• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2013.01a
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• pp.308-314
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• 2013

Although global construction spending has experienced slow growth due to consecutive economic crises, global contractors have consistently attempted to expand their overseas market share, leading to more intense competition among contractors in the international construction market. In this market environment, owners, clients and financial institutions require reasonable and systematic criteria to effectively assess the business capabilities of international construction firms. However, the existing evaluation methods for construction firms rarely consider overseas-focused business capabilities. To address this problem, this study proposes a quantitative approach to assessing the overseas business capabilities of international construction firms. The limitations of existing approaches are reviewed, and the capabilities required to perform overseas businesses are analyzed through expert interviews. Finally, 18 evaluation indices are suggested in four categories: technology resources, project management, experience and performance, and sustainability. The relative weight of each index is determined according to the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, and a preliminary investigation of 11 Korean construction firms is conducted. The proposed method is expected that it will provide the rational criteria for international owners, clients, and financial institutions for decision-making and for evaluating international contractors.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.623-630
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• 2019

As the Asian region becomes strategically important in the international construction market, competition among construction firms has been more intense. While existing literature on the Asian construction market have mainly focused on qualitative approaches to market entry strategies and risk assessment, quantitative research to explain the dynamic competitive structure of the market has been rarely conducted. To address this issue, this study analyzes the structure of contract performance in the Asian region based on the data from 3,996 projects awarded to Korean construction firms from 2009 to 2017. In addition, this study applies a mathematical model using both static (market concentration) and dynamic (market mobility and instability) analyses. Consequently, the static analysis indicates that market concentration led by top-four firms tends to be increased, and on the dynamic aspect, the market position of Korean construction firms is recently weakened and fluctuated in most of the Asian regions and the construction sectors. The methodology and result of this paper would be meaningful not only to understand the underlying structure of industry-level performance but also to provide a useful reference for establishing competitive strategies towards the Asian market.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.599-607
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• 2022

Recently, there has been a steady decrease in the proportion of the construction sector among Korean engineering firms. Thus it is essential for Korean engineering firms in the construction sector, which lack experience in overseas ventures, to identify and improve their competitiveness for successful overseas expansion. Therefore, in this study, changes in Korean engineering firms' capabilities for the last decade were analyzed to promote entry into overseas road and water resource engineering markets. Competency factors that require urgent improvement were derived based on Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) as a tool for quantitative measurement. As a result, the factor that shows low performance compared to the importance is an overall understanding of the target country in the road and water resource areas. Knowledge of regulatory issues on design, the ability of time management software, and knowledge of the regulatory problems on construction safety are also insufficient. This study can be used as a research methodology to identify competitiveness that Korean engineering firms have to strengthen when they advance into overseas markets in roads, water resources, and other areas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.584-587
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• 2004

After the IMF bailout, the Environment of Domestic Construction Industry had changed dramatically Therefore the IMF, Domestic Construction Firms are secured by the government regulations and some traditional Practices. However, due to the following reasons: a decrease in public works, an increase in uncertainty of market prediction, the change of bid system, and increase in construction firms, recently the competition among construction firms has became keen. Under the serious competition, In order that medium-size construction firms survive in the construction market, it is need to establish the strategy that could increase productivity. In order to establish the strategy, firstly, construction firms should set up an appraisal standard of construction firms. This paper propose a suitable appraisal standard that construction firm's strategy establish in environment change of the construction industry.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.6 no.2 s.24
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• pp.102-110
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• 2005

After the IMF bailout, the Environment of Domestic Construction Industry had changed dramatically. Before the IMF, Domestic Construction Firms are secured by the government regulations and some traditional practices. However, due to the following reasons: a decrease in public works, an increase in uncertainty of market prediction, the change of bid system, and increase in construction firms, recently the competition among construction firms has became keen. Under the serious competition, in order that medium-size construction firms survive in the construction market, it is need to establish the strategy that could increase productivity. In order to establish the strategy, firstly, construction firms should set up an appraisal standard of construction firms. Consequently, This study will introduce companies' objective appraisal in domestic construction market as well as basal data for setting-up strategy through adaptation industry structure analysis of business administration for strategic group analysis and a company which has lagged behind competitive power among the competitive companies can choose a target strategic group which should be pursued it in the future through being classified according to a group taken analogical strategy.

• 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.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.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.4 no.3 s.15
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• pp.76-84
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• 2003

The bankruptcy possibility of construction firms have been higher by the environment of current construction industry. Thus, converting management environment for growth into that for value or profit is required. Nowadays, funds of construction firms is almost provided by financial institutions. As the firms' size grow, they have a form of fund provision through the securities market; however, fair distribution for returns is not practiced by opening company. Especially, construction firms lost trust of Investor by lack of awareness to firm clearness, and then a vicious cycle of no effectiveness in fund provision through securities market is continued again. On this study correlation between stock quotations and primary financial factors of firms in order to grasp actual management condition in construction firms was analyzed. By this, the correlation between stock quotations and the result of firm management was provided. Also, necessity of firm's capital provision was explained, thus ways to ensure firm clearness was searched.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.977-987
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• 2014

Since 1960's, international construction market have explosively increase and have reached up to 600 Bil. US$ through active participation of construction firms and steady support of government. Nevertheless, owners, clients and financial institutions required reasonable criteria to effectively assess the overseas business capabilities of construction firms. However, the existing methods for construction firms rarely considers the perspective of overseas business capabilities. To overcome these problems, this study proposes an evaluation system for overseas business capabilities of construction firms. First, the needs for new evaluation system is derived through FGI, and the direction of new evaluation system is presented by reviewing the limitations of existing methods. Also, the capabilities that are required for the performances for overseas businesses were analyzed through expert interviews. Finally, 31 primary evaluation indices consisting of 3 criteria - appropriateness of index, possibility of quantification, possibility of data gathering - are derived under 9 categories and 3 perspectives through surveys and consultation meeting. The preliminary investigation of 24 Korean construction firms are conducted for comparing the existing evaluation systems and to verify its applicability. The proposed method could provide a rational criterion to evaluate the construction firms, improve internal capacity of firms, and ultimately supports the success of the construction industry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• autumn
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• pp.88-95
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• 2003

A firm's business composition and the sales volume of each business segment are subject to change depending, to a considerable extent, on the firm's business strategy. These changes were weighted and represented as a single index, referred to by scholars in strategic management and industrial organization research fields as 'firm entropy' then its impact on firms' profitability was assessed over twelve years. The performance differences between contractor and non-contractor firms, as well as focused and diversified firms, were compared through a Longitudinal Data Analysis Technique within a Hierarchical Linear Modeling framework. Hypothesis was formulated based on firm diversification theories and previous research findings. The hypothesis was tested according to the modeling outcomes, and implications are presented. The research findings indicate that the level of firms' long-term profitability supports the argument that the construction industry is highly competitive and mature.