Content area
Abstract
The Canadian construction industry is a key contributor to the national economy and to the excellent quality of life. It has remarkable achievements in constructing infrastructure, as well as in labour productivity and cost performance. Contrary to growth expectations, the domestic construction market has stagnated in the '90s and the industry has experienced very difficult times. Despite many achievements, the industry has not been as successful internationally as its counterparts in Japan and the U.S. The problem can be traced to the neglect of international competitiveness and strategic management.
An objective evaluation of the competitiveness of the industry is a prerequisite for improvement. A comprehensive model is developed for this purpose. The Canadian industry compared with its counterparts in Japan and the U.S. with the focus on factors affecting international competitiveness. Factors such as human resources, technology, cost performance and productivity are considered. The model hierarchically organizes 95 criteria to factors, and factors into three facets of competitiveness: assets, processes and performance. Three scoring methods are used to give different views of competitiveness and its facets.
Recognizing the significance of strategic management for competitiveness a uified framework is developed to assess industry performance. The framework is applied to the construction industries in North America and Japan to evaluate the effectiveness of their management processes. Various techniques such as questionnaire surveys, interviews and content analysis are used to complement statistical data. The quantitative results are supplemented by a qualitative analysis.
The evaluation found that the competitive performance of the Canadian industry is negated by weaknesses in processes and assets. The Japanese industry has successfully leveraged advantages of a stable and protected domestic market with process-based differentiation. The utility of pro-active strategic management to enhance competitiveness is confirmed. The Canadian industry needs a coherent strategy to improve the industry structure and key processes such as project delivery, human resources development, R&D and technology transfer.