• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.746-747
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• 2015

Recently, Korea has achieved accumulated total value of orders of six hundred billion dollars in international construction market, and it is facing a new turning point by entering the overseas construction market. However, according to the statistics on the current internal construction market, the accumulated value of orders has been mainly obtained by plant projects in the Middle-East area. To improve international competitiveness of Korean construction industry, it is required to expand and diversify the target areas and construction business sectors. To expand markets, each construction firm should establish the expansion strategy and assess the capability which includes the strength and weakness of their firm. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the capability of the Korean construction firms for overseas expansion. Through the research, Korean construction industry is expected to strengthen competitiveness toward the overseas markets. Furthermore, this research contributes to expanding and diversifying markets for domestic construction firms.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.1237-1243
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• 2005

International construction projects are exposed to various and complicated risk factors stemming from different political, economical, social, and cultural backgrounds, which make contractors entering into international construction to experience severe losses. It implies that overseas markets do not necessarily secure the high return, which is typically expected to in the high risky attempts. Accordingly, contractors need to evaluate various risk factors faced with overseas construction projects that can possibly aggravate the profitability. This paper aims at establishing a valid groundwork for further research on developing the integrated risk management model. For this end, it analyzes the long-term trend of profitability on total of 3,487 projects performed by Korean global contractors in world-wide construction markets during the last four decades. Then, it investigates the possible factors/causes of bad profit that have affected the profitability significantly through the structured surveys of 90 real overseas projects based on the project-specific information and experiences of Korean contractors in overseas markets. Furthermore, it analyzes relative importance of these factors/causes and identifies the important features expected for the risk management of international construction projects. Finally, vital distinctions between success and failure projects and lessons learned to improve profitability are then distilled.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.459-462
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• 2015

Korean construction industry made a huge growth over several decades. However, domestic construction market has shrunk in recent years due to the domestic political environments and global economic crisis. Today, the international construction markets become more important to be investigated, and demands for international construction study have risen. The purpose of this study is to search for measures to compare the potential of Southeast Asian countries' construction markets and select strategic target countries where the Korean construction companies pursue to explore for future investments. The research team investigated a range of selection factors which can represent the construction market condition of each country. These factors included the size of the construction industry, economic growth potential, current relationship with Korea, the level of infrastructure development, political situation, etc. After collecting data, each selection factor was scored by experts' analyses and the total score was given to each country. As a result, the rating identified attractive countries for future investments: Myanmar, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. For the target countries, analytical methods were used for in-depth market analysis that can provide comprehensive insight and strategic clue for development of short-/mid-/long-term roadmap and action plans. The research findings would be used to support rational decision making of construction investment advancing to the Southeast Asian economic growth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• autumn
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• pp.306-310
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• 2002

Agreements such as the Uruguay Round and the New Round have dramatically changed international construction markets. The globalization of the construction industry provides tremendous opportunities for construction industry, while it generates the complex skeins of risks to contractors wllo would like to expand into new foreign markets. According to ENR, recently about $13.9\%$ of contractors that entered international construction markets have experienced loss in projects and furthermore, their average profits have also declined continuously. Accordingly, contractors need a strategic risk management system for assessing various risks and improving Profitability for overseas construction projects. This paper discusses the long-term trend of profitability performed by Korean contractors in international construction markets during the last 35 years. Then, it identifies the key factors that affect the profitability significantly through the structured surveys from 59 actual overseas projects. These factors can be used for developing a risk management system for international construction project.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.389-396
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• 2005

Despite very good reputation that Korean construction industrial firms had enjoyed until early 1990's in overseas markets, their participation abroad drastically declined after the delivery of two(2) million unit-housing project in the early 1990's and the foreign currency crisis that took place in the late 1990's. The revival of booming construction industry in domestic market is far beyond the expectation due to the long recession of the construction economy and government's severe restriction against real estate development. Under such crucial circumstances, the construction industrial firms' strategy to survive is the more active business promotion in overseas markets. However, the Korean construction industrial firms have to abandon the labor intensive strategy, through that they have enjoyed until the early 1990's, and turn to management oriented strategy which may be a new prosperous horizon and a new challenge as well, because the labor cost of newly developing countries is much more competitive. The aim of this study is to suggest how to cope with current market situations through a chronological survey based on the cost data prevailed during four decades from the 1960's until the 1990's in overseas markets.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.112-121
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• 2013

Korean overseas construction has been on the rise, and exceeded the 2011 goal of $50 billion by securing $59.1 billion in orders. However, these orders were heavily concentrated in the Middle East (50%) and plant construction contracts (75%). This study suggests that, to maintain growth in foreign markets, Korea construction companies should enter into the high value-added investment development business and aggressively seek ways to diversify their regions of activity and construction types. To secure the entry of Korean construction companies into lucrative markets and better understand the competitive factors facing Korean construction concerns, a survey of the literature and focus group discussions targeting relevant experts were carried out. From those efforts, a list of 44 competitive factors crucial to entering and competing in the international investment development business was developed. Survey responses were analyzed by applying IPA. The results revealed that while Korean concerns compete well in engineering/technical capabilities, maintaining a cooperative relationship with contractors, and warranty/after sales service capabilities, their ability to obtain business information on the target country, to form private/public cooperative systems, and to build international human networks require immediate improvement.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4D
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• pp.635-647
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• 2006

Korean construction companies first advanced to the international markets in 1960's and so far have brought more than 4,900 projects which account for 193 billion dollars approximately. With the large increase of national employment and income being followed by the achievement, Korea's construction industry has made an enormous contribution to the improvement of domestic economy for the last 40 years. However, recently the increased risk in international markets as well as the sharpening competition with foreign companies promising in terms of advanced technologies and low labor cost have been driving Korean construction away from the market shares. According to ENR (Engineering News Record, 1994~2003), it is revealed that 15.1% of top 225 global contractors are suffering from loss in international construction markets. This phenomenon is largely due to the highly uncertain characteristics of international projects, which are inherently exposed to various and complicated risky situations. Furthermore, especially for Korean construction companies, it is often the case that the failure in an international construction project cannot be offset by even a sufficient number of successful domestic achievements. Therefore, not only the selective screening among the nominated projects which have strong possibility of collapse but the systematic strategies for controlling potential risk factors are also considered indispensable in international construction portfolio management. The purpose of this study is to first analyze the causal relationships of the profit-influencing variables and the project success, and develop the profitability forecasting model in international construction projects.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.134-142
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• 2008

Recently, international plants construction markets are expending. Specially, oil/gas plants constructions in Middle-East are booming. However, international plants construction projects are high risky. So a risk assessments and managements methodology for international plants construction is needed. In this study, the risk assessment methodology for international plants construction is proposed on the basis of the literature review in the international construction risk assessment methods and the knowledge of experts explored by interview. In addition, case study in Middle East was applied for reviewing these risk assessments and managements methodology for international plants construction.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.40-40
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• 2009

Construction firms have long sought success in the global construction market through diversifying revenue sources and project portfolios. The volume of international contracts has contributed to firms' sustained growth by mitigating the impact of the domestic market's cyclical nature. In spite of the importance of international construction, the uncertainty and dynamic changes surrounding global construction pose serious threats to global contactors. Over the last decade, the international construction industry has changed drastically in many ways, particularly including financial resource diversity, competition rules for the selection of contractors, and the terms of delivery systems requiring more competent total service providers. This paper investigates the important changes for global contractors through various documentation analysis as well as in-depth interviews with industry experts. This paper then analyzes the common strategies and lessons obtained from the cases of leading global contractors that have sustained their growth in the competitive global construction during the last decade. In addition, the authors further analyzed the comparisons between those firms and Korean contractors to discern any difference in sustaining their growth in the competitive market. It was found that those leading firms were quite proactive and responsive to changing markets by diversifying their market revenues to stabilize their revenue structure and enhancing their competency through a wide range of 'business convergence'. In addition, they significantly increased their upstream/downstream functional capabilities; hence becoming more competent service providers, able to grow in these rapidly changing market conditions. Finally, this paper benchmarks the critical strategies that support growth, which in turn can provide a strategic guideline for expansion into the global construction market.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.1223-1230
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• 2005

The dynamic nature of the A/E/C industry, rapidly changing global market environments, and lowest cost competitive bidding make it difficult to survive in global design markets. To understand the global design markets, a case study has been undertaken. The top 150 global design firms represented in the ENR (Engineering News Record) from 1995 to 2003 are classified into three groups for the case study. First group is the firms which advanced in rank from 1995. Second group is the firms which maintained its rank from 1994 until 2003. Third group is the firms which went down in rank from 1995 until 2003. However, finding key factors and changing business strategies of successful top design firms are the fundamental goals in this paper. After examinations of case studies, this paper concludes and suggests that professionalization, M&A strategies, patrons of the government, and academic support are needed to be successful in the global design & engineering industry.