Construction Innovation: Addressing the Project-Product Gap in the Swedish Construction Sector

Abstract

The construction sector is often accused of being inefficient, conservative and non-innovative, although some commentators have suggested that the construction sector is not backward, it is merely different to other industries. One of these differences is the uniqueness of construction projects, which are determined by the characteristics of the site, interaction of project participants (also partly site specific) and the relationship between contractors and building product producers (which changes from one project to another). These factors are known to colour construction innovation. Previous research into the Swedish construction sector has identified a significant gap between the building product producers who are ‘product focused’ and the contractors who are ‘project focused’, with concerns expressed about effectiveness of communication between two. The findings of previous research imply, both implicitly and explicitly, that this gap may be hindering innovation within the construction sector. This appears to have implications for those concerned with construction, the building users and society as a whole. In this paper the authors provide an extensive review of the literature and research findings from which a number of unique insights are offered. The reasons for the gap between producers and contractors are discussed and a number of innovative measures are proposed that may help to bridge the gap, and hence improve innovation systems. The paper concludes with some practical findings for producers and contractors as well as some thoughts on where future research should be targeted.

Citation

Rundquist, J., Emmitt, S., Halila, F., Hjort, B. and Larsson, B. (2013), "Construction Innovation: Addressing the Project-Product Gap in the Swedish Construction Sector", International Journal of Innovation Science, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1260/1757-2223.5.1.1