ABSTRACT
Two major management movements have swept over the construction sector: first of all, the Quality movement initiated by public sector clients mandating compliance with ISO 9000 in the early 1990s and more recently the Lean Construction movement. Clients are reluctant to invest in solution generation upfront; they are generally in a rush to start, and they tend to push decisions and risk down the supply chain. Under these circumstances, all risks are priced conservatively to cover the suppliers’ risk in the absence of information; and client changes during the project are priced as variations and usually command a price premium. Productivity improvement in all industries is driven by innovation in technology and through business process change. In construction industry, with limited collaboration between the parties in the supply chain, innovation is by and large limited to technical developments in individual product and service areas, and through advances in logistics and global procurement.
