Yüklenici firmaların rekabeti: İş çevresi bağlamı

Özet

Rekabet konusunda geniş bir zaman içinde oluşan büyük bir bilgi birikimi bulunmaktadır. Bugüne kadar yönetim bilimlerinde firma düzeyinde rekabeti inceleyen çok sayıda çalışma yapılmış ve firma içi veya firma dışı faktörlere odaklanan rekabet teorileri geliştirilmiştir. Konu inşaat sektörü özelinde ele alındığında, yönetim bilimlerindeki ilgiye paralel olarak özellikle 1990’lardan sonra konuya olan ilginin arttığı görülmektedir. Bununla birlikte yapılan çalışmaların (i) imalât sektörü için geliştirilen modelleri uyarlamada sektörün özelliklerini yeterince dikkate almaması, (ii) genellikle uluslararası pazarlarda faaliyet gösteren büyük firmalara odaklanması ve (iii) rekabeti kantitatif/ nicel yaklaşımla sayısal göstergeler üzerinden incelemesi sebebiyle sektördeki rekabetin nasıl şekillendiğini ve nelerden etkilendiğini açıklamaktan uzaktır. Yukarıda tarif edilen bilgi boşluğunu doldurmak üzere yüklenici firmaların rekabetini iş çevresindeki ilişkiler ışığında incelemek ve firma büyüklüğü, hizmet verilen müşteri tipi ve faaliyet gösterilen pazar gibi bağlamsal faktörlerin rekabeti nasıl etkilediğini ortaya koymak üzere nitel bir araştırma yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonuçları (i) iş çevresinde etkili olan ilişkilerin yüklenici frimaların rekabetlerini doğrudan etkilediğini ortaya koymaktadır. Bu ilişkilerde özellikle sektörün ana aktörlerinden olan ve talebi yaratan müşteriler ile üretimin gerçekleşmesinin vaz geçilmez parçası olan tedarikçiler ön plana çıkmaktadır, (ii) rekabet ortamının firma büyüklüğü, hizmet verilen müşteri ve faaliyet gösterilen pazardan etkilendiğini göstermektedir, (iii) proje bazlı üretim, parçalı yapı, enformel ilişkiler ve talebin süreksizliği gibi inşaat sektörünün kendine has özelliklerinin rekabetle ilgili yapılacak çalışmalara dahil edilmesi gerektiğini ortaya koymaktadır.

Abstract

Competitiveness is a multi defined term which can be applied to firms, industries, and nations. Different definitions of competitiveness can be found in literature due to the fact that the term fulfils different meanings at different levels. More comprehensively, D’Cruz and Rugman (1992) define competitiveness at firm level as “the ability of a firm to design, to produce and or market products superior to those offered by competitors, considering the price and non price qualities”. A quick review of the management literature reveals that there exist various understandings when dealing with an intricate concept like competitiveness. Consequently a number of theories and theoretical frameworks have been developed to investigate the competitiveness of firms. These theories can be classified into two groups according to their focus points: (i) theories associated with the internal environment of the firm such as resource based, competence based and knowledge based competitiveness theories, and (ii) theories focusing on the external environment of the firm such as industrial organization competitiveness theory. Firms operating in the construction industry are facing more and more risks due to the worldwide globalization trends and rapidly changing, unpredictable, -sometimes- unstable, and complex environments. Considering the intensity of the competitiveness in the construction industry, today it is clear that focusing on low cost production alone might be inadequate to survive in highly competitive markets. This paradigm shift within the construction industry has revealed the need for a comprehensive understanding of the environments of the construction firms, especially for the firms who seek to gain competitive advantage. Moreover understanding their competitive behavior is of particular importance to create an environment with common sustainable practices. This change caused a rapid increase in the number of research studies focusing on construction competitiveness in the Construction and Project Management (CPM) field. However the research studies in the literature focusing on construction competitiveness are mostly adopted from management field, therefore reflecting the dynamics of the manufacturing industry. Although there is a substantial amount of research demonstrating the importance of competitiveness issues in the construction industry, the special product and process characteristics of the construction industry (such as project based production, fragmented nature of the industry and uniqueness of the construction product) and the competitive environment of the contracting firms are yet to be explored. Furthermore, the research studies focus on the competitiveness in the Project and Construction Management field, the majority of which tends to follow the positivist methods relying on the quantitative evidences, fail to explain the competitive environment and also behavior of the contacting firms. Since to adapt to the rapidly changing environment is a key determinant of competitive advantage, this paper attempts to address the above mentioned gaps and presents the findings of a doctoral research which examines the competitive environment of contracting firms operating in Turkish Construction Industry using qualitative design strategy, as well as a multiple case study research. In this study, a widely accepted tool for analyzing the competitive environment of a firm the “Five Competitive Forces Model” introduced by Porter was used to investigate the competitive environment of contracting firms. Data collected from the owner managers or executives of nine the contracting firms through face to face in-depth interviews were analyzed using content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the characteristics of the competitive environment of the contracting firms are fourfold: (i) The contracting firms are facing an intensive competition due to the ease of the market entry, fluctuating demand, the existence of too many competitors, the role of informal relations on their business environment and unfair competition in the market. (ii) The competitive environment of the contracting firms is mostly dominated by resource based competition. (iii) Contracting firms prefer cost focus and differentiation strategies to gain competitive advantage, which means competing on the basis of low cost production and a low level of profit margin. On the other hand the gaining expertise at some project types, building technologies or services firms to differentiate from their competitors in the market. (iv) The competitive environment of the contracting firms differs in terms of contextual factors such as client type or organizational size.