Adoption in the construction industry

This report draws together the key findings from six case studies on the subject of ebusiness Adoption in Construction conducted in Australia by the University of Newcastle (UON) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) from 2005 through to mid-2006 under the auspices of the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (CRC_CI). Reference to this timing is important because one of the key themes to emerge from the study is that the take-up of e-business is a dynamic phenomenon within the construction industry.

E-business adoption in construction : international review on impediments

The adoption of e-business by the Australian construction industry lags other service and product industries. It is assumed that slow adoption rate does not reflect the maturity of the technology but is due to adoption impediments peculiar to the nature of construction. This chapter examines impediments to the uptake of e-business nationally and internationally. A systematic and extensive literature search of impediments (also referred to as obstacles, impediments or hindrances) to adoption has been undertaken and the findings discussed in this chapter. This review included more that 200 documents and these have been published in a searchable database as part of a larger research initiative funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation. The influence of levels of e-business maturity seen in other sectors such as retail, tourism and manufacturing was also captured and a number of major impediments were identified some including: privacy, trust, uncertainty of financial returns, lack of reliable measurement, fraud, lack of support and system maintenance. A total of 23 impediments were assessed in terms of impact to organisational type and size across reviewed documents. With this information it was possible to develop a reference framework for measuring maturity levels and readiness to uptake e-business in construction. Results have also shown that impediments to e-business adoption work differently according to organisational type and culture. Areas of training and people development need to be addressed. This would include a more sensitive approach to the nature of construction organisations, especially to those small and medium enterprises. Raising levels of awareness and creating trust for on-line collaboration are other aspects that need attention, which current studies confirm as lacking. An empirical study within construction, to validate these findings, forms the subsequent phase of this research.

Literature review

This research aims to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the construction & demolition waste and precast concrete supply chains through the development, trial and evaluation of an innovative public sector supply chain management strategy. The long-term goals are to improve competitive behaviour and market sector performance and improve business process efficiency and effectiveness of public sector program delivery by influencing policy development, changing organisational behaviour and implementation development to achieve more economic and environmental sustainable markets.

Final report: stage 1 : results

This research project aims to improve economic, social and environmental sustainability of the pre-cast concrete and construction and demolition waste supply chains through the development, trial and evaluation of an innovative supply chain management strategy. The long-term goals are to improve competitive behaviour and market sector performance and improve business process efficiency and effectiveness of public sector program delivery by influencing policy development, changing organisational behaviour and implementation development to achieve more economic, social and environmental sustainable markets.

Innovate now : Improving performance in the building and construction industry

Trying to innovate or wanting to? Making a start is the most difficult step on any journey. Whether trying to innovate for the first time, or seeking improvements on current performance, organisations are confronted with a plethora of options. Innovate now! makes action easier by presenting some of the key considerations for improving innovation performance. This guide has been based on the outcomes of a survey and case studies conducted between 2003 and 2005 in the Australian property and construction industry and therefore contains unique and up-to-date information, examples and suggestions tailored specifically to your industry needs. The large-scale industry survey and 12 innovation case studies on which this guide are based were carried out by The BRITE (Building Research, Innovation, Technology and Environment) Project as part of research for the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation. The stakeholders volunteering to take part in BRITE research included over 400 businesses, 14 government organisations, 8 industry associations and 4 universities.

Being the best

Being the Best investigates the ways in which highly innovative contractors sustain their market leadership. The businesses consulted are quoted extensively, as a means of sharing their insights. This report is intended as a resource for contractors that want to improve their innovation outcomes and business performance.

Brite Innovation Gallery 2007

In 2006, the BrITE project of the CrC for Construction Innovation researched the learning behaviours of twenty of australia’s most innovative contractors.

Harmonisation of OH&S regulations

Policy instruments of education, regulation, fines and inspection have all been utilised by Australian jurisdictions as they attempt to improve the poor performance of occupational health and safety (OH&S) in the construction industry. However, such policy frameworks have been largely uncoordinated across Australia, resulting in differing policy systems, with differing requirements and compliance systems. Such complexity, particularly for construction firms operating across jurisdictional borders, led to various attempts to improve the consistency of OH&S regulation across Australia, four of which will be reviewed in this report. 1. The first is the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 (Commonwealth) which enabled certain organisations to opt out of state based regulatory regimes. 2. The second is the development of national standards, codes of practice and guidance documents by the National Occupational Health and Safety Council (NOHSC). The intent was that the OHS requirements, principles and practices contained in these documents would be adopted by state and territory governments into their legislation and policy, thereby promoting regulatory consistency across Australia. 3. The third is the attachment of conditions to special purpose payments from the Commonwealth to the States, in the form of OH&S accreditation with the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner. 4. The fourth is the development of national voluntary codes of OHS practice for the construction industry. It is interesting to note that the tempo of change has increased significantly since 2003, with the release of the findings of the Cole Royal Commission. This paper examines and evaluates each of these attempts to promote consistency across Australia. It concludes that while there is a high level of information sharing between jurisdictions, particularly from the NOSHC standards, a fragmented OH&S policy framework still remains in place across Australia. The utility of emergent industry initiatives such as voluntary codes and guidelines for safer construction practices to enhance consistency are discussed.

Public policy implications of construction innovation research

This report undertakes an exploratory analysis of Construction Innovation research projects in order to answer the question “What are the public policy implications of Construction Innovation research?”

A primer in public policy for the construction industry

The purpose of this document is to introduce non-specialists to the discipline and practice of public policy, particularly in relation to the construction sector in Australia. In order to do this, a brief overview of Australia’s government structure, and some of the main approaches to public policy analysis are outlined. Reference to construction related examples are provided to ensure issues discussed are relevant and understandable to construction professionals. Government is a significant player in the construction industry, and has multiple roles: adjudicator, regulator, constructor, purchaser and client of construction projects. Moreover there are many spheres of government that are typically engaged in construction projects at multiple stages. The machinery of government can be difficult to understand, even for long term public servants. Demystifying the processes within government can help to improve communication and therefore performance in the industry. A better understanding of how policy-making and government policies affect the construction industry will enhance communication and assist construction professionals and academics to understand and work with government. Additionally the document will provide an opportunity to demonstrate the relevance of policy analysis to inquiries of construction policies and regulation.

Barriers and drivers of new public-private infrastructure: sewer mining

The rate of water reform in Australia is gathering pace with Federal and State initiatives promoting a more integrated approach to water management. This approach encompasses a more competitive environment and a greater role for the private sector. There is a growing recognition of the importance of water recycling in these initiatives and the need to provide opportunities for its development. In March 2008 the Productivity Commission published its discussion paper on urban water reform (Productivity Commission, 2008). The paper cited inadequate institutional arrangements for the management of Australian urban water resources and noted the benefits to be gained from a comprehensive public review of urban water management. This development can be supported through the promotion of a sewer mining industry. This industry, offers flexible and innovative solutions to water recycling demands in a variety of situations and structures. In addition it has the capability of satisfying government competition and private sector policy initiatives.

Streamlining local government : evaluating an eGovernment initiative in south east Queensland

Recent initiatives around the world have highlighted the potential for information and communications technology (ICT) to foster better service delivery for businesses. Likewise, ICT has also been applied to government services and is seen to result in improved service delivery, improved citizen participation in government, and enhanced cooperation across government departments and between government departments. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) (2006) identified local government development assessment (DA) arrangements as a ‘hot spot’ needing specific attention, as the inconsistent policies and regulations between councils impeded regional economic activity. COAG (2006) specifically suggested that trials of various ICT mechanisms be initiated which may well be able to improve DA processes for local government. While the authors have explored various regulatory mechanisms to improve harmonisation elsewhere (Brown and Furneaux 2007), the possibility of ICT being able to enhance consistency across governments is a novel notion from a public policy perspective. Consequently, this paper will explore the utility of ICT initiatives to improve harmonisation of DA across local governments. This paper examines as a case study the recent attempt to streamline Development Assessment (DA) in local governments in South East Queensland. This initiative was funded by the Regulation Reduction Incentive Fund (RRIF), and championed by the South East Queensland (SEQ) Council of Mayors. The Regulation Reduction Incentive Fund (RRIF) program was created by the Australian government with the aim to provide incentives to local councils to reduce red tape for small and medium sized businesses. The funding for the program was facilitated through a competitive merit-based grants process targeted at Local Government Authorities. Grants were awarded to projects which targeted specific areas identified for reform (AusIndustry, 2007), in SEQ this focused around improving DA processes and creating transparency in environmental health policies, regulation and compliance. An important key factor to note with this case study is that it is unusual for an eGovernment initiative. Typically individual government departments undertake eGovernment projects in order to improve their internal performance. The RRIF case study examines the implementation of an eGovernment initiative across 21 autonomous local councils in South East Queensland. In order to move ahead, agreement needed to be reached between councils at the highest level. Having reviewed the concepts of eGovernment and eGovernance, the literature review is undertaken to identify the typical cost and benefits, barriers and enablers of ICT projects in government. The specific case of the RRIF project is then examined to determine if similar costs and benefits, barriers and enablers could be found in the RRIF project. The outcomes of the project, particularly in reducing red tape by increasing harmonisation between councils are explored.

Drivers of technology substitution : successive generations of high tech products

Principal Topic High technology consumer products such as notebooks, digital cameras and DVD players are not introduced into a vacuum. Consumer experience with related earlier generation technologies, such as PCs, film cameras and VCRs, and the installed base of these products strongly impacts the market diffusion of the new generation products. Yet technology substitution has received only sparse attention in the diffusion of innovation literature. Research for consumer durables has been dominated by studies of (first purchase) adoption (c.f. Bass 1969) which do not explicitly consider the presence of an existing product/technology. More recently, considerable attention has also been given to replacement purchases (c.f. Kamakura and Balasubramanian 1987). Only a handful of papers explicitly deal with the diffusion of technology/product substitutes (e.g. Norton and Bass, 1987: Bass and Bass, 2004). They propose diffusion-type aggregate-level sales models that are used to forecast the overall sales for successive generations. Lacking household data, these aggregate models are unable to give insights into the decisions by individual households - whether to adopt generation II, and if so, when and why. This paper makes two contributions. It is the first large-scale empirical study that collects household data for successive generations of technologies in an effort to understand the drivers of adoption. Second, in comparision to traditional analysis that evaluates technology substitution as an ''adoption of innovation'' type process, we propose that from a consumer's perspective, technology substitution combines elements of both adoption (adopting the new generation technology) and replacement (replacing the generation I product with generation II). Based on this proposition, we develop and test a number of hypotheses. Methodology/Key Propositions In some cases, successive generations are clear ''substitutes'' for the earlier generation, in that they have almost identical functionality. For example, successive generations of PCs Pentium I to II to III or flat screen TV substituting for colour TV. More commonly, however, the new technology (generation II) is a ''partial substitute'' for existing technology (generation I). For example, digital cameras substitute for film-based cameras in the sense that they perform the same core function of taking photographs. They have some additional attributes of easier copying and sharing of images. However, the attribute of image quality is inferior. In cases of partial substitution, some consumers will purchase generation II products as substitutes for their generation I product, while other consumers will purchase generation II products as additional products to be used as well as their generation I product. We propose that substitute generation II purchases combine elements of both adoption and replacement, but additional generation II purchases are solely adoption-driven process. Extensive research on innovation adoption has consistently shown consumer innovativeness is the most important consumer characteristic that drives adoption timing (Goldsmith et al. 1995; Gielens and Steenkamp 2007). Hence, we expect consumer innovativeness also to influence both additional and substitute generation II purchases. Hypothesis 1a) More innovative households will make additional generation II purchases earlier. 1 b) More innovative households will make substitute generation II purchases earlier. 1 c) Consumer innovativeness will have a stronger impact on additional generation II purchases than on substitute generation II purchases. As outlined above, substitute generation II purchases act, in part like a replacement purchase for the generation I product. Prior research (Bayus 1991; Grewal et al 2004) identified product age as the most dominant factor influencing replacements. Hence, we hypothesise that: Hypothesis 2: Households with older generation I products will make substitute generation II purchases earlier. Our survey of 8,077 households investigates their adoption of two new generation products: notebooks as a technology change to PCs, and DVD players as a technology shift from VCRs. We employ Cox hazard modelling to study factors influencing the timing of a household's adoption of generation II products. We determine whether this is an additional or substitute purchase by asking whether the generation I product is still used. A separate hazard model is conducted for additional and substitute purchases. Consumer Innovativeness is measured as domain innovativeness adapted from the scales of Goldsmith and Hofacker (1991) and Flynn et al. (1996). The age of the generation I product is calculated based on the most recent household purchase of that product. Control variables include age, size and income of household, and age and education of primary decision-maker. Results and Implications Our preliminary results confirm both our hypotheses. Consumer innovativeness has a strong influence on both additional purchases (exp = 1.11) and substitute purchases (exp = 1.09). Exp is interpreted as the increased probability of purchase for an increase of 1.0 on a 7-point innovativeness scale. Also consistent with our hypotheses, the age of the generation I product has a dramatic influence for substitute purchases of VCR/DVD (exp = 2.92) and a strong influence for PCs/notebooks (exp = 1.30). Exp is interpreted as the increased probability of purchase for an increase of 10 years in the age of the generation I product. Yet, also as hypothesised, there was no influence on additional purchases. The results lead to two key implications. First, there is a clear distinction between additional and substitute purchases of generation II products, each with different drivers. Treating these as a single process will mask the true drivers of adoption. For substitute purchases, product age is a key driver. Hence, implications for marketers of high technology products can utilise data on generation I product age (e.g. from warranty or loyalty programs) to target customers who are more likely to make a purchase.

Sustainable built environmen : barriers to establishing a sustainability charter and commissioner

In August 2005, House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage released the Sustainable Cities report. The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) wrote to the Committee endorsing Recommendations 1 to 3, and Recommendation 31. In particular Recommendation 31 states: The committee recommends that, with reference to the Swedish model of environmental objectives, the Australian Government: