Advancement of sustainable development, contracting, design, and supply business vis-a-vis construction markets

Abstract

The background involves the multiplication of Porter's (1980) five forces framework and the prior design of the 8-arena framework for capturing complexity of managing businesses within each of hundreds of (inter)national construction markets. In turn, the aim of this theoretical paper is to advance environmental sustainability as part of managing the four primary businesses. The sustainability of construction-related business management is enabled by implanting drivers into each of the eight competitive arenas. In life-cycle contracting and development businesses, the novel drivers include the coupling of object development ideas with sustainability advantages. In design-build contracting businesses, such drivers include the re-engineering of value chains with all tiers of designers, subcontractors, and suppliers. In design businesses, such drivers include the transformations of design firms into long viewers, path dependency breakers, stock-specific programmers, object-specific planners, impact blockers, and impact cause tracers. In supply businesses, such drivers include the adoptions of cradle-to-cradle certifications, product formula renewals, and full responsibility takings over the life-cycles of supplied units. In the future, practitioners and researchers alike could adopt this high-sustainability 8-arena framework.