| 1. |
- Bengtsson, Susanna Hedborg, et al.
(författare)
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Public clients' possibilities to initiate sustainable change - Exploring two Swedish clients' procurement strategies
- 2018
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Ingår i: Proceeding of the 34th Annual ARCOM Conference, ARCOM 2018. - : Association of Researchers in Construction Management. ; , s. 424-434
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Governments and municipalities often have lofty ambitions to reduce their environmental impact and enforce sustainability in the construction industry. With this in mind, it is important to study the ability of public clients to implement these ambitions in practice. Current research suggests that public clients have a strong potential to support change processes. One way of executing this potential is through procurement. Procurement can, and shall, according to the Swedish government, be used as a mean to reduce the environmental impact of the public sector. The purpose of the paper is to explore what implications the procurement strategies of two public clients have for their role as change agent for sustainability initiatives, within construction projects. The study was carried out by qualitative analysis of two cases, one from a Swedish municipality and one from the Swedish Transport Administration. The findings show that public clients do act as change agents at a policy level but struggles with implementing its ambitions in the project phase. Despite sustainability goals and the clients' pledged potential to act as change agents; they do not actually wish to take on all dimensions of a role as change agent. Practical implications from the findings include increased understanding for public clients of their need to engage in the change process on a management level in order to fully act as a change agent.
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| 2. |
- Hedborg Bengtsson, Susanna
(författare)
-
Construction client collaboration for inter-organizational innovation : do too many cooks really spoil the broth?
- 2018
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Our built environment has the power to influence where we live and work, how we transport ourselves, how and what we consume and many other behaviors in our everyday lives, in other words, it has a significant impact on our global environment and economy. Given the notable need for more sustainable development of both the global environment and economy, sustainability has become a critical factor also in the area of urban development. With this as a backdrop, the construction industry and its many actors, such as clients, contractors and suppliers, that collectively drive urban development, play a significant role in creating sustainable development.Innovation is a cornerstone to achieve development, so also in the construction industry. However, with its many interrelated organizations, projects and actors, innovation inevitably becomes inter-organizational. From an urban development perspective, inter-organizational innovation will happen in a multi-project context where several construction projects, led and executed by different actors from different organizations, become interdependent and are therefore required to collaborate. In any construction project, the client holds a key position and has been identified as a critical supporter for successful innovation and collaboration. On the back of these dynamics, the purpose of this licentiate thesis is to explore clients’ role in a multi-project context where inter-organizational innovation is initiated to drive sustainable urban development.From a contingency perspective, the purpose of this study has been explored through a multiple-case study where coordinated construction logistics, during the study, has been identified as inter-organizational innovation. The study has shown that coordinated construction logistics, developed for a multi-project context, must be developed and implemented differently than in a single project or organization. In other words, coordinated construction logistics can take the form of different types of construction innovation. The construction clients, in this thesis the building developers, are identified as being important to support innovation and collaboration within and between parallel and sequential projects. The study has also shown that different clients behave differently when inter-organizational innovation is present; whilst some are proactive to achieve development, others are hesitant and less supportive for change. The findings suggest that long-term committed clients take a more proactive stand for innovation, for example, by including innovation in their procurement strategies and reflecting on how to best implement it in their projects. Additionally, in a multi-project context, the collaboration between clients is found to be important in order to successfully implement innovation, for example to align procurement strategies with the next-door neighbors and to create opportunities to communicate with each other.A theoretical contribution from this thesis is that coordinated construction logistics, which is often seen from a supply-chain management perspective, could be considered as inter-organizational innovation. This conclusion expands the understanding of the empirical phenomenon and its context. Furthermore, adding to the on-going discussion on clients as innovation supporters, their role as a potential innovation supporter is established in a multi-project perspective, but where differences between different types of clients must be taken into account. The multi-project context also implies an increased need for client collaboration, which is often informal, why the clients themselves need to handle all the aspects of collaboration. Tentative findings indicate that in this context time, spatiality, innovation and requirements will affect this collaboration. From a practical side, the findings show that initiating and implementing inter-organizational innovation requires understanding of the context, such as project objectives and the system. For clients and governments active in urban development, the thesis can guide the understanding of the importance of collaboration and choosing procurement strategy for inter-organizational innovation.
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| 3. |
- Hedborg Bengtsson, Susanna, et al.
(författare)
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Users’ influence on inter-organizational innovation : mapping the receptive context
- 2018
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857. ; 18:4, s. 488-504
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeInnovation is constantly present in the construction industry, however, mainly on a single project level. Initiating and implementing inter-organizational innovation in a multi-project context such as in urban development entails large complexity, for example, because of the many interdependent projects and users of innovation. The users’ influence on inter-organizational innovation in a multi-project context has not been fully explored. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to discuss how users influence inter-organizational innovation in multi-project contexts by mapping the receptiveness for change.Design/methodology/approachA single case study approach was used, where empirical material including semi-structured interviews in combination with meeting observations, document studies and participative workshops were gathered. The rich empirical material, studying inter-organizational innovation in an urban development context, was mapped based on the receptive context for change framework.FindingsA receptive context for change was not present in the studied multi-project context. Communication to develop and implement inter-organizational innovation was not sufficient and the clients’ procurement strategies were to a large extent not developed to facilitate inter-organizational innovation. Findings show differences in users’ possibility and aim to implement inter-organizational innovation.Originality/valueThe mapping of the receptive context to influence inter-organizational innovation widens the knowledge base and provides valuable insights on how inter-organizational innovation may be implemented in the loosely coupled construction industry. Furthermore, the findings broaden the discussion on clients as innovation supporters, and contribute to the debate on clients as innovation supporters, by highlighting the importance of distinguishing between different types of clients.
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