Spatial Strategies And Tools For International Contractors

The international construction industry has undergone rapid development inrecent years. Internationalization can provide a clear strategy for contractors.International, localized or selective construction strategies depending on the actionfield of a contractor significantly affects the growth and learning methodology of anorganisation and requires large scale implementation throughout the company. Theability to recognize how to successfully implement such strategies in lieu withexisting spatial issues gives the contractor a competitive edge and enables them to.However, despite a contractor’s investing their own strengths, capacities, and willingthere are still profound issues which uniquely characterize the internationalconstruction industry in comparison with traditional implementations in constructionor engineering management. Many scholars have realized the need for a differentapproach towards the international construction industry; however they use tools fromconstruction and business management to decode the industry’s unique attributes.Thus, this study aims to emerge the unique scopes and characteristics of theinternational construction industry and elaborate international construction and projectmanagement as a unique and ascending engineering science. Without overlookingother crucial business, engineering and construction management strategies, puttingthe focus on spatial strategies is a key factor in order to decode and further understandinternational construction. The development of measuring tools, applying mostly tointernational contractors, distinguishes and emerges the international construction andproject management as a unique science set apart from its predecessors.This study has revealed that spatial strategies are of high importance tocontractors. This study further revealed that an international contractor has to takeissues related to potential expansion within an organisation into serious considerationand use the organization’s knowledge to enhance its successful implementation ofinternational strategies.The development of methods for measuring internationalization of contractorscan be verified as a critical tool for contracting organizations. It reveals how dependent a contractor would be when facing possible turbulence within the globaleconomy, how sustainable a policy is, how competitors behave and potential entrantsas well as revealing a contractor’s strengths and weaknesses. The tool can help shiftthe traditional way of managerial thinking towards internationalization or locality asstrategy, which could create competitive advantages and better position a contractor ina spatial context. Special cases of contractors in the international construction industryand Chinese overseas contractors are tested according to the developed tools and theresults are considerably significant.This study has proven that international construction and project management is aunique science. Even if the foundation of international construction and projectmanagement derives from other sectors of engineering and management sciences,there exists the development of tools and methods in such a thesis which applyexclusively to international construction and project management occurring uniquelywithin this sector. This study creates a platform for the future development ofinternational construction and project management as a distinct science and sets thefoundation for research communities and practitioners to further develop their skillson strategic management in the fields of international construction and projectmanagement.