The aim of the research would be to identify the number of key upstream and downstream suppliers involved in medium/large sized construction projects. The size of the project would be measured by its contract value which would be anything, say, above £5m.
The research objective would be to:
(i) provide literature study on project complexity and supplier involvement in construction projects,
(ii) review of studies that establish methods of measuring project complexity (especially Gidado, 1996) and
(iii) using one or combination of these methods to analyse project complexity during different project phases.
In terms of empirical study, the research would need to (iv) look at previous construction projects and define their complexity during different phases. In addition to this, the research would need to (iv) identify all the upstream and downstream suppliers involved in case study projects. The outcome of the study should give an indication as to where most activities/operations occur and where most stakeholders (upstream and downstream suppliers) come together (physically on site, or virtually on collaborative platforms).
I believe this would be a very exciting project for an undergraduate/graduate research dissertation and I would be more than happy to discuss how we can take this further.
If you are interested please get in touch via: m.pala [at] lboro.ac.uk.
Thanks,
Mesut
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References:
Gidado, K. (1996), “Project complexity: The focal point of construction production planning,” Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 213–225.
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References:
Gidado, K. (1996), “Project complexity: The focal point of construction production planning,” Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 213–225.
