ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief introduction to the concepts of stakeholders and self-assessment. These two key concepts are not, and should not be viewed as, mutually exclusive. They are but two sides of the same coin, and the aim of any construction-related enterprise should be to understand who its stakeholders are, and what they require from them. Self-assessment enables a construction company to determine if it is in fact meeting the stated requirements of its stakeholders. Within this chapter are highlighted stakeholder issues, key performance indicators (KPIs) and benchmarking. However, these topics are presented here as ‘an introduction to.’, because self-assessment in practice is covered in considerable detail in Chapters 3, 4 and 6. After all, a (construction) business must change to stay ahead or get ahead.
If a business does not keep up then its only option is to fall behind (McDonald and Tanner 1996).
