Contractor Firms Research Articles

Contractor practices for managing extended supply chain tiers

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine how contractor firms manage their relationships with extended supply chain tiers and investigate the range of ICT technologies used to facilitate such practices.Design/methodology/approach– An on-line questionnaire survey was conducted to gather information about supply chain management operations, supplier relationship management and the ICT technologies used by contractor firms to manage their extended supply chain tiers.Findings– The extended supply chain relationships of contractor firms are primarily composed of contractual, technical and financial entities, but findings suggest that the vision to consider extended supply chain firms when selecting suppliers are still myopic. Majority of ICT technologies are used between Tier 1 supply chain firms and there is an inconsistency in the number of technologies adopted with the extended supply chain tiers. Despite having a high involvement relationship with Tier 2 downstream firms, findings indicate a lack of use of ICT technologies to manage the organisational, personal and technological interactions with these firms.Research limitations/implications– On the basis of different relationship types this study develops an initial framework for management of supply chains that are facilitated by relevant ICT technologies.Originality/value– This paper provides insights into the management of extended supply chain firms by contractor firms from a relationship-centric perspective and develops an initial framework for relationship-centric supply chain management.

Capital project performance measurement and benchmarking in Singapore

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the implementation status of performance measurement and benchmarking in the Singapore construction industry and to provide some suggestions to increase the scale of implementation in these two areas.Design/methodology/approachA comprehensive literature review was first carried out, then a questionnaire was developed and 32 contractor firms participated in the survey.FindingsIt was found that contractor firms in Singapore do not practice performance measurement on a regular basis and there is no uniformity in calculation of performance metrics, leading to low usage of benchmarking.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations faced during this study was the low number of companies that responded. Another limitation is that the size of projects analyzed tended to be focused towards a relatively small and medium scale.Practical implicationsDevelopment of a standardized performance measurement and benchmarking system in Singapore is required. Also, common definitions are vital to enable uniform data collection and the meaningful comparison of performance.Originality/valueThis study will help the Singapore construction industry to remain competitive internationally and to continue to attract foreign investors for its capital projects.

The American Way: Private Military Contractors & US Law after 9/11

Although increased reliance on private military contractors began with U.S. involvement in the Kosovo conflict, the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq prompted an exponential growth in the private military industry, increasing not only the sheer size of the industry but the types of services as well. 'Inherently governmental functions' were being performed by private entities, but with little regulations in place for vetting, monitoring and holding accountable either the company or its personnel. This Report, as part of the National Reports Series in the Priv-War Project supported within the 7th Framework Programme by the European Commission DG Research, provides a comprehensive discussion of the use of private military and security contractors (PMSCs) by the United States since 9/11 and applicable U.S. law, regulations, and policies, with particular attention paid to the use of such firms in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Report describes the incorporation of contractors into the larger military presence and provides a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the use of contractors, specifically, the number of contractor personnel working overseas, the governmental agencies with which they are involved, the cost of contractor operations, and the various roles played by contractors. The Report also covers the entire universe of mechanisms that regulate, govern, and hold accountable the private contractor firms and their personnel, by examining the statutes and guidelines that provide for both the process of contracting with the U.S. government and the oversight of military contractors, as well as the criminal and civil legal regimes that attempt to hold PMSCs and their personnel accountable for misconduct or negligence in situations of armed conflict and post-armed conflict.

Strategic Planning Practices of Contractor Firms in Turkey

This paper presents a study that aims to define the perspectives of Turkish contractor firms in terms of strategic planning. It is based on a field survey which aims to get information about Turkish contractor firms’ considerations on the concept of strategy, strategic planning and its key components such as mission, vision, goals and objectives. With the help of the field survey, the review for the current strategic planning usage in Turkish contractor firms has been put forward.

Antecedents of Innovation Climate in Construction Firms in Hong Kong

In view of the booming financial and technology development in the global construction market, construction firms nowadays face a great stress of being innovative. In fact, innovation is essential to the productivity, profitability and, more importantly, the competitiveness and sustainability of an organization. Previous studies tend to emphasize the exogenous and endogenous factors which enhance innovative working in organizations, while recent research emphasizes the importance of innovation climate. Climate is essential in fostering innovation in an organization. This study thus aims to investigate the antecedents of innovation climate in construction firms in Hong Kong. Group C contractor firms (i.e., large-size contractors which are eligible to carry out contracts with values exceeding HK$75 million) were selected as the sample population in the current study, as they are considered a well-established group which make a significant contribution to economic growth and innovation lead to the industry. A questionnaire survey was designed and distributed to 300 construction professionals in Group C contractors in Hong Kong, of which ninety-nine valid data surveys were collected and used, representing a response rate of 33%. Based on the results of factor analysis, 3 factors were identified, including innovation climate, individual tolerance of difference and organizational support to innovation. The linear regression modelling found that organizational support to innovation associates positively with innovation climate. However, it is interesting to find that there is no significant association between individual tolerance of difference and innovation climate. Curvilinear regression modelling was thus further conducted, which reveals a bell-shaped relationship between individual tolerance of difference and innovation climate. Based on the study results, recommendations were made to construction stakeholders to enhance innovation of construction firms via fostering innovation climate.

ACO trained ANN-based bid/no-bid decision-making

One of the most important decisions that has to be made by contractor firms is whether to bid or not to bid for a project, when an invitation has been received. For any construction company, being able to deal successfully with various bidding situations is of crucial importance, especially in today’s highly competitive construction market. This paper presents an application of ant colony optimisation (ACO) algorithm and artificial neural network (ANN) to bid/no-bid decision making. The ACO algorithm is a novel heuristic bionic algorithm, which is based on the behaviour of real ants in nature searching for food. Neural network is used to express the non-linear function between the input and output of the bid/no-bid decision making of project. ACO algorithm is used to learn ANN. The new algorithm has the merits of both ACO algorithm and neural network. The proposed decision support system framework is of good value to contracting organisations in different construction markets.

Privatization and Accountability

Privatization has become a dominant feature of twenty-first century governance, creating concerns about diminished accountability and oversight. However, to properly evaluate such concerns or respond to them, we must distinguish between two different forms of accountability: accountability as after-the-fact redress and accountability as managerial oversight. Moreover, each of these forms of accountability may be pursued through a variety of mechanisms or processes, including not only criminal or civil lawsuits but also reform of the contracts that are the engine of privatization; increased public participation in the design, award, and monitoring of contracts; and changes to the organizational structure or institutional culture of contractor firms. Accordingly, this review lays out a taxonomy for analyzing privatization so that we can more comprehensively evaluate both the impact of privatization and the efficacy of possible responses. In addition, the review highlights recent privatization trends in the military and foreign aid arenas, the potential impact of such privatization on core values, and possible responses.

Strong contributors to network persistence are the most vulnerable to extinction

The architecture of mutualistic networks facilitates coexistence of individual participants by minimizing competition relative to facilitation. However, it is not known whether this benefit is received by each participant node in proportion to its overall contribution to network persistence. This issue is critical to understanding the trade-offs faced by individual nodes in a network. We address this question by applying a suite of structural and dynamic methods to an ensemble of flowering plant/insect pollinator networks. Here we report two main results. First, nodes contribute heterogeneously to the overall nested architecture of the network. From simulations, we confirm that the removal of a strong contributor tends to decrease overall network persistence more than the removal of a weak contributor. Second, strong contributors to collective persistence do not gain individual survival benefits but are in fact the nodes most vulnerable to extinction. We explore the generality of these results to other cooperative networks by analysing a 15-year time series of the interactions between designer and contractor firms in the New York City garment industry. As with the ecological networks, a firm's survival probability decreases as its individual nestedness contribution increases. Our results, therefore, introduce a new paradox into the study of the persistence of cooperative networks, and potentially address questions about the impact of invasive species in ecological systems and new competitors in economic systems.

Outsourcing war and peace: preserving public values in a world of privatized foreign affairs

Over the past decade, states and international organizations have shifted a surprising range of foreign policy functions to private contractors. But who is accountable when the employees of foreign private firms do violence or create harm? This timely book describes the services that are now delivered by private contractors and the threat this trend poses to core public values of human rights, democratic accountability, and transparency. The author offers a series of concrete reforms that are necessary to expand traditional legal accountability, construct better mechanisms of public participation, and alter the organizational structure and institutional culture of contractor firms. The result is a pragmatic, nuanced, and comprehensive set of responses to the problem of foreign affairs privatization.

Training, motivation and teamwork improvement: The case of construction firms

A powerful human resource development system is a critical strategy for every construction companies, as in the coming years, human capital plays a significant role in order to have a successful organization. Based on a combination of literature research and questionnaire surveys, the study explores the effect of training and motivation in HRD practices on teamwork improvement in construction firms. The research was conducted by sending 50 sets of questionnaires to the nominated contractor firms in Mashhad, Iran. The analysis methods in this research were mainly descriptive and regression analysis and the type of investigation was co-relational study. The research found that the percentage of skilled and unskilled labour in the construction companies, some barriers and solutions of training and motivating workforces and the relationship between training and motivation practices in teamwork improvement. Future research should try to address on how companies can shape the environmental and organizational settings in order to motivate staff and workers for training and development.

Desarrollo energético, Estado y empresa. Algunas cuestiones en torno a la construcción del Gasoducto Patagónico durante el primer peronismo

En este trabajo se analiza una obra pública durante el régimen peronista: el Gasoducto Patagónico, construido entre 1947 y 1949. Mediante el análisis de las fuentes de un organismo estatal, Gas del Estado, se describen las circunstancias locales e internacionales de la operación y los mecanismos de intervención del Estado. Se sostendrá aquí, por un lado, aunque la obra se hizo en el contexto del Primer Plan Quinquenal, que su realización fue por la iniciativa del ingeniero Julio Canessa, fundador del ente público del gas, más que por la acción planificadora del Estado. Por otro, el gasoducto significó el inicio de una nueva fuente de energía, el gas natural, y un nuevo sistema tecnológico que tendrían una importancia crucial en el desarrollo futuro del país. Por último, se analizan también las consecuencias desde el punto de vista de la formación de empresas contratistas.

STEPS: a knowledge management maturity roadmap for corporate sustainability

PurposeThe paper seeks to focus on the role of knowledge management in promoting corporate sustainability in the construction industry context. It proposes a maturity roadmap – STEPS to facilitate the implementation of a knowledge management strategy.Design/methodology/approachTwo research methods were used. The first consisted of a postal questionnaire sent to the top 170 UK construction firms consisting of engineering design and construction contractor firms. The organisations were selected because they were considered the most influential organisations in the UK construction sector. The second research method involved 28 case study interviews with eight construction firms to investigate their approach to knowledge management and performance improvement. The results of the questionnaire survey and the case studies were used to develop the STEPS maturity roadmap.FindingsThe paper found that knowledge management is inextricably linked to corporate sustainability, but a methodical approach is required for successful knowledge management implementation. With this in mind, the STEPS maturity roadmap was developed to provide a structured approach to implementing and benchmarking knowledge management efforts.Practical implicationsThis will allow companies to understand where they fall within the STEPS maturity roadmap and to devise a strategy to be developed to attain higher levels of knowledge management maturity.Originality/valueThis paper provides a mechanism for organisations to benchmark their knowledge management activities and to develop a knowledge management strategy that would improve their activities.

ISO 9000 in construction: An examination of its application in Turkey

ISO 9000, the quality management system standards developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO), is widely used in the construction industry, as it is in all industries in the world. Recently, a growing interest has been paid to the use of this system in the construction industry. Despite the growing interest, ISO 9000 use of construction firms has not been sufficiently studied from the perspective of developing countries. In this article, with regard to the ISO 9000 quality management system (QMS) in Turkey, the characteristics of contractor firms in the construction industry, the perceptions, behavior and experiences of the firms in regard to ISO 9000 QMS are discussed. A field study has been executed, and a questionnaire has been carried out. In total, 138 construction firms, members of Turkish Contractors Association and representing the top-level firms operating both in Turkey and in the international market, have been selected for this study. The evaluation of the data points to the fact that the surveyed construction firms generally have a positive approach toward ISO 9000 QMS and that ISO 9000 QMS provides important advantages for the firms. However ISO 9000 QMS cannot be made widespread and applied effectively due to certain disadvantages and difficulties in practice.

Clients’ needs, wants and expectations from contractors and approach to the concept of repetitive works in the Northern Cyprus construction market

Intense competition existing in the construction market creates an industry that is dominated by the client groups. This paper provides insights into private clients’ needs, wants and expectations from contractor firms in the Northern Cyprus building construction market, by presenting survey findings of 91 clients regarding this issue. Moreover, it presents their perspective related to doing repetitive works with the same contractors in possible future works. The study has clearly confirmed the fact that the clients in the specified market place high emphasis on a wide variety of factors. The importance assigned to these factors varies according to the categories or characteristics of the clients within the private building construction sector. Another striking finding was the responding clients’ willingness to do possible repetitive works with the same contractors assuming that they are fully satisfied with the existing or past projects. This opportunity, if used properly by the contractor firms in this market, may be the key to beating the competition and lead to the easy path to increase a contractor firm's market share. Furthermore, it was found that the responding clients expect much more than quality, finishing on time and within budget for full satisfaction and continuing to do repetitive works. The importance and hence the contribution of a set of criteria related to achieving full client satisfaction, and leading to possible repetitive works is presented. Although it would not be reasonable to determine general strategies on just a single study, the contractor firms in the Northern Cyprus construction market will benefit from the framework given within this paper by recognizing what is important and essential to private building construction clients in particular situations and hence present the capabilities of the contracting or potential contracting organizations in ways that meet this to best advantage. Although the results given are based on input from the Northern Cyprus construction market, we believe that the contractor firms in other countries, who specialize in building works for private sector may also benefit from the findings or at least the approach of this research as well.

Workforce Demographics among Project Engineering Professionals—Crisis Ahead?

The age and experience profile of project engineering professionals employed by both owners and contractors has recently become a concern due to downsizing, retirements, and lack of hiring during the 1990s. Data were gathered from U.S. Census panels and from 27 owner firms and 23 contractor firms within the Construction Industry Institute to investigate the extent of this issue. In particular, the study examined changes in industry staffing levels, projected industry staffing levels, the current age and experience profile of project engineering staffs, current and projected hiring practices, and retention levels. The results of the data analyses indicate that, while substantial downsizing occurred among project engineering professionals during the early 1990s, the era of downsizing appears to be at an end. However, the high proportion of engineering professionals nearing retirement suggests that the transfer of knowledge from more to less experienced employees is an area of critical importance for both owners and contractors. Data showing demographic breakdowns using these analyses will be given, conclusions drawn, and policy implications outlined.

Indicator Variables Model of Firm’s Size-Profitability Relationship of Electrical Contractors Using Financial and Economic Data

According to some electrical contractors who are members of the Federated Electrical Contractors, electrical contractor firms may experience a lack of profitability as the firm grows in size. Under these conditions, statistical models were developed to study the firm’s size-profitability relationship. Economic data were obtained from the National Bureau of Economic Research, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Mortgage Information Service. Financial data for 1985–1996 were obtained from the FEC group. Statistical analysis reveals that small, medium, and large firms are significantly different from each other in terms of their profit rate; profitability drops as firms grow larger than $50 million in sales. An indicator variables model with a first-order autoregressive model built into the error term was developed using backward elimination regression. Data from the year 1996 were used to validate the model, which predicted 76% of the year 1996 response variable, profitability, correctly.

The Restrictive Practices of Capital: Employer Commercial Opportunism, Labour Militancy and Economic Performance in the Engineering Construction Industry, 1960–80

The engineering construction industry, 1960–80, apparently provided a classic example of the British Worker Problem. The industry was host to widespread military and suffered very poor performance. Public reports at the time made a causal link between the two. Research, however, shows the importance of employer commercial opportunism, or restrictive practices, in generating the poor performance. Examples of this opportunism included contractor firms withholding information from clients, underbidding, and deliberately slowing production in order to force extra payments from clients. This commercial opportunism also played an important part in setting the context for high labour militancy. While labour militancy was not the central cause of poor performance in the industry, the militancy did serve to consolidate the approach of contractors which focused on profit through commercial opportunism.

Farm labor contractors: The processors of new immigrant labor from Mexico for Californian agribusiness

The deteriorating living and working conditions suffered by California's farm workers and their families is associated with the escalating proportion of the agricultural labor market (ALM) provisioned by the state's farm labor contractors (FLCs). The increasing use of FLCs is the result of a restructuring strategy undertaken by Californian agribusiness to reduce the cost of labor, as well as responsibility for work place, labor, and immigration laws. The FLCs' rise to prominence as the bulwark between growers and workers within the state's ALM has been ensured by the internal dynamics of contractor firms. During almost three years of binational fieldwork in both California's San Joaquin Valley and rural Mexico I found that FLC management agents cultivate sociocultural practices and provide socioeconomic services that diffuse management-labor conflict within the agricultural sector. However, the existing literature concerning the FLCs focuses upon the firm, not its labor agents; therefore, FLC heterogeneity is emphasized, while ubiquitous management characteristics and practices are overlooked. As a result, recent legislation has had the unintended effect of augmenting the role played by management agents in “processing” an unending flow of new immigrant workers through the “revolving door” ALM, leading to the deterioration of conditions in rural California.

Quality Management in Construction Industry

To address quality problems and their associated costs, the construction industry must pursue and implement innovative quality‐management organizations and techniques. This paper presents the findings of a research project conducted to identify attributes of effective quality‐management systems in the construction industry. The objectives were met through an extensive literature review and in‐depth interviews with 142 engineering, construction, quality, and procurement personnel from 19 owner and contractor firms involved in heavy industrial, manufacturing, and commercial construction. The emergence of total quality management (TQM) applications in the construction industry was a significant finding of the interviews. The results indicate that substantial improvements in meeting quality requirements can be achieved by the use of TQM in the construction industry. Implementation techniques and attributes of effective quality‐management systems were identified and categorized.

Size, technology and aspects of structure in contractor firms in Turkey

The present paper treats the relationships between dimensions of size, technology and selected aspects of organizational structure in contractor firms operating in Turkey. It is proposed that the larger the organization, and the more advanced the technology employed, the higher the level of formalization, the higher the level of standardization, the higher the level of functional specialization and the lower the level of centralization. The data collected supported these propositions, except for the proposition about centralization.