ABSTRACT
The construction industry is generally held to be fragmented, made up of a large number of relatively small firms which join together in temporary pseudo-organisations to undertake specific projects. At the crux of this organisation lies the head or management contractor, whose role, increasingly, is that of management rather than execution. This entity sits at a power locus, with all decisions and cash flow passing through their control. This is an enormously powerful position which carries a corresponding responsibility. The financial management of those firms in this position is what has created the industry as we know it today. This is an industry characterised by brilliantly successful financial management strategies which create wonderful projects, profitably, and generate wealth through competitive infrastructure. It is also an industry which, through woeful financial management strategies, has created loss, heartache, failed projects and cascading insolvency which has gone far beyond the direct influence of one contractor’s projects.
