• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.2529-2539
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• 2013

The Korean construction industry has led the miraculous economic boost of Korea by providing solid domestic infrastructures such as highway, roads, and airports. It also played a critical role in global construction market and eaned more than 500 billions dollars in terms of their accumulated international orders. However, domestic construction market has significantly decreased in recent years due to the domestic political environments and global economic crisis. Therefore, the importance of international construction market cannot be more emphasized to the Korean construction market in order for the sustainable growth. There has been, however, little research in the area of identifying required competency elements for the Korean construction industry to stay successful in the global market. The main purpose of this study is to identify elements of core competency to increase global competitiveness for Korean construction industry. Core global construction competency elements were derived from the internal and external environmental analyses along with the extensive literature review, expert interviews and a survey. This study utilized the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) and a gap analysis in providing insights on the status competitiveness of the Korean construction industry in terms of required global core competency elements. The analysis shows that project management and financial management are the main areas for improvements required to engineering contractors while construction contractors need to take a more balanced approach among technical, project management, and financial management in order to increase their global competencies.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.140-151
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• 2013

In 2011 and 2012, Korean construction firms awarded around $ 64.5. Billion each year from the overseas market in 2011. This contract value accounted for overwhelming portion of total overseas construction contract values, and this growth is expected to continue for the next decade. However, contract scopes awarded to the Korean construction firms mainly involve detailed design and construction phases due to their competitiveness for the construction techniques. In other words, front-end-engineering-design and construction project management are not considered part of core business due to the lack of project management skills and experience. The researchers focused on development of construction sequence model required to improve construction planning and scheduling skills for the Korean construction firms. The model identifies critical work items and the sequence throughout project execution process. In addition, the researchers developed a risk evaluation method by applying fuzzy theory to the critical construction activities for the industrial plant construction projects. Developed methodology will help project practitioners to develop project schedule in a timely and effe ctive manner and evaluate project risks associated with scheduling process for the industrial plant construction projects.