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Economic logics in the construction industry

Håkansson, Håkan LU and Jahre, Marianne LU (2005) 21st Annual Conference on Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2005 2. p.1063-1073
Abstract

Construction is claimed to be fragmented, contract focused, short sighted and characterised by price competition. These are typical aspects of what is considered the traditional market approach where each company is seen as autonomous and transaction oriented towards others. During the last few decades, numerous theoretical approaches have questioned these assumptions. Studies also on construction, report of long-term and close relationships and a growing interest in concepts such as partnering. One critical issue, in terms of how the relationships between the actors are viewed, is linked to assumptions about what types of interdependencies exist in the industry. Starting with a brief presentation of Thompson's seminal work on different... (More)

Construction is claimed to be fragmented, contract focused, short sighted and characterised by price competition. These are typical aspects of what is considered the traditional market approach where each company is seen as autonomous and transaction oriented towards others. During the last few decades, numerous theoretical approaches have questioned these assumptions. Studies also on construction, report of long-term and close relationships and a growing interest in concepts such as partnering. One critical issue, in terms of how the relationships between the actors are viewed, is linked to assumptions about what types of interdependencies exist in the industry. Starting with a brief presentation of Thompson's seminal work on different types of interdependencies, four different theoretical perspectives that describe and explain economic logics in construction, are discussed. Assumptions about boundaries and inter-organisational relations, types of interdependence in focus as well as typical problems are discussed for each approach. The conclusion from the analysis suggests that on the one hand all four models are relevant for the understanding of aspects of the economic logic in the construction industry. On the other hand, none of them seems appropriate for handling the logics simultaneously. The paper concludes by discussing alternative avenues for developing models that can provide more understanding of how the logics, i.e. interdependencies, can be taken into account simultaneously and combined.

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author
and
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Construction, Interdependencies, Logic, Relationship, Supply chain management
host publication
Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2005 - Proceedings of the 21st Annual Conference
volume
2
pages
11 pages
conference name
21st Annual Conference on Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2005
conference location
London, United Kingdom
conference dates
2005-09-07 - 2005-09-09
external identifiers
  • scopus:77956070283
ISBN
0902896938
9780902896932
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
06959b0b-93b9-4f71-a660-becd562c8cbd
date added to LUP
2019-06-20 15:22:15
date last changed
2022-01-31 22:13:19
@inproceedings{06959b0b-93b9-4f71-a660-becd562c8cbd,
  abstract     = {{<p>Construction is claimed to be fragmented, contract focused, short sighted and characterised by price competition. These are typical aspects of what is considered the traditional market approach where each company is seen as autonomous and transaction oriented towards others. During the last few decades, numerous theoretical approaches have questioned these assumptions. Studies also on construction, report of long-term and close relationships and a growing interest in concepts such as partnering. One critical issue, in terms of how the relationships between the actors are viewed, is linked to assumptions about what types of interdependencies exist in the industry. Starting with a brief presentation of Thompson's seminal work on different types of interdependencies, four different theoretical perspectives that describe and explain economic logics in construction, are discussed. Assumptions about boundaries and inter-organisational relations, types of interdependence in focus as well as typical problems are discussed for each approach. The conclusion from the analysis suggests that on the one hand all four models are relevant for the understanding of aspects of the economic logic in the construction industry. On the other hand, none of them seems appropriate for handling the logics simultaneously. The paper concludes by discussing alternative avenues for developing models that can provide more understanding of how the logics, i.e. interdependencies, can be taken into account simultaneously and combined.</p>}},
  author       = {{Håkansson, Håkan and Jahre, Marianne}},
  booktitle    = {{Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2005 - Proceedings of the 21st Annual Conference}},
  isbn         = {{0902896938}},
  keywords     = {{Construction; Interdependencies; Logic; Relationship; Supply chain management}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  pages        = {{1063--1073}},
  title        = {{Economic logics in the construction industry}},
  volume       = {{2}},
  year         = {{2005}},
}