Contracting in overseas construction markets involves not only the typical risks at home, but also the complex and diverse risks peculiar to international transactions. In addition, international construction project risks are highly interdependent. The objectives of this study are to (1) explore the risk paths in the international construction projects performed by Chinese contractors, and (2) examine the risk effects on the objectives of these projects. To achieve the research objectives, a total of 60 risks were identified from literature review and a questionnaire survey was conducted with 104 professionals from Chinese international contractors. Adopting the structural equation modeling technique, this study proposed a networking of 20 significant risk paths. Specifically, host government–related risk, contractor’s lack of experience, and contractors’ lack of managerial skills had significant effect on project cost, quality, and schedule objectives, respectively. Moreover, host government–rel...

Risk Paths in International Construction Projects: Case Study from Chinese Contractors

International construction projects invariably involve political risks. This has been a persistent and pernicious problem encountered by international contractors. Various sets of variables have been suggested in the literature focusing on different aspects of political risk management (PRM) for international construction enterprises (ICEs). It is crucial to identify the relative importance and groupings of these variables. This paper aims to identify critical variables associated with PRM in international construction projects, and to analyze their rankings and underlying relationships. A total of 17 variables were identified through a literature review and consolidated by pilot studies with professionals in the international construction industry. Questionnaire instruments containing the 17 variables were sent out to the practitioners and academics, and 138 completed questionnaires were received. The top five ranked variables for PRM were (1) relationship with governments, (2) misconduct of cont...

Developing Competitive Advantages in Political Risk Management for International Construction Enterprises

La finanza di progetto (o project financing) è una operazione di finanziamento a lungo termine e costituisce, sicuramente, uno dei più importanti istituti nel sistema delle commesse pubbliche. Il ricorso al project financing, quale strumento per la realizzazione delle infrastrutture per l'ammodernamento del paese ha una rilevanza strategica in quanto consente di finanziare progetti e opere pubbliche senza oneri finanziari per la pubblica amministrazione. Tali progetti che generano flussi finanziari in misura sufficiente a ripagare il debito contratto con banche o istituti finanziari, permettono ai soggetti privati che partecipano all’operazione di rimborsare il debito stesso basandosi sulla redditività dell'iniziativa finanziata. Risulta quindi evidente che il project financing rappresenta per le aziende un'importante possibilità di business e i maggiori istituti di credito italiani sono sempre più disponibili a finanziare progetti che risultino essere dei "buoni investimenti". I vantaggi della partnership tra privato e pubblico sono reciproci:

Project Financing의 理論 및 實際

International construction contractors are increasingly expanding their business into emerging markets that are often characterized by high geopolitical risk. Working in these regions poses unique challenges that lead to unconventional causes for construction delay. As such, this research aims to (1) develop a better understanding of the causes of delays that may be encountered in countries with high geopolitical risks, (2) gauge the relative impact these delay causes are expected to have on project completion, and (3) capture how delay causes are influenced by project and country characteristics. Research findings are based on two distinct data sources: quantitative and qualitative data. First, a window delay analysis is conducted of six project schedules and narratives with extensive quantitative data informed of the probability and impact of various delay causes in countries with high geopolitical risks. This quantitative source was then complemented with qualitative data based on interviewing ...

Causes of Construction Delays in Countries with High Geopolitical Risks

While previous studies have focused on the need for Project Risk Management (PRM), highlighting its potential benefits, resources invested in PRM have been rarely identified. This study aims to investigate the resource allocation, effectiveness, impact and understanding of construction PRM in Singapore. To achieve the objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted with professionals and 43 complete questionnaires were returned. The results revealed that higher proportion of costs was invested in PRM than time and labor resources, and that more resources invested would not necessarily lead to a higher level of PRM effectiveness and greater assurance with the achievement of project objectives. Also, the results showed the low-level understanding of PRM in the survey firms and suggested that the overall impact of PRM on project outcomes differed according to levels of understanding. Despite the low-level understanding, all the nine PRM principles and guidelines were significantly agreed. Hence, this study provides a clear picture of PRM in the Singapore construction industry. The findings of this study can help practitioners to better implement PRM and assure the achievement of project outcomes.

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Construction Project Risk Management in Singapore: Resources, Effectiveness, Impact, and Understanding

Contractors in the international marketplace are experiencing more severe political risks than ever before They have also in response endeavored to mitigate the high degree of political risk exposure in order to survive It is important however to identify and manage the critical variables affecting political risks associated with international construction projects Relatively few studies of political risks, particularly in the context of international projects, have been carried out The objective of this paper is to examine how international contractors attempt to identify and manage the critical variables which affect the level of political risks when they venture out of their home countries 85 variables contributing to the level of political risks encountered by international contractors were identified in this paper Based on the findings from an international survey on political risks, this study reveals that the variables, such as degree of stability of the government, project desirability to the host country, policy uncertainty, racism and xenophobia, and unfavorable attitude towards foreign businesses are the most significant variables Several recommendations are also provided for international contractors in this paper This research will assist international contractors to manage the political risk factors when expanding overseas

Understanding the Critical Variables Affecting the Level of Political Risks in International Construction Projects

Purpose – The ancient principles of Chinese geomancy appear to share the same goal as total building performance (TBP) in delivering an optimal environment for occupants that promotes their well‐being. This research aims to evaluate the relevance and applicability of Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios with respect to the six TBP mandates.Design/methodology/approach – The Chinese geomancy concepts vary from considerations relating to openings and colours to surrounding amenities and building height. The assimilated principles and scenarios in both domains are tested through a survey questionnaire of 32 building professionals in Singapore.Findings – The t‐test statistics indicate that 25 of the 26 Chinese geomancy principles and 12 of the 20 Chinese geomancy scenarios are significantly applicable for the TBP mandates at the 95 per cent confidence interval. This supports the hypothesis that there are common denominators between Chinese geomancy and TBP.Practical implications – The research examines Ch...

Assimilating total building performance mandates with Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios

In recent years, a large number of PPP infrastructure projects have emerged in China. But various reasons have led to a low success rate of these projects. The aim of this paper is to establish critical success factors model for infrastructure projects under PPP mode and to identify the links between these factors. So this research is of important practical significance to improve the success rate of PPP projects. On the basis of reviewing relevant researches of project critical success factors, this paper proposed forty-five success factors of infrastructure projects under PPP mode and found out twenty-one critical success factors among them through questionnaire survey and statistical analysis. Then the relationship between these twenty-one factors was analyzed by applying system engineering method and an interpretative structural model with six layer of recursive structure was established. The practical study in the last part showed that five factors can affect the realization of other success factors and are of especial importance. And these five factors should be the focus of future research.

Critical Success Factors of Infrastructure Projects under PPP Model in China

The construction of infrastructure projects is significant for urban development. The shortage of funds has become the bottle-neck in the construction and development of Chinese infrastructure projects. Public private partnership is an effective approach to solve this problem. Selection of the private-sector partner plays an important role in PPP model, for his ability and cooperation with the public sector concerns the success or failure of the project directly. First we reviewed the research about selecting cooperators. Based on the relevant research and the specific characteristics of infrastructure projects under PPP model, an index system consists of eighteen indexes coming from four parts, including the ability of financing and financial management, the ability to design, to build, to operate and to manage, the ability of managing safety, health and environment, and other aspects. Then according to the theory of group decision-making and the fuzzy set theory, we transformed the fuzzy linguistic assessment into a non-fuzzy number, and at the same time, we treated the fuzzy number with variable weight according to the requirement of the project so that we can encourage some special factors and avoid the limitation of constant weight comprehensive evaluation approach. At last we applied this new approach to a specific case and the result proved that the method is scientific and feasible.

Selecting Optimal Private-Sector Partner in Infrastructure Projects under PPP Model

From the aspect of technology,metro collapse accident mechanism was analyzed firstly. Then,based on the hierarchy of accident causation factors,the management factors were divided into 4 parts: man factor,material factor,machine factor and environment factor. And,causes for metro collapse accidents were analyzed and fishbone chart about causal factors of metro collapse accidents was constructed. Afterwards,an empirical study of Metro Collapse Accident of Hangzhou was implemented,and its fishbone chart was constructed accordingly. Finally,on the basis of the 4 parts of factors,preventive measures of metro collapse accidents were proposed from 2 phases of pre-construction and construction. It is concluded that the method with accident mechanism as the study basis and management factors as the study core is the only research way of metro collapse,which is significant to the safety management of metro project.

Deng Xiao-peng

Papers

Understanding the Critical Variables Affecting the Level of Political Risks in International Construction Projects

Assimilating total building performance mandates with Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios

Critical Success Factors of Infrastructure Projects under PPP Model in China

Selecting Optimal Private-Sector Partner in Infrastructure Projects under PPP Model

Analysis of Metro Collapse Accidents Based on Accident Mechanism and Management Factors:with the Collapse of Hangzhou Metro as an Example