The X-mas (summer) break was good. We visited almost all the beaches at the
Hauraki Gulf and had some nice BBQs (in NZ: barbies) with newfound friends and
colleagues. Our two kids had a three-day sailing course in small sailing boats
called Optimists (in NZ: opties). Our English is improving and every day we hear Kiwi slang with a pronunciation far removed from the
Queen’s English we learnt at school.
My research
proposal for the PhD workshop at IPSERA in South Africa got accepted. (Hurray!) At the same
time I need to further define the exact research subject and the related
research design. Luckily I have a bunch of bright people around me (in the
Netherlands and here in New Zealand) to help me with that. And Google Scholar can provide me with loads and loads
of literature on all aspects of construction management, purchasing, disruptive
innovations and sustainability. Sometimes I feel like a kid lost in a candy
store. My subject circles around:
The role of purchasing in small construction
firms when they want to introduce discontinuous waste-reducing (green) innovations. This focuses on the New Zealand
situation but I will use international material for a better assessment.
Some say
that the building industry is conservative and resists innovations. That however
depends how you look at it (Sexton, 2004, 2006). In most countries the building
industry is project-based and works in a complex setting. On a daily basis one sees
incremental and day-to-day
improvements on construction building sites. My current research proposal states
that the construction industry could need discontinuous (or disruptive, or radical)
innovations for drastic improvements. (For innovation info, please see the book
of Christensen,
1997). I will focus on innovations with a technical nature and that can e.g. be
protected by patents. These innovations relatively uncommon but when successful
will make a big impact.
These discontinuous innovations I want to
investigate complement the more incremental improvements. Definitions differ
somewhat, but I see these as new or existent
technologies not earlier applied in construction and new to the market or customers. Often the success lies not in the
technologies per-se. Rather the success lies in new business models: how
companies use these innovations in the market. I hope my research helps to give
a better understanding on successfully introducing (absorbing / adopting) green
technology. After all we all want good quality houses and buildings which are
reasonably priced and can be built with little impact on our environment. Currently
however building and living in houses has a huge negative impact on the
environment as we use heaps of water and energy and material, and produce
too much waste.
Disruptive innovations
often come from small firms (Baumol,
2004; Manley 2008; Hardie 2011; Lambert 2010) from outside the industry or at
the beginning of supply chains. These innovations must be purchased and adopted
into such chains. For instance: innovative building materials that would work
in a country without any earth quakes will not
be immediately suitable in New Zealand. Just the other week there was a major (6.2)
earth quake in Wellington but most buildings have only minor damage. The
biggest thing that came down was the Hobbit eagle at display on
Wellington airport.
When a
small construction firm buys a new technology or product it has to be clever
and purposeful and convince several stakeholders before this technology is
successfully adopted by his customers, partners and building codes. I think
that purchasing has a big role in this. At least that is the case in bigger
companies (see e.g. research of Picaud and Johson). Smaller companies purchase their
products and services differently (see e.g. research of Ramsey, Morrissey, or Paik). We know from e.g. Manley
(2006) that manufacturers do sell technical innovations into construction supply
chains. We know from Sexton that small construction firms focus on incremental improvements. Currently I do
not know adequately how these small construction firms would successfully purchase
and implement disruptive technologies.
Let alone green technology. In the next few weeks I hope to find out more about
this. Stay tuned on this blog!
BTW: for some fresh family pictures, please visit our Staaltjesdownunder blog.
BTW: Please
pose your questions and write down your remarks on this blog!
