In most construction supply chains, designing, manufacturing and constructing parties work together in temporary coalitions on different building projects. Relations between these parties have often been criticized for being adversarial and conservative (for example, Egan, 1998). The dissatisfaction with this traditional organization of construction supply chains has led several firms to offer integrated project coalitions such as design-build or design-build-finance-maintain-operate (DBFMO). These approaches aim to reduce project uncertainty by integrating different stages of the building process. The emergence of these non-traditional building project management methods results in a less fragmented organization of the building process and provides possibilities for supply chain management practices that may approximate to established practices within other industries. However, in many design-build and DBFMO projects, the traditional working climate in which collaboration is poor and interaction tends to be conflict-oriented, is still common. Consequently, although the construction industry is 'ahead of most other industries in terms of outsourcing' (Dubois and Gadde, 2000, p. 207), construction contractors still do not take full advantage of the opportunities and benefits of buyer-supplier cooperation.
展开▼
