Management of opportunities in the construction sector

Abstract

Despite 20 years of research into opportunity management, construction organizations are struggling to capture opportunities in practice. The goal of this research was to improve the management of opportunities in a construction organization. Four sub-research questions were used to (1) create an overview of opportunity management theory, (2) create an overview of opportunity management practice in a construction organization, (3) identify gaps by comparative analysis of opportunity management theory and practice, and (4) suggest the steps that need to be taken to improve opportunity management practice. The literature review presented four themes that are essential for opportunity management that are used to guide the comparison: Language, culture, process, and infrastructure. From the exploration, it was concluded that there is very limited experience in the organization in managing opportunities. To gain experience, new opportunities need to be identified before they can be managed. Requirements for a practice guide of an opportunity identification session are formulated using the literature review and exploration. The practice guide describes the preparation, execution, and completion of the opportunity identification session. Concluding, start with the identification of opportunities to improve the management of opportunities. An incremental approach is suggested to gain experience in the management of opportunities. Future research into other construction organizations is needed to generalize the findings of opportunity management practice. Also, future research into the gaps between theory and practice should help to improve the overall practice of opportunity management in the construction industry.