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The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze actual developments within PPP-projects, and the influences of business-cultures in the management-processes of such international PPP-projects. The paper focusses especially on the procurement, during which potential project-partners are being selected.

The researcher adopted a recent model from literature for analyzing business-cultures within construction processes; especially the so called “3C-Model” was used, earlier developed and published within construction-management literature. Based on analysis of literature and comparable situations, conclusions and recommendations have been made for managing international PPP-projects, especially in the project-partners selection phase.

Actual approaches within international PPP-projects do need a more structured approach during the selection of the project-partners. It is suggested to use more past-performance information, not only based on financials and/or organizational data/experiences, but also on behavioral (business-culture) data/experiences. This information needs to be structured in a proper way. Suggestions are given focussing on discussion and future-outlook.

It would be useful to test the findings on further actual cases, testing the further implications of the outcome.

A better understanding of business-cultures’ influences increases the awareness of project-participants for the advantage of the suggested extra selection-criteria. This might reduce the risk for conflicts during the project-execution in the total project life-cycle.

When improving the actual practices of selection suitable parties for actual and future PPP-projects, it is of great value to be as effective as possible within this selection process. Especially, because this approach can prevent for several unpleasant situations afterwards during the operation-time (life-cycle) of the PPP-project. In this way, a proper handling of business-culture’s influence can save clients and other stakeholders involved (society) a large amount of possible conflicts (claims, etc.) afterwards.

The proposed approach contributes to a better understanding of project-processes and its stakeholders (i.e. especially the – foreseen – project-participants). Current selection-processes still do not adopt a structured approach for incorporating past-performance behavioral data/experiences; so structuring and using them properly can result in more successful PPP-projects within a fast growing international PPP-market.

As a transitional country and the newest EU Member State, Croatia is facing a more turbulent business environment, which imposes a need for change of companies seeking to achieve a competitive advantage. Being a labour-intensive business, adaptation of construction companies’ strategy strongly depends on the underlying values of their employees. The purpose of this paper is to determine cultural profiles within the construction industry in Croatia.

The research has been conducted using inferential analysis based on primary and secondary data sources. After an extensive literature review, the empirical research was conducted based on a national sample. In all, 108 managers working in construction companies were surveyed using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument. Reliability of variables was tested by calculating Cronbach α reliability coefficients. Differences among identified mean scores were examined by ANOVA analysis.

The results were analysed in respect of the size, core business, regional orientation and ownership of the respondents’ employing companies. The findings show that, on average, construction companies in Croatia currently function with domination of the hierarchy type of organizational culture, which insufficiently responds to the increasingly competitive environment. Additionally, the study identified the clan as the preferred culture type in Croatian construction companies.

The paper offers insights into the organizational culture of Croatian construction companies, which has not been studied before. The value of the paper is the novelty of findings regarding existing and preferred cultural profiles, which have the potential to improve team cohesiveness, team leading, communication among the main stakeholders and efficiency of performance in this transitional country’s construction industry.