Professionalism in China's building sector: an economic governance perspective

As the third force beside markets and governments, professionalism emerged to protect the interests of civil society, and it has played a unique role in the building sector. By conceptualizing professionalism as a community-based governance structure, an economic governance perspective is adopted to examine professionalism in China's building sector. The development of professionalism in China's building sector is reviewed, and both its achievements and its weaknesses are assessed. Root-cause analysis reveals that the primary impediment to building professionalism is the imbalanced relationship between markets, governments and professionals. It is argued that the success of professionalism in China's building sector is dependent ultimately on whether the government can change its overly dominant role in the economy. To address the concern of creating an independent, vibrant professional culture that contributes to the long-term public interest, the following are recommended: separating professional associations and relevant bodies from government agencies completely; improving the administrative system for both practice qualification and market access; and increasing the proportion of non-government investments to change the imbalanced relationship between professionals and public clients.     

Factors facilitating construction industry development

The key factors associated with construction industry development worldwide are identified by using a grounded theory approach. This first involved the identification of 62 variables from earlier studies. A questionnaire survey was then used to elicit views of the current strength of each variable. The resulting data were factor analysed and a set of eight key factors obtained comprising the following: (1) industry-led better practice and culture; (2) financial resources and investor confidence; (3) human skills and a culture of transparency; (4) government policies and strategies supporting construction business; (5) research and development for construction; (6) a self-reliant construction culture; (7) institutional support; and (8) supportive attitudes from aid agencies. These appear to be relevant to both developed and developing countries.

Les facteurs-clés associés au développement de l'industrie du bâtiment à travers le monde sont identifiés en utilisant une approche de type théorie enracinée. Ceci impliquait d'abord l'identification de 62 variables provenant d'études antérieures. Une étude par questionnaire a ensuite été utilisée pour obtenir des opinions sur la force actuelle de chaque variable. Les données qui en ont résulté ont été soumises à une analyse factorielle. Un jeu de huit facteurs clés en est ressorti, comprenant les facteurs suivants: (1) une amélioration des pratiques et de la culture sous l'impulsion de l'industrie; (2) les ressources financières et la confiance des investisseurs; (3) les compétences humaines et une culture de la transparence; (4) des stratégies et des politiques gouvernementales de soutien du secteur du bâtiment; (5) de la recherche et développement au bénéfice du bâtiment; (6) une culture du bâtiment autonome; (7) un soutien institutionnel; et (8) des attitudes de soutien de la part des organismes d'aide. Ces facteurs s'avèrent pertinents aussi bien pour les pays développés que pour les pays en voie de développement.

Mots clés: renforcement des capacités, industrie du bâtiment, développement de l'industrie du bâtiment, performances du secteur du bâtiment, gouvernance, théorie enracinée     

从管理到治理:建设项目理论演进探析

在理论与实践双重需求的驱动下,对建设项目的研究视角正在从管理的层面扩展到治理和体制的层面.该领域理论演进的逻辑可以概括为:主流治理理论及其知识基础的普遍性与建筑业特殊性的有机结合.分析结果表明,国内外对建设项目治理的研究已取得多方面的成果,但是整体上仍处于起步阶段;未来的发展将呈现出一种多层次与多元化的态势.     

Business definition and performance implications: the case of the Belgian construction sector

Business definition (either explicitly or implicitly defined) matters in the construction sector in Belgium. A business is a three‐dimensional ‘strategic space’ within an industry, defined by the buyer types targeted, product types sold and geographical reach. The research setting is one of family owned small non‐diversified firms in the construction industry. The sample consists of 61 firms. Data on these firms were gathered for the year 2006. Firms with a similar business definition within the construction sector were clustered. Three clusters could be delineated: residential, non‐residential and a civil engineering business. Performance differs between the three businesses. Performance was measured with perceptions on sales, sales growth, gross sales margin and return on invested capital. Perceived performance correlated with financial performance. Competitive forces differ according to the business. Firms in the civil engineering sector working for government agencies performed best.     

Construction business system in China: an institutional transformation perspective

During the transformational period from a planned economic system to a market-oriented one, China's construction business system is in an intermediate stage of development. The developing business system has played an increasingly important part in regulating the relations between various actors in the building sector, but the disordered situation in the construction market has fully revealed the shortcomings of the system. Using international experience and practice for reference, China is making efforts to promote the construction business system with Chinese characteristics. The institutional change involves reforms in legislation, property rights, price mechanism and the investment system. The crucial issue lies in deregulation, but this is difficult to realize for a government-led reform. Only if government's control and intervention are decreased enough can the construction market and related professional bodies play their proper roles so that the development platform of China's construction industry can be gradually perfected.     

Water governance models for meeting sustainable development Goals:A structured literature review

This article analyzes water governance models in the context of sustainable development. Specifically, it aims to understand which dimensions of these models need to be rethought to meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda, especially SDG#6, considering the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We present a broad review of the literature from a database containing 118 publications from 2015 to 2020. The data collection process was structured in two phases: collecting articles from the ISI Web of Science and Google Scholars and a content analysis of the selected papers. The findings highlight that collaboration, coordination and stakeholder engagement are the crucial elements that water governance models should include to address the global sustainability challenge. How these principles can be translated into practice to enhance water resource management at the local level appears crucial but has been under-investigated in the literature, so a clear pathway toward sustainability is lacking. Implications for academia and management are discussed.     

基于治理的建设项目理论探讨

研究了公司治理理论,结合建设项目的具体特点,对传统建设项目的建设方式作了理论分析,探讨了建设项目治理的一般理论,对企业管理及建设项目管理具有一定的指导作用。     

Dutch contracting fraud and governance issues

Building companies in the Netherlands used a clandestine sharing of the markets. These illegal actions have resulted in increased construction prices in the tender phase as well as false invoicing and fiscal statements. The irregular practices were precipitated by the structure of the building industry, inadequate governance policies and enforcement. Recommendations are made for government policy to promote better institutional frameworks within public-sector client organizations and for creative competition based on wider selection criteria.     

Regional changes in the urban system and governance responses in Hungary

This article aims, first, to define the nature of regional changes in the Hungarian urban system over the past two decades and the mechanism of the processes responsible for these. Secondly, it examines how these changes affected urban governance and how they influenced the urbanisation processes, as well as conflicts arising from differences in the pace of urbanisation and changes in governance, the diverse nature and possible conflicts of interest of the actors bringing about these changes, and divergence arising from the changes. Thirdly, we compare our conclusions with the results of similar processes in other Central European countries.     

Project governance mechanisms and the performance of software development projects: Moderating role of requirements risk

Over the years, practitioners and academicians have been perplexed by low efficiency and poor performance in IT projects. Previous studies have uncovered a variety of critical factors, including effective project governance mechanisms that can trigger project performance and curb opportunism. However, an obvious question that emerges is how effective these governance mechanisms are at improving the performance of an IT organization and software development project in the presence of risk factors. Hence, the overarching objective of the current study is the development of a moderation model to investigate the effectiveness of these governance mechanisms in the presence of requirements risk. This paper follows a positivist research philosophy where a quantitative deductive approach has been used to collect the data of 318 respondents from 175 software development firms based in Pakistan. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through SmartPLS 3 have been used to analyze the hypotheses. The results of the study indicate that contractual and relational governances significantly influence project performance and are useful in reducing opportunism. Moreover, there is evidence that the presence of requirements risk tends to negatively moderate the influence of contractual and relational governances on project performance. The findings will help not only Pakistan's software firms, but also those in developing countries that want to improve performance through effective project governance and risk management.     

Collusion in the Dutch construction industry: An industrial organization perspective

Several investigations by parliament, cabinet, justice and antitrust authorities have shown a widespread use of cartels and structural bid rigging within the Dutch construction industry. The reputation of the Dutch construction industry has been dented with both the general public and clients. As a response, the Netherlands' parliamentary inquiry Committee on Construction Fraud adopted the guiding principle of ‘competition is good’ and urged the restoration of the proper functioning of the market. The proposed default approach to public sector procurement is design–bid–build with public tendering and selection of the lowest price. A concise overview of the investigations is provided, relating the collusions and their persistence to emerging insights from the field of industrial organization theory into underlying factors and causes. A tougher public sector procurement policy and the continued reliance on lowest bid prices may not contribute to the reform of the Dutch construction industry as intended. One-dimensional, price-oriented competition only provides a static, project-based efficiency. However, it neither addresses a number of organizational issues nor resolves the underlying pressures leading to collusion. An alternative approach allowing for a balance of competition and collaboration with a wider number of selection criteria variables would create a more dynamic, iterative competitive process over a longer timeframe and would develop an innovative, efficient and profitable industry. Although the inquiry committee acknowledges these new methods of procurement, it is expected that the overriding ambition to restore proper market function (through increased competition) will steer towards the more traditional procurement approaches.     

建筑业高质量发展的内涵与政府治理职能研究

建筑业高质量发展对新时代我国经济发展模式的转变至关重要,其实现有赖政府充分发挥行业治理作用。通过梳理“高质量发展”相关理论成果,从发展标准、方式和过程 3 个维度界定建筑业高质量发展的科学内涵,构建建筑业高质量发展下的政府治理职能分析框架,据此提出高质量发展要求下我国政府治理职能的提升对策与建议。研究结果表明,在支撑建筑业的高质量发展阶段,我国政府亟待从战略规划、政策制定、制度创新、服务供给和市场监管等多项职能出发,提升政府对建筑业高质量发展的综合治理能力。     

Managing knowledge: lessons from the oil and gas sector

Knowledge management (KM) is of increasing interest to a number of leading UK construction organizations. Companies are keen to find out what other organizations are doing both within the construction and other industry sectors. There are important lessons to be learned from Canadian oil and gas organizations on how they manage their knowledge. A case study is used to explore the KM activities of eight leading organizations and investigate the opportunities for construction organizations to adopt some of their ideas. Three areas are covered: KM strategy and implementation, people aspects of KM and metrics for KM performance. There are several potential lessons for UK organizations: the need for KM to be driven by senior management if it is to have any notable success; the use of people‐centred techniques for sharing tacit knowledge and IT tools for sharing explicit knowledge; the importance of selling solutions to project teams to obtain employee support for KM; peer recognition has a more sustainable impact than financial reward; and KM measurement should be considered as a way of improving its impact, rather than justifying expenditure.     

建设工程监理行业的现存问题、矛盾与发展探讨——基于建设工程监理制度分析的视角

对建设工程监理制度的形成过程和相关法律法规进行了梳理,同时从监理企业、从业人员、业主行为、市场环境以及政府监管五个方面描述了建设工程监理行业的现存问题。指出建设工程监理的制度矛盾是导致建设工程监理行业尴尬局面的根本原因,最后给出了相应的政策建议。     

基于熵理论的建筑业可持续发展研究

将熵理论应用到建筑业的可持续发展研究中,从熵理论一般思维的角度结合建筑业的实际情况分析了建筑业实行可持续发展的必要性和基本途径,并在此基础上提出了一些建议和改进措施.     

建筑业的诱致性增长点和强制性增长点研究

我国正处于经济转型中,转型经济对建筑业经济增长点的形成产生重要影响。本文基于制度变迁的供给需求理论,建构了建筑业制度变迁的增长点模型,将这种影响因素划分为诱致性增长点和强制性增长点,并结合我国建筑业与国际建筑业接轨所作的市场机制和管理体制改革进行了研究。     

我国建筑行业协会制度变迁及发展研究

本文阐述了我国建筑行业协会的性质、作用及制度变迁,并对其进行了经济学分析。伴随着政府职能和管理手段的转变,行业协会势必要担负起行业管理的重任。文章进一步分析了我国建筑行业协会存在的问题,指出了发展对策。     

高等教育数字化治理：缘起、挑战与应对

高等教育是建设教育强国的龙头,高等教育数字化是实现教育大国向教育强国跃升的必然选择。在全球教育大变革的背景下,高等教育数字化治理是顺应数字时代的必然要求、提升教育质量的客观需要、国家战略发展的内在需求。虽然我国高等教育数字化治理工作已经取得了一定成就,但仍存在数字治理理念尚未转变、数字治理主体素养欠缺、数字治理技术不够成熟、数字治理制度有待完善等现实挑战。针对此,高等教育治理主体应转变理念、培养高等教育数字治理思维,提升素养、培育高素质技术型数字人才,变革技术、推动高等教育数字转型升级,完善数字化制度建设、优化高等教育数字治理布局。通过数字技术为高等教育深度赋能,促进高等教育高质量、可持续发展,让数字化治理为我国高等教育现代化建设提供有力支撑。     

济南市建筑业发展战略研究

以科学发展观为统领,以行业和谐为主线,以体制机制创新为重点,系统研究济南市建筑业的发展战略问题.阐述了建筑业和谐发展内涵,分析了济南市建筑业发展的基本条件,确定了战略目标,提出了"四个坚持"与"四个构建"的发展思路,即坚持科学发展,构建和谐的发展模式;坚持改革创新,构建和谐的制度体系;坚持法治建设,构建和谐的市场关系;坚持以人为本,构建和谐的劳动关系.