Chotchai Charoenngam

Contractual risk and liability sharing in hydropower construction

Abstract Construction activities are uncertain and dynamic, and associated risks are often permanent and complex in construction projects. In large-scale infrastructure projects, theoretically, risks and liabilities should be fairly shared among project participants through contractual arrangements. In order to prevent unexpected risks and thus disputes during construction, international contractors should pay close attention to local project characteristics and contract practices. This paper identifies typical construction risks and describes the comparison between FIDIC (Federation Internationale Des Ingenieurs Conseils) and the Taiwanese government Conditions of Contract for hydropower construction projects.

Web‐based application for managing change orders in construction projects

A change order is an order from an employer authorizing a variation. Success in managing change orders results in uninterrupted construction operations and an agreed final project cost as well as duration. One of the methods to manage change orders is to establish good communication and cooperation among project team members. Success of this method can be enhanced by developing and utilizing a web‐based change order management system that supports documentation practice, communication and integration between different team members in the change order workflow. This paper discusses our web‐based project management system, change order management system (COMS), to manage change orders using the Internet. In order to show COMS’ potential benefits, a test case was conducted for comparing the COMS with the conventional practice of change order management.

Factors inducing knowledge creation: empirical evidence from Thai construction projects

Purpose – This research is aimed at examining the relationships between knowledge factors and the knowledge creation process in construction projects, paying particular attention to on‐site work.Design/methodology/approach – The design of this research is cross‐sectional and uses a blended methodological approach of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The research model includes the following variables; six knowledge factors: vision of leadership, trust, collaboration, incentives, information technology (IT) support, and individual competencies; and four knowledge creation processes: socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. Survey data from 70 construction projects in Thai construction firms, obtained by means of a questionnaire developed by the researcher, were collated and analyzed. As a means of testing the model, regression analysis techniques were used to analyze the data.Findings – Consistent with previous empirical evidence, three knowledge factors affected the knowl...

4DCAD‐Safety: visualizing project scheduling and safety planning

Safety planning in construction project management is separated from other planning functions, such as scheduling. This separation creates difficulties for safety engineers to analyse what, when, why and where safety measures are needed for preventing accidents. Another problem occurs due to the conventional practice of representing project designs using two‐dimensional (2D) drawings. In this practice, an engineer has to convert the 2D drawings into three‐dimensional (3D) mental pictures which is a tedious task. Since this conversion is already difficult, combining these 2D drawings with safety plans increases the difficulty. In order to address the problems, 4DCAD‐Safety is proposed. This paper discusses the design and development of 4DCAD‐Safety application and testing its usefulness in terms of assisting users in analysing what, when, where and why safety measures are needed.

Re‐engineering construction communication in distance management framework

In an exploding and fluctuating construction market, managers are facing a challenge, which is how to manage business on a wider scale and to utilize modern developments in information technology to promote productivity. The extraordinary development of telecommunications and computer technology makes it possible for people to plan, lead, control, organize and manage projects from a distance without the need to be on site on a daily basis. A modern management known as distance management (DM) or remote management is emerging. Physical distance no longer determines the boundary of management since managers can now operate projects through virtual teams that organize manpower, material and production without face‐to‐face communication. What organization prototype could overcome psychological and physical barriers to reengineer a successful project through information technology? What criteria distinguishes the adapted way of communication of individual activities in a teamwork and assist the integration of an efficient and effective communication between face‐to‐face and a physical distance? The entire methodology has been explained through a case application on refuse incineration plant projects in Taiwan.

Strategic Assets Driving Organizational Capabilities of Thai Construction Firms

This research study aims to identify strategic assets which currently drive and enhance the organizational capabilities of construction firms. There were 258 sets of questionnaires assessing the level of importance given to 106 substantial resources underlying six organizational capabilities of Thai construction firms that were analyzed. Using factor analysis, these 106 items were reduced to 14, which were termed strategic assets. These 14 strategic assets were then classified based on their influence on the six organizational capabilities. The results indicate that Thai construction firms concentrate mostly on developing excellent reputation, creating strong bargaining power with suppliers and subcontractors, and strengthening the firm’s financial stability. However, they do not give much importance to effective risk and investment management, continuous development and innovation, and explicit strategic management. These findings provide in-depth insight to comprehensively understanding a Thai construct...

Internationalization Process of Pakistani Contractors: An Exploratory Study

Due to advances in technologies and protocols of the World Trade Organization (WTO), more contractors from developing countries are succeeding in finding a space in the global market. This paper identifies and analyzes the patterns and influences related to the Pakistani contractors decision to internationalize, motivating factors, foreign market selection and entry mode selection. Multiple case study approach, based on the five Pakistan-based construction firms have been used in this research. The case studies are based on direct interviews with the companys chief executives, postal questionnaire survey and the corporate reports. The findings showed that the motives for the international expansion of the surveyed firms were both pro-active and re-active. Pakistani contractors have shown more interest in Gulf and African countries. They opted for the international joint ventures as their preferred choice of entry mode strategy as it was easier to establish, know local laws, required low resource commitments and can easily share risk.

Critical failure factors of public-private partnership low-cost housing program in Thailand

Purpose – Numerous studies to date have demonstrated the public-private partnership (PPP) project procurement methods failure to deliver low-cost housing (LCH) to low-income groups (LIGs) in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate critical failure factors (CFFs), and how they cause the failure of PPP-LCH program. Design/methodology/approach – Grounded Theory methodology was used to gather and analyze the data in order to identify, categorize, and develop the logically causal relationships among CFFs that cause PPP-LCH program failure. Findings – Ten CFFs in various phases of PPP-LCH project life cycle caused PPP-LCH program failure. Some CFFs resulted from ineffective PPP policy and strategy, while some were beyond the control of the project/program management team. These CFFs were inter-/intra-related to one another in a particular way. Originality/value – Despite the increase in PPP-LCH projects/programs for LIGs in practice and the prevalence of failure, the studies of PPP-LC...

Motives and competitive assets of Pakistani international construction contracting firms

Purpose – This paper aims to study the impact of a firm’s size and international experience on its internationalization because it remains an under-researched area. Using an integrated theoretical approach, this study examines the motives and (firm-specific and home country-specific) competitive assets, that enable the internationalization of Pakistan-based construction contracting firms (CCFs) having varied sizes and international experiences. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a postal questionnaire survey. A comparative analysis of these data was undertaken for firms of varied sizes and international experiences. Findings – Findings show that firms of varied sizes did not concur over several firm-specific and home country-specific competitive assets, whereas firms of varied international experiences were in disagreement over fewer motives and home country-specific competitive assets. Small CCFs need to overcome weakness in their firm-specific competitive assets, especially intern...

Relationship characteristics within the supply chain of Small and Medium-Sized Construction Enterprises in Thailand

The Small and Medium-sized construction Enterprises (construction SMEs) in Thailand face challenges like high fragmented structure and low productivity. Many industries improved their business performance using the supply chain integration. This research was conducted by interviewing 14 small and medium Thai building contractors to understand the features and relationship characteristics of the supply chain of construction SMEs. The study reveals that the linkages between the small and medium general contractors and other supply chain members are based on personal trust rather than contract laws, there is no systematic procedure to manage the relationship with clients during the project execution, and social connections help to maintain long-term relationship with clients. Based on the working behaviour and commitment to long-term relationship, six forms of relationship with supply side members are proposed. Finally, improvement measures for the supply chain integration of the construction SMEs in Thailand are presented.