Mainland China, coupled with their overall assessment of the applicability of, and suggestions for, the implementation of partnering in the region.FindingsThe results of document analysis indicated that the cultural roots of co‐operation and mutual trust, together with the increasing need to improve the current state of project performance in Mainland China, underpin the application of partnering in the construction market, although its application and generalisation still encounter some significant difficulties. The perceived benefits, potential barriers and effective strategies for partnering application in Mainland China were determined from the interviewees. The interview results further supported the applicability of construction partnering and provided constructive and practical suggestions for possible implementation in the Mainland Chinese construction industry. The partnering approach is evaluated as being practicable and appropriate in this study for the construction industry in Mainland China.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough it is essential to base the analysis of partnering applicability on a qualitative study, an empirical quantitative investigation of the benefits and difficulties of partnering application could further reinforce the quality of analysis. Future research could look into the project‐based assessment of partnering application in terms of the perceived benefits and potential difficulties of, and success factors for, partnering implementation in Mainland China.Practical implicationsPolicy‐makers aiming for the introduction of the partnering approach could be equipped with stronger confidence from favourable cultural environment and industrial needs. Restrictions to the application of partnering underlying in the current working culture could be mitigated when appropriate strategies are taken by the initiators of the partnering approach.Originality/valueIncreased worldwide attention on construction partnering has shed light on the construction industry in Mainland China to achieve better value for money in project procurement and management. This paper provides valuable reference for decision‐makers to consider the adoption of partnering based on the qualitative analysis of the applicability of partnering in the construction industry in Mainland China.

A Comparative Analysis of the Safety Awareness of Korean and Chinese Construction Workers

Accompanied by Chinese strong economic growth rates and development of demand for the construction industry, Chinese construction industry has already become one of the largest construction markets in the world. Unfortunately, the frequent occurrence of safety incidents on Chinese construction sites is a large obstacle for other countries construction companies seeking to enter the Chinese construction market. This study aims to analyze and compare the safety awareness of Chinese and Korean construction workers. Our research showed that the safety awareness of Korean construction workers is far higher than that of their Chinese counterparts, particularly in terms of the efficiency of safety education and the observance of safety rules. The development of a safety management plan based on these results will contribute to reducing the frequency of accidents on Chinese construction sites.

Development of the Chinese Construction Industry after the Cultural Revolution: Administration Framework, Economic Growth, and Market Structure

AbstractThis paper presents the results of an investigation on the development of the Chinese construction industry after the Cultural Revolution in terms of administration framework, economic growth, and market structure, with the consideration of Chinese currency inflation. The development was divided into three stages based on Chinese government policy changes on the construction industry. In each stage, the reform of administration framework was reviewed, and the market size and market structure in both the domestic and the international markets were analyzed. Value added and gross output value of domestic market, the number of contracts, contracting value, total turnover, and turnover in the market share of Chinese construction firms were used to describe the development in various regions and to illustrate the growth of Chinese construction firms in the international market. The results of this study provide valuable knowledge to practitioners, scholars, and educators who are interested in exploring...

Utilizing the linkage between domestic demand and the ability to export to achieve sustainable growth of construction industry in developing countries

Many international trade theories are constructed on the assumption that domestic demand favors the growth of an export industry. Nevertheless, previous studies have ascribed the linkage between domestic demand and the ability to export to an internal tension in developing countries' construction industries. Sustainable growth of a construction industry necessitates utilizing the linkage in appropriate ways rather than worsening the intension. Drawn on an extensive literature review, this study raises three hypotheses about the linkage and tested the hypotheses empirically with reference to China's local construction sectors. Using a panel data approach, the study finds that the linkage is positive, the effect of the linkage unfolds gradually within a period of time, and the Chinese construction industry can therefore continue with outward development to secure sustainable growth. The research findings provide new insights into how to utilize the linkage to guarantee the sustainable growth of construction industries in developing countries.

A preliminary exploration on transformative social work model in China: a case study on social work with migrant construction workers

Migrant workers in the Chinese construction industry have been described as ‘indenture labourers of the twenty-first Century’. Under the guise of flexible work and high salary, there exist serious problems such as lack of an employment contract, poor working conditions, and the delay of payment. The origin of these problems lies in the subcontracting production regime of the construction industry that masks its labour relationships. The system also makes the intervention of industrial social work, labour rights protection and advocacy of corporate social responsibility ineffective. Based on a case of a migrant construction worker service organization, this study provides preliminary explorations on an indigenous model called ‘transformative social work’ in China. This model includes long-term education to raise civil and class consciousness, encouraging workers to fight for their own rights, facilitating the development of workers' union, connecting the support from university student volunteers and university teachers, striving for the empowerment of migrant construction workers, and the transformation of the production regime.

Cost Management Method with Value Engineering

The use of value engineering in China has grown significantly in the last twenty years. With keen competition in construction market, the cost control is the key measure to increase the economic benefits in the company and enhance the core competency of enterprises. This paper makes a holistic appraisal of value engineering as used in Chinese construction industry by investigating current theory and practice. It evaluates value engineering projects. This research suggests a methodology for the cost control process in construction enterprise, aiming at the correct systematic approach of Value Engineering and target-costing in cost management. The value engineering and target-costing are complementary processes. This proposed approach was validated in a case study, aiming at improved product cost, functionality and quality accomplishment, in accordance with customer needs and the company strategy.

Emergy analysis of the recycling options for construction and demolition waste

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is becoming a major contributor to environmental pollution. In Shanghai, China, the quantity of C&D waste is 2.11E+07 t/yr, which accounts for 45% of the total quantity of solid waste. There has been a growing promotion of recycling C&D waste as an effective way to solve this waste problem. However, the evaluation of the efficiency of recycling C&D waste as a potential source of resources is largely based on traditional economic analysis. The economic analysis emphasizes money instead of the harmony between economic benefit and environmental effects. There is a need for a new strategic approach to investigate the efficiency of recycling C&D waste to achieve the integration between economic, social and environmental effects. Emergy theory can be employed to analyze different recycling options for C&D waste. With reference to the Chinese construction industry, this paper demonstrates that the close-loop recycling option is better than the open-loop recycling option for C&D waste in terms of the integration of social, environmental and sustainable aspects. To evaluate different technology solutions for C&D waste recycling, the emergy theory and method is not limited to a cost-benefit balance but can include economic, social, environmental and sustainable effects.

Research on the Application of Low Carbon Concept in the Design of Vernacular Architectures

This paper starts from the concept of low-carbon building, aiming at the high carbon dioxide emissions in Chinese construction industry; by way of surveys and researches, it discusses the scientificity of the shape, the construction materials, and construction mode of traditional vernacular architecture. Combining current advanced technology of low carbon emissions, this paper studies the main methods for villages and towns to start low carbon architectural design in the future.

Empirical Analysis on the Construction Workers’ Contribution to Chinese Construction Industry Economic Growth and Sharing of Ecnomic Gain

This paper utilizes the production function model as analysis model, selects gross product of construction industry of China as output (Q), the sum of fixed assets and current assets of construction industry of China as capital input (K), and the numbers of construction workers of China as labor input (L). The comparable prices of ‘Q’ and ‘K’ from 1993-2009 are calculated by using the deflator index of gross domestic product and the price indices of investment in fixed assets, and the base year is 1991. The result of regression analysis shows the labor elasticity factor is 0.42 by using the software of ‘EVIEWS’, then the contribution rate of construction workers is calculated as 33.2%, and the sharing rate of construction economic gain is 15.69%. Comparing with the contribution of the construction workers, their sharing is less. This paper also finds the construction industry of China is the period of decreasing return to scale, this demonstrates the management level of construction industry shall be improved.

Concentration Effect on Construction Firms: Tests of Resource Partitioning Theory in Jiangsu Province (China) from 1989 to 2007

Along with the economic acceleration and the consequent flourishing of urban infrastructure and real estate, there has been a tremendous development within the Chinese construction industry. However, the industry continues to suffer from excessive competition and low profit margins. Based on the resource partitioning process of organizational ecology theory, which predicts how market concentration relates to the survival of specialist and generalist organizations, this study analyzes the structure and the structural effect of the Jiangsu construction industry. Using the event history analysis method and data of all companies known to have operated during the period 1989–2007, the survival of both large and small construction companies within this low but increasing concentration industry has been investigated. It is concluded that the increasing concentration of the Jiangsu construction industry has a negative effect on the survival of construction companies. Nevertheless, no resource partitioning process...

An Empirical Study of Regional Differences of Chinese Construction Industry

This paper aimed to research the regional characteristic on Chinese construction industry. Depend on Factor Analysis, three factors were extracted from The index of Chinese Construction .Then the factors were explained that it can describe Chinese construction industry .Using these factors, the region scores were calculated. As those scores, the regional differences were dissected.

Exploring Stressors of Hong Kong Expatriate Construction Professionals in Mainland China: Focus Group Study

Following the recent economic boom in Mainland China (ML), the Chinese construction industry has undergone continuous expansion. As a result, many construction companies in Hong Kong (HK) have expanded their business into ML. Necessary strategic changes in the direction of company business have led to an increasing number of HK expatriate construction professionals working in ML (HKE-CP-M). Due to the dynamic nature of the construction industry, it has long been recognized that HK construction professionals (HK-CPs) are a highly stressed group. Conducting work in an unfamiliar environment can cause HKE-CP-Ms stress. Hence, this study aims to explore and identify the various types of expatriate stressors that cause HKE-CP-Ms stress. To achieve this aim, six standardized focus groups were held: four expatriate groups comprised of HKE-CP-Ms working in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Macau, respectively; a repatriated HK-CP group; and a HK-CP group with no expatriate work experience. The expatriate stressor...

Human Health Safety Risk Assessment of Chinese Construction Industry

In this paper, the characteristics of health safety risk and key issues of health safety management of construction industry in China have been analyzed first. Then, to make construction safety management and supervision available, health safety risk assessment model of construction industry is mainly converted into how to get the controlling indicator and health safety risk classification. Because of the dynamic nature of construction health safety development and the specificity of sample data, an intelligent assessment model based on support vector machines is presented to improve the assessment process. The proposed model takes advantage of SVMs abilities to solve the problem with small samples and nonlinear regression. Furthermore, the proposed approach is shown more accurate for prediction in the case of real-word application.

Rational Scale Control Model for Construction Workers Based on Hybrid Intelligent Techniques

Chinese construction industry, a vital part of Chinese economy, is meaningful to absorb a large number of human resources. But with the rapid development of gross product of construction industry, labor productivity dose not increased considering construction worker as input resource. For the effective implementation of human resource policies, in this paper, based on the factor analysis theory and intelligent technology, a hybrid model of PCA and Least Squares Support Vector Machines are combined to predict the rational scale of construction workers. Relative data is collected from National Bureau of Statistics of China. Data analysis shows the proposed models, especially based on LS-SVMs, have more steady performance and higher accuracy.

Density dependence in the Chinese construction industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the density dependence theory and explain the deep changes that the Chinese construction industry is experiencing. Focusing on both organizational level and industry level, it aims to identify the factors and to show how these factors affect the mortality of the Chinese construction companies.Design/methodology/approachThe Jiangsu construction industry is chosen as a proxy of the Chinese market. With the event history analysis method and life history data on all companies known to have operated during the period 1989‐2007 in Jiangsu, an expanded Cox model is established to achieve the purpose.FindingsThe construction industry level evolution plays an important role on exit rate of construction companies; however, this effect does not conform with density dependence as expected, and it interacts with organizational age. Besides, age and size of organizational level, and macro environment also act on mortality.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to the difficulty in data acquisition, only 19 years of the Jiangsu construction industry have been reported here, which may not provide the whole picture of the evolution process. Furthermore, the different ending events, such as disbanding and merge, have not been identified, which may affect the results to some extent.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a new perspective to analyze the evolution of the Chinese construction industry and the mortality of construction companies.Originality/valueThis is the first article that applies the density dependence theory to analyze the evolution process of the construction industry. It is also the first attempt to analyze the interaction of density, macro factors and organizational age, which is a contribution to the organizational ecology theory and the study of construction industry development.

Analysis of project delivery systems in Chinese construction industry with data envelopment analysis (DEA)

PurposeSelecting a proper project delivery system is one of the critical issues for the success of a project. This paper discusses the application of project delivery systems in China and the existing project delivery system selection methods, analyzes project objectives and indicators influencing the selection of project delivery systems, and aims at finding an appropriate method to select project delivery systems.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted by postal questionnaire and Multivariate Statistical Analysis was applied to analyze the project data. A robust model was developed to analyze the selection of project delivery systems.FindingsThe results of survey and analysis show that design‐bid‐build (DBB)/project management (DBB+PM), design‐build (DB)/engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)/Turnkey, multi‐stage DB/EPC and EP+C are commonly used in China. The differences between DBB and DBB+PM, and differences between DB/EPC and Turnkey in China are not significant. Weights of project objectives in each project delivery system and the ranking of indicators influencing the selection of project delivery systems are acquired.Originality/valueAnalysis was conducted with a robust model instead of traditional model in consideration of efficiency. This research may assist owners in Mainland China in selecting project delivery systems, improve project performance, and encourage efficiency in project delivery process.

A modern contract: developments in the UK and China

The form of contract plays a significant role in the governance of relationships between parties. Recent research in project procurement emphasises relationships and cultural/behavioural issues. Such relationships operate within a formal (contractual) framework as well as an informal (interpersonal/social) framework since no contract is entirely transactional or entirely relational in nature. Sir Michael Latham suggested a cultural/behavioural change is required in the construction industry such that project participants should embrace a ‘modern contract’. This paper examines the 13 Latham requirements of a modern contract in the latest edition of the NEC. The requirements are categorised, under what are labelled here as pillars of a modern contract, namely ‘fairness’, ‘roles and functions of project participants’, and ‘payment operating mechanisms’. Developments in contracting practices in the Chinese construction industry, with a cultural tradition grounded in Confucian values of cooperation and sharing, are then examined and juxtaposed against the UK construction industry’s movement towards a modern contract rooted in relational contracting. The developments show that China has nurtured a change towards the more formal, contractual, system of rights and obligations in their ‘modernisation’ of construction procurement in sharp contrast to the UK movement towards greater collaboration and cooperation.

Key Assessment Indicators for the Sustainability of Infrastructure Projects

Infrastructure projects have major effects on implementing the principles of sustainable development. Infrastructure projects will continue to be developed in the coming years, particularly in developing countries such as China and India; therefore, it is important to find methods and solutions for improving the sustainability of them. Although existing studies have suggested various methods for practicing sustainable development principles in the process of implementing infrastructure projects, effective assessment indicators are unavailable, which presents a barrier to the effective assessment of infrastructure project sustainability. This study introduces key assessment indicators (KAIs) for assessing the sustainability performance of an infrastructure project. The research data used for analysis were collected from a questionnaire survey given to three groups of experts, including government officials, professionals, and clients in the Chinese construction industry. The fuzzy set theory was used to establish KAIs. A procedure for using the KAIs is demonstrated by a case study. These research findings provide an alternative solution to appraise the sustainability of infrastructure projects.

Toward an institutional ecology of establishment of foreign firms in the Chinese construction industry

In the current study, an integration of insights from institutional theory and organization ecology is used to explain the relationship between industry-level ownership structure and the establishment of foreign invested firms in the Chinese construction industry. It is argued that in a stated-owned enterprises dominated environment, where the market forces are weak, legitimation is the major driving force harming the proliferation of foreign firms, whereas in a private-enterprise dominated environment, where the market forces are strong, competition is the major driving force inhibiting the viability of foreign firms. Thus, concentration of either state ownership, implying lower legitimation of the foreign firm form, or concentration of private ownership, triggering tough competition from domestic private firms, is hypothesized to have a negative impact on the number of foreign firms. Using a regional data set from 1994 to 2007, estimation of a cross-section–time series model largely confirms our theoretical claims.

Work–family conflicts experienced by project managers in the Chinese construction industry

Project managers in the construction industry, play an important role in achieving project objectives. Construction involves a demanding work environment with considerable potential to interfere with their family life in the way of time, strain and behavior. It is therefore important to understand the relationship between work and family life of construction project managers. The purpose of the study is to find out whether the respondents experienced all forms of work-to-family conflict greater than in the direction from family-to-work conflict. Using a validated multi-item construct-based questionnaire, a survey was carried out on a sample of construction project managers in China. The findings showed that Chinese project managers experienced different time-based and strain-based conflicts between the work interference with family conflict (WIFC) direction and the family interference with work conflict (FIWC) direction, but the same behavior-based conflict between the WIFC direction and the FIWC direction.