A new study shows that companies within the construction industry are not focusing enough on development but instead they focus on operation and management of projects. By doing so, the industry misses out on the opportunities for innovation and growth.
The study “How do companies within the construction industry work with business development?” has been prepared by Jesper Salling Nielsen from the consultancy, Quo Vadis forretningsudvikling, together with Christian Langhoff Thuesen from DTU Management Engineering and Christian Koch from Aarhus University .
According to the study, the managers in the companies have unintended practices of business development and only to a limited extend do they use tools for gaining structure and continuity in the company’s business development. The reason for this is lack of knowledge about the tools and how to use them and partly also lack of interest within working in the field of business development. Instead they use their time in areas they have experience in – that is projects within known and well defined areas.
The consequence of an unintended use of strategy within the construction industry is that the companies act reactively and do not develop competitive advantages but are caught in the industry’s tough competition on price. Furthermore, this means that the development of the industry takes baby-steps that do not fundamentally change the existing ways of doing construction.
By developing intended business development within the construction industry, innovative dynamics may be created and thereby help the companies and the industry out of the current crisis and additionally help them to strengthen the effectiveness and innovative force of construction.
You can get further information about the study by contacting Postdoc Christian Thuesen from DTU Management Engineering on chth@man.dtu.dk