ABSTRACT
With the ever-changing construction business environment, small contractors must have the requisite knowledge to effectively secure projects to remain in business. This study focuses on identifying the market environmental factors hindering the successful bidding for small contractors. The research was conducted in Blantyre-Malawi using questionnaire survey. The population was the registered contractors in building and civil category, belonging in class 1 to 4 of company classification in Malawi. The sample size of 159 was selected from 265 contractors by stratified sampling. The results from 126 feedbacks were analyzed by mean score; spearman’s correlation coefficient; frequencies and ANOVA. The top ranked factors are lack of construction associations; increased environmental compliance; lack of mentorship; and increased pandemic effects respectively. The transient nature of this problem in modern times makes the results informative to contractors in Malawi, replication of the study in other parts of the world would be essential for comparative analysis.
