• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.2 no.2 s.6
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• pp.37-46
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• 2001

Business boundaries of firms in the construction industry are strictly regulated in Korea. Under the current law, firms involved in construction processes are classified into five categories; general contractors, specialty contractors, architects' offices, engineering firms, and specialized in inspection. Among these types of firms, general contractors are prohibited to enter into specialty contractor's market and vice versa by the basic law in the construction industry. Also general contractors are not allowed to provide architectural services. The purpose of the law is to prohibit unlicensed companies from entering the construction market and to protect customers. However, the law causes critical problems e.g. low efficiency of production and rent creation. Therefore, we identify problems concerning business boundaries of firms in the construction industry and predict structural changes in the them when they are liberalized. So we surveyed general contractors and specialty contractors in Korea to estimate the effects of the liberalization on the construction industry. Most of contractors point to the enhancement of production efficiency as the motivation to integrate other construction process. If current regulations, which limit firms' decisions on business boundaries, are eliminated, firms will choose optimal business scopes taking into account types of contracts adopted by the Government for public works. Based on the cost/benifit analyses, they will decide whether to intergrate other production processes or not.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.2563-2573
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• 2013

Specialty contractors are in charge of the actual construction work and managing many work force in construction sites. The effective educational program for specialty contractors' employees is essential to improve the competitiveness of construction industry. However, there is no in-depth research on training programs for their management or technical staff. Therefore, this study proposes a framework of educational program for the specialty contractors' employees in order to enhance their competence. An extended review of literature related the educational program was carried out to understand the concept, structure, and element of the education system. A questionnaire survey for specialty contractors' employees was performed to investigate the status and problems of educational programs as well as the their educational needs. Based on the survey, the demand-oriented education programs is required to meet the needs of specialty contractors' employees. The framework of demand-oriented education programs for specialty contractors' employees consists of training contents, training type and method, training hour.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.21-30
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• 2015

Recently, the construction policy is rapidly changing and construction project becomes larger and more complex. Specialty contractors are in charge of the actual construction work, but they are considered to have low competence level. To strengthen competence of specialty contractors' employees, above all, it is essential to evaluate and to analyze the competence factors level for specialty contractors' employees. However, there is no in-depth research on competence factors level for specialty contractors. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the competence factor in order to find the high priority factor. The result of this study can be utilized for development of effective educational program for enhance specialty contractors' competence.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.54-64
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• 2015

It is required to be enhancement of competitiveness for specialty contractors' employees due to specialty contractors are in charge of the actual construction work. The effective educational program for specialty contractors' employees is essential to improve the work performance of them. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze level of work performance and find factors of core competence for specialty contractors' employees that can be utilized for development of effective educational program. The survey is based on CEO, Engineer and Manager in specialty contractors, and a questionnaire survey was performed to investigate the importance of job task, work load and degree of work difficulty as well as their core competence needs. The analysis result of this study can be utilized for development of effective educational program which is reflected the characteristics of specialty contractor's employees.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.1-16
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• 2018

The decline in the construction industry has led to a decrease the profitability of small and medium-sized landscape contractors. To relieve this situation, small and medium-sized landscape contractors have continued to proactively find ways to enter global construction markets. However, many small and medium-sized landscape contractors face risks due to their lack of capacity and insufficient preparations to extend the business abroad. Thus, this study aims to analyze the current condition of the Vietnamese construction market and the related risk factors. It then suggests strategies to improve the small and medium-sized landscape contractors' competitiveness in that market. We investigated the business climate and analyzed risk factors. Finally, we developed expansion strategies and conducted in-depth interviews with six overseas construction professionals. The study results first showed that efforts to improve infrastructure and the increased demand for housing in Vietnam will lead to more opportunities for small and medium-sized landscape contractors entering the Vietnamese construction market. However, changes in the Vietnamese business climate may act as a variable. Second, we found that small and medium-sized landscape contractors' risk factors are mainly related to laws and regulations, government finance, market fluctuations, public administration system, minimum wage increases, financing and bonds, contracting, trees and materials, and design errors. Finally, small and medium-sized landscape contractors are required to consider the following when seeking to enter the Vietnamese construction market: short-term strategy and mid-to-long-term strategy. This study will be used as the basis for small and medium-sized landscape contractors to plan to enter the Vietnamese construction market and to contribute to the expansion of the global construction market in the landscape industry.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.28-34
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• 2022

This study analyzes the impact that accidents and near misses have on clients' and contractors' awareness of safety culture. Due to the unique characteristic of employment structure in Korea, the occurrence of accidents differs by company size, which has relevant implications for the establishment of safety culture. Attention has been drawn to the importance of the management of accidents and near misses, with safety awareness acting as a core factor. A positive effect on the prevention of accidents could be achieved by noting the difference in safety awareness between clients and contractors and suggesting an associated suitable safety management system. In support of this study, a survey was distributed to workers in the automobile manufacturing industry (May-August 2020), and data from a total of 574 workers was collected and analyzed, including 399 clients' worksers and 175 contractors' workers. The questionnaire addressed participants' experiences of accidents and near misses as well as 50 items from the Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire. Analysis of the responses was conducted using the methods of frequency analysis, Fisher's exact test, t-test, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results demonstrated that clients had more experiences with accidents and near misses compared to contractors. Additional differences between clients and contractors were noted in terms of the safety culture factors of learning, communication, and trust. A correlation was observed between the experience of accidents and safety justice management: for clients and contractors who experienced accidents, safety justice management was 9.4 times higher. Furthermore, clients' and contractors' awareness of employees' commitment to safety was determined to be 28.5 times higher in those who had experienced near misses This study concludes that, in order to improve accident prevention through the management of accidents and near misses, clients must focus on overseeing safety justice management and aspects of safety culture factors, while contractors must focus efforts on managing employees' commitment to safety. In further applications, this study could provide baseline data for health and safety activities in terms of the safety culture of clients and contractors. Further study on the establishment of safety culture as related to employment structure is proposed for future research.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.370-375
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• 2004

The management of daily work report is very important due to the variety of work trade and activities. Although various project management systems have been developed to effectively deal with various task in site, they are not in practical use due to the non-coorperative attitude of sub-contractors. This is the reason the system are not developed in the focus of sub-contractors, but main contractors and the detail information about daily work report is omitted or lost in the collection process by contractors. Therefore the purpose of this study was to propose the Web-based coordination system for daily work report between contractor and sub-contractors

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.97-106
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• 2013

The construction industry is now facing a new challenge of green construction. Based on a research question of "what motivates contractors to pursue green construction", the objective of this study is to identify and discuss key characteristics and implications of green construction motivators among major contractors. The Political Economy Approach was adpoted as a main research methodology. The study demonstrated that major contractors show a high level of expectation in the future of green construction and consider economic factors as higher motivators while paying attention to social trends towards green construction. In particular, internal economic motivators were highly considered and the commitment of senior management was viewed as a key motivator.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.459-465
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• 2014

This study is to suggest specialty contractors with countermeasures to construction orders falling off, one of the construction business indicators for the construction industry, by analyzing the impact of dwindling construction orders to business performance indicators of specialty contractors as well as identifying inter-relationships between those performance indicators. To do this study, a data was analyze for construction business indicators and business performance indicators of specialty contractors providing heavy equipment. For specialty contractors that provide and utilize heavy equipment, the amount of construction orders is imposing a lasting impact to the turnover ratio of current assets. Therefore, it is determined that a business strategy needs to be established in order to secure current assets to respond to decrease in construction orders.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.351-353
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• 2008

The establishment of electrical works technology roadmap and its categorization are proposed from survey. This technical mad map could contribute on the direction for R&D policies of the government and companies, the cooperation studies between academies, institutes, and enterprises, and new market formation.