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The aim of the present paper was to examine strategy formation in construction firms. Strategic thinking has become increasingly important because the environment of construction has changed dramatically in recent years. An organizational strategy is the result of a formation process over time and an organization uses strategy when dealing with a changing environment. Therefore, strategies are formed in an iterative process of social interactions involving various activities. The basic unit of analysis strategy must be a distinct business and corporate entity. Corporate strategy should grow out of a deep understanding of how construction firms prosper in individual business areas, i.e. ‘the parenting advantage’. Parenting advantage is a criterion for guiding corporate strategy formation. Business strategy is formed by accepted common thinking and on the basis of business strategy in general. Business strategy and competitive advantage is based on the competencies and resources of firms.

Poor indoor air quality in schools is a worldwide challenge that poses health risks to pupils and teachers. A possible response to this problem is to modify ventilation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to pilot a process of generating alternatives for ventilation redesign, in an early project phase, for a school to be refurbished. Here, severe problems in indoor air quality have been found in the school.

Ventilation redesign is investigated in a case study of a school, in which four alternative ventilation strategies are generated and evaluated. The analysis is mainly based on the data gathered from project meetings, site visits and the documents provided by ventilation and condition assessment consultants.

Four potential strategies to redesign ventilation in the case school are provided for decision-making in refurbishment in the early project phase. Moreover, the research presents several features to be considered when planning the ventilation strategy of an existing school, including the risk of alterations in air pressure through structures; the target number of pupils in classrooms; implementing and operating costs; and the size of the space that ventilation equipment requires.

As this study focusses on the early project phase, it provides viewpoints to assist decision-making, but the final decision requires still more accurate calculations and simulations.

This study demonstrates the decision-making process of ventilation redesign of a school with indoor air problems and provides a set of features to be considered. Hence, it may be beneficial for building owners and municipal authorities who are engaged in planning a refurbishment of an existing building.

This article examines the effect of the customer focus (CF) group of competencies, which includes communication and negotiation skills, on project performance as measured by reaching the internal and the overall budget, the quality, and the deadline goals.

The multiple regression model was based on a dataset from Trimo, an engineering and production company of prefabricated buildings.

The inverted U-shaped relationship of the CF group has been proven to exist with all project goals.

The present study provides a starting-point for further empirical research on the international construction sector, projects, teams, and competence research.

This study aims to provide a foundation for the development of subcontracts that suit takt production in construction.

This is a non-empiric conceptual study, which integrates takt production and general construction literature into new proposals for subcontract clauses suitable for takt production in construction. This study uses literature reviews, from which proposals regarding takt production viable subcontract clauses are conducted via logical reasoning.

A total of 13 proposals for takt production applicable subcontracts are provided in this study. The proposals emphasize detailed and collaborative planning, suitable payment methods and flexibility for takt plan modification.

Previous takt literature has not properly addressed the development of subcontracts for takt production, despite regular attempts to use subcontracting in takt production. This study aims to aid main contractors to create fair and suitable subcontracts, so that adhering to takt schedules could be more viable in practice. This study also acts as a foundation for further empirical studies regarding the subject.

In a construction project, “participants’ satisfaction” is one of the main dimensions used for measuring the successfulness of a project. Designers perform a major role in attaining the project goals and managing project complexity during production. The purpose of this paper is to examine the designers’ performance as evaluated by the main participants: the client, the project consultant/manager and the main contractor, and to identify the main success factors of designer performance using the participants’ evaluation. The study also aims to examine how the economic size of a project affects the project participants’ assessment of the designer’s performance. It is assumed that as the size of a project increases, so does the complexity of the project, which will affect the scope of work and demands on the designers’ operational performance for the specific project level.

The Finnish project evaluation and benchmark database was used in this study as empirical data. The quantitative data consists of surveys on the project level and are based on a multi-dimensional standard evaluation wherein the main participants evaluate each other’s performances. The client, project consultant and main contractor evaluated the designer’s performance. The data of the study consisted of a total of 892 evaluations. ANOVA analysis was used to examine the differences between the project participants’ assessments based upon the different economic sizes of the projects.

Contractors were satisfied with the designers’ performance in small projects, whereas the client and the project consultant/manager rated the designers’ performance most successful in large projects. This result may be due to small projects are typically simple and less complex, in which case design solutions are generally well-defined. Nonetheless, the participants’ level of satisfaction follows the same factors. The main problems in the designers’ performance were related to the design content: the flawlessness and comprehensiveness, as well as the compatibility and consistency of designs. These factors were emphasized particularly in the client’s low satisfaction of the designer’s performance. However, project participants were satisfied with the collaboration with designers; however, room for improvement could be found in internal communication and collaboration within the design teams. The findings illustrated that the assessment of the success rate of a project was party-specific, which was clearly affected by the size of the project, as large projects appeared to be more complex than smaller ones.

The findings suggested that there is a need to develop project-specific practices in managing multidisciplinary design teams. Additionally, particularly in large projects, designers should focus more on solving problems and design requirements occurring at the construction site. However, this should be implemented in such a way that this does not interfere with the design activities conducted with the client and project management. While client satisfaction is low in the small projects, designers should focus more on customer-oriented methods to serve client needs better.

In construction project management studies, there is a need to measure the importance that various participants assign to different success factors. Since project success factors depend on project type, a more project-specific approach is suggested to identify the main parameters for measuring project success. This study provides a holistic approach of the designers’ performance, which contributes to the theory of project success and designers’ performance improvement.

The construction industry has struggled with efficiency issues for decades. Organizational culture is identified as one of the biggest hindrances for the enhancement of efficiency in a highly labor-intensive sector such as construction. Based on recent academic studies, Finnish construction industry professionals would embrace clan and adhocracy culture features to achieve a better level of construction efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the promoters and the barriers for making the desired culture change happen in the case company.

The paper presents a semi-structured theme interview case study, including 12 in-depth interviews. The interviews were recorded, and later, transcribed into text, which forms the empirical data of this paper.

The Finnish construction industry must adopt a holistic approach to enhance its prevailing level of efficiency through the culture change. Basic learning and knowledge management processes seem to be missing from the industry and organizational levels. Better knowledge management in the case company would be the first step to start fixing this problem.

Because of the nature of a case study, the research results can be generalized only with caution in the Finnish construction industry. Generalizing the findings in another country would require further studies in a different cultural environment, e.g. in another European country.

The paper includes implications for the development of the organizational culture on the Finnish construction industry level and on an organizational level.

The found influencers are discussed through Engeström’s activity model for the first time in the construction culture context.

In recent times, there has been a lot of research focused on performance measurement (PM) in project-based sectors. However, there are very few studies that were reported on the significance of PM in the construction sector. Keeping track of an organization in achieving organizations goals and objectives seems an important way. One of the major challenges faced by the industry is unavailable of an appropriate PM system for assessing organizational performance. Most of the PM approaches consider the traditional project triangle assessment of project success. Based on the limitations identified in existing PM models, the purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive PM model, i.e. Modified Project Quarter Back Rating (MPQR) applicable for construction projects.

A detailed list of performance areas as a method for PM is analyzed in the construction industry context. Also, industry-specific professionals conducted semi-structured interviews to assess whether these performance areas are sufficient to measure and understand the PM systems.

The research finding focuses on developing the MPQR model that considers both financial and non-financial areas for performance assessment to provide a holistic assessment of project performance.

MPQR model provides an opportunity to set the benchmark for overall performance for construction organizations.

The findings of the study are expected to provide guidelines to construction professionals for implementing the performance model that will improve performance in the construction industry.

The construction industry needs effective methods for gathering and utilizing performance information on industry, company and individual project levels. Such benchmarking (BM) information can be collected from project participants’ bi-directional evaluations of each other’s performance during construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to present the method and discuss the features of a multi-company project evaluation system as a BM tool. Also the accumulated results, based on the extensive BM database in the Finnish construction industry, are investigated.

The web-based project evaluation tool was established in 2007 as a joint research project between the Helsinki University of Technology, construction organizations and main associations widely representing the construction industry in Finland. The evaluation method is based on soft, subjective measures, such as client satisfaction and project participants’ satisfaction. The empirical observations of the study are based on over 5,500 evaluations during which the BM system was used in the Finnish construction industry.

The use of the evaluation is presented as a multi-level BM tool to evaluate the performance of different discipline groups on project, company and industry levels. The Finnish case shows an example of the industry-level performance BMs of project consultants, main contractors, sub-contractors and architects/designers. The BM categories include project management, staff, collaboration and project goal accomplishment. According to the results, the participants are satisfied with each other’s performance. However, main development targets in the Finnish industry are related to risk management and managing design. Also, the development of sub-contractors’ selection procedures will contribute to the performance of the industry.

The industry-level feedback is linked to the Finnish construction industry. Similar studies in other countries would enable international comparisons.

Client satisfaction and project participants’ satisfaction have been identified as one of the key factors affecting project success. With the help of mutual project evaluation, different BMs enable organizations to monitor their performance and to improve their operations in various areas. They also make it possible to position an organization’s performance in comparison to the competitors and help to perceive black spots in the process on project level. As a common system for the parties in the industry, the project evaluation BM system promotes quality improvement, customer orientation and collaboration between participants.

Project evaluation between the project participants’ enhance collaboration and mutual learning.

Multi-company project evaluation is a new and promising topic in performance measurement which holds potential for performance improvement through the utilization of network information and team dynamics. The study presents its wider utility as the basis of national, company and project BM.

Service quality is a major determinant of business performance. Empirical evidence from the literature indicates that, to attain a high level of customer satisfaction, a high standard of service quality should be provided by the service provider. This study aims to examine the relationship between the perceived service quality and the indicators of client satisfaction with particular reference to engineering consultancy services in building projects.

A survey research approach was adopted using a semi-structured questionnaire as an instrument of data collection. The questionnaire survey formed the basis for the descriptive and inferential (Pearson correlation and multiple regression) statistics that were used to evaluate the relationship between engineering consultants’ service quality and clients’ satisfaction indicators.

The study identified 10 key technical indicators and 10 key managerial indicators for measuring client satisfaction. Statistical analysis shows a positive significant relationship between the perceived service quality and all the indicators of client satisfaction. The positive correlation values show that as perceived service quality increases, both technical and management indicators of client satisfaction equally increase.

The results offer opportunity for professional service providers to continuously develop the technical and management indicators, embrace personnel training and key into continuous professional development for better service quality.

Technological advancement, innovative procurement patterns such as build‐operate‐transfer, build‐own‐operate‐transfer as well as intrusion of international contractors have immensely changed the construction market. Local contractors need to devise a strategy to raise not only its technological capability but also financial capability which becomes increasingly necessary to compete successfully in this new landscape. This study aimed to investigate strategic assets which have been driving financial capability of construction firms in Thailand. Four large construction firms in Thailand were investigated through case study method and the result was verified with twelve industry experts. Three strategic assets were found contributing to competitive advantage of Thai construction firms including access to capital, efficient cash management, and effective capital investment. It was also found that strong relationship was the needed ingredient in developing these particular assets in Thailand. The findings should assist managers of construction firms in realizing the impact of financial capability, envisaging its driving strategic assets, and comprehending the mechanism which provides competitive advantage.