The use of global strategies by British construction firms

Abstract

A two‐stage qualitative case study, and Yip's conceptual framework, are used to examine the extent to which British construction firms have adopted ‘global’ strategies. In the first stage industry experts provided evidence on the forces driving global strategy. In the second stage executives from eight internationally active firms described how they have responded to those forces. Results indicate that the forces driving globalisation, at least for traditional contracting activities, are not strong. Evidence shows that most firms operating internationally organise ‘multi‐locally’ and make little use of globally integrated strategies. However, firms that have moved into ‘higher value‐added’ construction activities have a greater propensity to integrate some aspects of their strategy on a global basis.