Strategic business model typologies evident in the Chinese real-estate industry

The Chinese real estate industry has emerged over recent decades as one of the key drivers of Chinese economic growth and attracted thousands of players nationwide. Yet, despite the continuing importance of the real-estate industry in China, there has not been any work done to identify nor describe the strategic business models used by enterprises within the sector. This study fills this gap in the literature. This paper begins by building a framework for studying the strategic business models used within the Chinese real-estate industry, and then goes on to identify the generic models that exist in the industry. A two-step cluster analysis of 117 Chinese real-estate companies was carried out over seven parameters identified in the literature as impacting business models: 1) clients, 2) products offered, 3) market locale, 4) financial structure, 5) value chain embeddedness, 6) core competency, and, 7) revenue source. Five generic strategic business models that characterize the Chinese real-estate industry were identified: 1) commercial property model, 2) government servicing model, 3) cost efficiency model, 4) asset management model, and, 5) high-turnover model. The findings will assist industry practitioners in evaluating and informing their own competitive positions within the Chinese real-estate industry

Global activity distribution patterns of top international Chinese contractors

Top international Chinese contractors\u27 (TICCs) are now major influential players in the global construction market. The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable growth in their global rankings, by revenue. The spatial distribution and expansive behaviors of TICCs are of interest to international contractors generally, as well as to national infrastructure procurers. Nevertheless, few researchers have considered the spatial distribution of TICCs. This study demonstrates that TICCs’ market selection and market positioning are not independent, but have similar characteristics. Clustering methods were used to order the data, with ESDA methods used to analyze the data. The key findings are that TICCs’ target specific national markets and that these markets tend to be geographically proximate creating regional agglomerations. The inference to be drawn is that TICCs tend to follow in each other\u27s footsteps as they expand globally

Lifecycle performance measurement of public-private partnerships: a case study in China’s water sector

Numerous public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects have been operating in China after nearly 30 years of development. Surprisingly, few lessons and experiences have been drawn from these existing cases, thereby creating an urgent demand for a comprehensive evaluation of their performance. Thus, this paper presents a timely contribution to the assessment of a representative PPP project in China’s water sector, the Chengdu No. 6 Water Plant B Project, from a lifecycle perspective. Through a triangulation method, the project is generally deemed a success providing instructive lessons on the future evolutionary development of PPPs in China despite several imperfections caused by particular historical factors. Moreover, this paper advances the performance measurement of PPPs offering empirical insights to promote the efficacy of conceptual performance measurement frameworks. The outcomes of this research are especially valuable to the current Chinese PPP community where huge opportunities and challenges simultaneously exist

Comprehensive analysis of BIM adoption: From narrow focus to holistic understanding

Despite ongoing research in Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO), little is understood about BIM's interaction with its adoption process. This paper conducts a comprehensive scoping review that utilises secondary data to systematically map the existing literature on the adoption of BIM within AECO organisations. A literature review identified 146 papers on BIM in AECO organisations, categorising them into 46 on pre-adoption, 85 on post-adoption, and 15 on both phases. Findings reveal a tendency towards a ‘tunnel vision’, isolating a single organisational aspect or adoption phase. However, the study finds that BIM significantly interacts with various organisational elements, such as environment, power dynamics, social structure, and culture, necessitating comprehensive changes and strategies both before and after adoption. Advocating for a holistic approach, the study emphasises integrating change management, continuous learning, and ongoing improvement in BIM implementation. This perspective is a significant contribution to understanding BIM's multifaceted impact in AECO organisations

The effectiveness of web-based technology platforms in facilitating construction project collaboration: A qualitative analysis of 1,152 user reviews

The construction industry accounts for 9% of global GDP. Efforts at addressing construction’s inherent inefficiencies have over the last decade increasingly involved the deployment of web-based collaborative tools. Consequently, much research has been devoted to assessing these platforms; including interoperability, workflow management and technological limits. What has not been considered to date are the views of web-based tool users themselves as to the functionality, potency and usability of the various platforms available on the market. Currently, there are 5,300,000 documented users of web-based collaborative tools. If web-based collaboration is to be further enhanced, the views of users must be known. This study explores this dimension. Financeonline’s top six tools were considered: CoCostruct, PlanGrid, Autodesk BIM 360, Procore, e-builder and Aconex. Around 200 reviews for each tool were collected from ‘Business Software Reviews from Software Advice,’ resulting in a total dataset of 1,152 complete reviews. Text-mining analysis was applied to this dataset, using RapidMiner Studio 7.5. Thirty key terms with a frequency of over 100 occurrences were retrieved; terms such as software, manage, inform, support, easy use, function, track and friendly. These constitute the subject of the reviews. These terms were then analyzed for sentiment qualifiers; either positive or negative. A total of 804 sentiments were positive, 322 negative and 26 neutral. This study thus highlights that while 70% of user reviews of web-based collaborative tools are positive, there remains much room for improvement. Areas for improvement are also indicated by this study

An evaluation of urban renewal policies of Shenzhen, China

Urban renewal is a pragmatic approach in the sustainable urban development of urban areas, and has now become an essential strategy for most metropolises in China. The question of how urban renewal can best be realized has gained the attention of urban planning researchers looking to formulate practical evidence-based urban renewal policies through policy instruments. This paper analyzes the urban renewal policies of Shenzhen, a pioneer city in China in the promulgation of urban renewal legislation. In doing so, an analytical framework is established by focusing on three main policy instruments, along with several sub-instruments within them. Shenzhen’s five main urban renewal policies, issued between 2009 and 2016, are analyzed through this framework. Content analysis and pattern-matching is used in the review and analysis of the data. The results show that “Environment” side policies tend to be the most widely applied by the Shenzhen municipal government. Additionally, “Regulation Control” and “Goal-planning” policies are the two instruments most frequently adopted as sub-instruments. Moreover, it is found that the application of “Supply” side polices and “Demand” side polices needs be strengthened. These findings identify the types of urban renewal policies currently employed in China and provide a clear understanding of the current policy priorities, with suggestions and insight into further urban renewal policy initiatives for Shenzhen and beyond

Factors Driving Success of Cost Management Practices in Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)

Integrated project delivery (IPD) is a mode of project procurement recognised as facilitating superior project performance. However, this success is contingent on effective cost management practices that share cost data with all project stakeholders in an accurate, timely and transparent manner. Despite an extensive literature on aspects of cost management, none identifies the essential ingredients required of an effective cost management system, sufficiently robust to support successful IPD projects. Candidate cost management augmenting practices are drawn from the literature, and presented for scrutiny in questionnaire form, to fifty IPD experienced experts, based in the USA, UK and Australia. Findings reveal activity-based costing (ABC) to be effective at identifying overhead costs and creating accounting transparency. Similarly, earned value management (EVM), in combination with ABC, is effective at developing mathematical models for equitable risk-reward distribution. Moreover, web-based management systems, as supported by Building Information Modelling (BIM), are effective at generating trust and collaboration on which IPD success depends. A questionnaire survey using purposive sampling was conducted to assess the factors driving success of implementing IPD regarding cost management process. The contribution to knowledge made by this paper is in identifying requisite support mechanisms essential to elevate traditional cost management practices to the higher standard needed to ensure IPD delivery success

End-user engagement: The missing link of sustainability transition for Australian residential buildings

This paper argues that attempts to transform Australia's urban environment into a sufficiently sustainable one has been misdirected. The ‘green rating tool,’ industry's adherence to relevant standards and governmental policies represent the primary means of effecting the sustainability transition. However, only high-profile commercial building owners seem interested in being green-rated; the actual end-users of buildings are far less committed (e.g. employees ensconced in commercial buildings and residential home occupiers). Through a systematic review of 103 journal articles published on the topic of end-users and sustainability transition, original findings are presented. The findings reveal that most residential end-users do not purchase green homes and without their ‘buy-in,’ sustainability transition across Australia will continue to fail. This paper offers a critical analysis of the status-quo, identifying where the effort to generate a sustainable urban environment has been misdirected, what challenges prevail, and why residential end-users have been overlooked. In looking for a way forward that engages end-users, the paper proposes that financial incentives for the purchase of low-carbon buildings must be introduced into the residential real-estate market. And the modeling for this rebate is discussed in terms of emissions trading schemes or carbon tax

Barriers inhibiting the transition to sustainability within the Australian construction industry: An investigation of technical and social interactions

Research concedes that the building industry in Australia has fallen short of satisfying sustainability requirements. Currently, the responsibility for transitioning the building industry into one that is sustainable is laid largely at the feet of low-carbon governance instruments such as mandatory codes and sustainability rating tools. The behavior of groups, interactions of individual actors, relationship between actors' and group level behaviors that affect implementation of these instruments have, however, received only cursory attention. This study therefore seeks to move beyond the instruments debate and identify a broader range of factors inhibiting the transition to sustainability within the Australian building industry. It draws on focus group discussions held with 26 leading sustainability experts and practitioners from around the country. Whereas, earlier work on impediments to sustainability pre-identify potential causal factors, this study, with Sustainability Transition as the theoretical lens, allowing for new and as yet unidentified impediments to emerge. Indeed, while findings confirm a range of technical shortcomings hindering sustainability transition, the deeper barrier is shown to be the prevalence of a dysfunctional sustainability ecosystem where siloed vested interest groups exploit Australia's ineffective transition regimes for their own gain. The practical implication is that current efforts to refine rating tools and modify building practices – remedies identified in earlier research – will not be enough to effect meaningful transition, as long as end-users remain disenfranchised, confused and unpersuaded of the benefits of sustainable buildings