| As one of the main driving forces of national economy, project investment plays a key role in guaranteeing the speed and quality of China’s economic development. Improving project investment efficiency can not only promote capital use efficiency, enhance the transformation and upgrading of China’s enterprises, gradually avoid the middle-income trap, and eventually realize the Chinese dream as reflected in the two one-hundred-year goals promoted by the new government. The existing research studies have emphasized more about business performance (Zhang Mei,2011; Zhou Huan,2012), most of which tends to be decided by existing products and mature ones in particular; the performance of project investment, however, is often overlooked. Some preliminary analysis has been done on capital usage efficiency (Fan Yongfang,2011), which is far from comprehensive enough. Concerns about project performance have largely stayed with economic output, and ignored the non-financial indicators, which is not conducive to the comprehensive evaluation of project performance. At the same time, as China turns into a new emerging economy, relational embeddedness has become one of the key factors to obtain high performance in enterprises. How do different types of relational embeddedness influence project performance? In construction and other infrastructure sectors, how do the influences caused by the different types of relations differ from one another? All these issues call for thorough studies in theory and urgent settlement in practice.As a typical emerging economy, China is in an economic transitional period when market economic system is gradually improving, and the government plays an important role in the national economic development. Relevant national policies may lead to great influence on the external environment where enterprises operate. Such policies include the national4trillion investments, the transformation of the Ministry of Railways, the cancellation of highway toll on public holidays, the implementation of national Article Five, the levying of property tax, fluctuation of bank interest rates and other macroeconomic regulation and control measures, all of which have evident impact on project performance. Therefore, it is fairly important to strengthen cooperation relations through relational embeddedness and reduce the negative impact caused by uncertainties associated with emerging economies. Previous research on project performance has largely focused on the influence of core competitiveness on enterprise performance, while the influence of different dimensions of embedded relations on project performance has been neglected. Research on the regulatory role of external environment in the relationship is insufficient as well.Based on the study of relevant literature and on-the-spot investigation, this thesis argues that when assessing project performance, enterprises have neglected non-financial performance; though with some knowledge of the impact of external relations on project performance, they do not understand the impact of different dimensions of relational embeddedness on project performance, nor do they know much about the regulatory role brought about by the uncertainties in external environment, which fails to enhance project performance through perceiving relational embeddedness and uncertainties in external performance. In this context, how to improve project performance through relational embeddedness and reduce the negative impact of uncertainties in the external environment has become one of the major concerns of practice and theory, which is also the focus of this thesis.In accordance with the above research questions, the main research contents of this thesis are as follows:Study of impact of relational embeddedness on project performance, and examination of the impact of the three important relational embeddedness factors of relations between enterprises and suppliers, financial institutions and government agencies on the performance of enterprise project perfomance. Based on the research results and related literature, project performance is divided into two categories of financial performance and non-financial performance. Analysis of the regulatory role of environment uncertainty on the relationship between relations embeddedness and project performance in terms of the two dimensions of policy and law uncertainty and industry environment uncertainty. Based on the above research agenda, this thesis is divided into the following six chapters:Chapter One is introduction. In this chapter practical and theoretical backgrounds are analyzed. The problems with existing practice and related research are raised according to managerial practice and theoretical needs. Subsequently, the main research issues of the thesis are put forward. The theoretical and practical significance of this research is discussed. The concepts of the relevant objects of study are defined. An introduction to the research contents of this thesis is also included as well as the research framework and innovative points.The second chapter focuses on literature review. Emphasis is put on relevant home and foreign literature on relational embeddedness, project performance and environment uncertainty. In addition, related theories such as relation exchange theory and resource dependence theory are reviewed. On this basis, through the analysis of the deficiencies in the existing research, the underlying thought and framework of this study are put forward.The third chapter presents the status quo of construction enterprise project performance. This chapter begins with an introduction to the present situation of construction industry development in China, and analyses of the weaknesses and strengths of construction enterprises, followed by the raising of practical problems calling for immediate solution in construction enterprise project performance. The impacts of relational embeddedness and environmental uncertainty on project performance are summed up. The chapter proceeds to point out that in practice it is important to clarify the relationship between relational embeddedness and project performance and determine the role of environmental uncertainty in order to formulate corresponding measures in managerial practice. Chapter Four focuses on research design. Based on the findings of interviews, conceptual models and assumptions are put forward. Relevant data are collected followed by quantitative analysis of indicators. In accordance with the underlying thought and research framework, interviews are carried out on typical enterprise projects. The main factors influencing the project performance are studied to examine whether the underlying research thought and framework are in line with the project management practice. In addition, according to the research results, the research framework is further specified. Furthermore, according to the related theory and the purpose of this study, the connotation of relations embeddness and environmental uncertainty are defined. The concrete research conceptual model is outlined, and relevant assumptions are put forward. The detailed data collection process for empirical analysis is elaborated including questionnaire design, sample selection, questionnaire data collection, and data features. Subsequently, in April and May,2012, a questionnaire was designed and tested in accordance with the research needs. The questionnaire was distributed on a large scale and a total of303effective ones were returned which have been used to verify the research hypotheses. Finally, the measurement indexes and variables adopted in the thesis are explained, and the statistical methods used to verify the conceptual model and assumptions are briefly presented.Chapter Five focuses on data analysis and research conclusion. Descriptive statistical analysis of collected data is carried out in this chapter. Reliability and validity of the variables are tested, convergent validity and discriminant validity inclusive. Partial correlation regression software Smart PLS2.0is then used to verify the assumptions put forward in the thesis. In order to further analyze the correlation, IBM SPSS21.0regression analysis is adopted to compare the major effect factors. With Gujarati’s coefficient comparison method (Gujarati,1995), the results are obtained, revealing strength and direction comparison of major effects; the variance analysis method is adopted to further verify the results. Finally, three aspects of the research conclusion are concluded, and managerial advice is put forward. Chapter Six is the conclusion. The thesis is concluded with a summary of the background analysis, literature review and the analysis of the status quo as well as the theoretical model building, hypothesis raising, empirical testing, research conclusion and managerial significance. The deficiency of this research is elaborated and future research agenda is outlined.Based on the above research contents, the thesis has come to ten chief assumptions and drawn the following three major conclusions.Relational embeddedness plays an important role in improving project performance. Through analyzing the impact of three different types of relational embeddedness on project performance, the thesis argues that no enterprise is willing to opt for independent decision-making and action-taking; instead decisions conforming to their own subjective intention are often made under the influence of social factors.Specifically, the relationship with the suppliers has positive effects on financial performance of project investment; the relationship with the suppliers has positive effects on non-financial performance of project investment. The relationship with financial institutions has positive effects on financial performance of project investment; the relationship with financial institutions has positive effects on non-financial performance of project investment. Relationship with the government has positive effects on financial performance of project investment; relationship with the government has negative effects on non-financial performance of project investment.Environmental uncertainty significantly strengthens the impact of relational embeddness on project performance. Instead of opting for independent decision-making and action-taking, enterprises take into full account of the impact of social factors, which demonstrates the significance of external environment. According to dependency theory, such behavior as how to understand and integrate into the external environment, and how to acquire and process information from the external environment, will determine the way the external environment affects the enterprises. To be specific, according to the research findings, the uncertainty of environment has positive regulatory effects on the positive impact of relationship with suppliers on project performance; it has positive regulatory effects on the positive impact of relationship with financial institutions on project performance; it has positive regulatory effects on the positive impact of relationship with the government on financial project performance while it has negative effects on the negative impact on non-financial performance.Through relevant research, we can see that the impact of the external environment on enterprises is not an independent exogenous variable; instead, it is also an endogenous variable. Enterprises should strive to control and change the external environment factors, such as politics, legislation and industry environment. The emergence of environmental uncertainty has immediate effect on relational embeddedness and gives rise to new challenges for balancing relationship between enterprises and their external environment. Therefore, enterprises should anticipate and respond to the corresponding problems according to the impact of environmental uncertainty.Establishing constructive relational embeddedness cooperation relations is essential to integrate long and short-term project goals, take account of both financial and non-financial performance, and eventually improve project performance. It is safe to draw the conclusion that to improve the non-financial performance which reflects the medium and long-term development prospects, enterprises should reduce the interaction with government agencies. However, government agencies play a major role in determining financial performance. Less interaction with government agencies will lead to negative impacts on the financial performance of enterprises. In terms of relations with government agencies, not all government-supported projects produce due profits, but government involvement or support can contribute to a stable source of the project, and eliminate negative periodic impact. Besides, the spillover effects of such programs will bring about advantages in terms of capital, technology and reputation and eventually produce good financial performance. Thus, to integrate effectively the three different types of relations will lead to better project performance, which requires enterprises to do better in the future project investment structure. Specifically, the research findings reveal the following effects on financial performance: the impact of relations with suppliers, financial institutions and government in proper order on financial performance of project investment increases; the impact of relations with suppliers is stronger than with financial institutions on non-financial performance of project investment while relations with government agencies have negative effects, which shows the impact of relations with government agencies are different in direction from the other relation types. Besides, as the dependent variable changes from financial performance to non-financial performance, the impact of relations with the suppliers steadily rises while the impact of relations with financial institutions steadily drops, and the impact of relations with government agencies changes from the strongest to the weakest, and from positive to negative.This study has further enriched and developed the existing related literature on relational embeddedness and project performance, and therefore provides constructive reference for investment managerial practice. Compared with previous research, the innovative ideas and contribution of this thesis can be seen from the following three aspects:First, it further clarifies the impact of different embedded relations on project performance; the study of the project performance is conducted from two dimensions of financial and non-financial performance and differs from previous research which emphasizes on financial performance only. A different conclusion that relations with government agencies have negative effects on non-financial performance has been drawn.Second, the study contrasts different relations in terms of the strength of their respective impact on project performance and reveals in theory that different relations bring about different resources for enterprises and hence have different impacts on project performance. In addition, in terms of practice, the study helps enterprises establish constructive cooperation types of different relational embeddedness, integrate short-and long-term project goals, take into account both financial and non-financial performance, and realize continuous enhancement of project performance.Finally, the regulatory role of environmental uncertainty on the above relations is analyzed. The study reveals that uncertainty in external environment plays a role different from that of relations with government agencies on financial and non-financial relations. This conclusion explains the reinforcing effect of environmental uncertainty on relational embeddedness in terms of resource dependence. Enterprises in China in the course of economic transformation and emergence should make full use of relational embeddedness to balance the relationship between enterprises and other organizations and the external environment, and to obtain the access to resources to withstand risks in order to enhance project performance. |
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