Building Partnerships: Case Studies of Client-Contractor Collaboration in the UK Construction Industry.

Mike Bresnen, Nicholas Marshall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Despite the enormous groundswell of interest in partnering and alliancing in recent years, there has been comparatively little research that has set out to investigate systematically the nature, feasibility, benefits and limitations of forms of client-contractor collaboration. This is despite the growing recognition that conditions conducive to partnering may well vary considerably and that partnering may not be the solution for problems within the industry that many commentators have taken it to be. This paper sets out to add to the growing literature and empirical database on partnering by reporting the findings of a research project designed to explore the economic, organizational and technological factors that encourage or inhibit collaboration in practice. The paper follows on from an earlier review and critique of the literature on partnering (Bresnen, M. and Marshall, N. 2000, Construction Management and Economics, 18 (2) 229-37). It includes as its database nine case studies of medium-to-large-scale projects, selected from across the industry, on which processes of collaboration are examined from the viewpoints of clients, contractors, designers and subcontractors. In contrast to much of the prescriptive work in this area, the analysis of the data and the paper's conclusions stress some of the practical problems, limitations and paradoxes of partnering and alliancing when the effects of important economic, organizational and psychological factors are taken into account.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)819-832
Number of pages14
JournalConstruction Management and Economics
Volume18
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2000

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Building Partnerships: Case Studies of Client-Contractor Collaboration in the UK Construction Industry.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this