Abstract
The demand for affordable, high-quality homes and premises has increased as society has evolved. Construction companies have shown that an industrialised housebuilding (IHB) platform strategy is an effective way of meeting exacting customer requirements. We decided to apply a managerial perspective and consider the IHB platform as a technological solution when investigating technology transfer (TT) in a construction context. Drawing on a meta-analysis of the literature and a qualitative case study at an IHB company, this work examines how two construction companies participate in TT. The results show that the IHB platform strategy can help a company overcome uncertainties associated with the TT process. Furthermore, the platform strategy supports the transferability of IHB to different markets, which, in turn, provides unique opportunities for companies from other contexts to enter the construction market. Our findings also revealed that CEOs from three construction companies were not only interested in TT due to potential profit improvements, but also considered how the process could benefit their employees and the community. This may be a result that is specific to Nordic culture or insight into a unique characteristic of the broad construction industry. This study contributes knowledge to the scarce research field of TT in a construction context. It provides evidence for how further cases of TT may disrupt the construction industry in terms of new business models or companies from the diverse field entering the market.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1291-1320 |
| Journal | Journal of Technology Transfer |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 1 Aug 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2021 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
Open access funding provided by Lulea University of Technology. The research was conducted as part of the Aalto University’s research project “Building 2030—industrialised construction”, which is funded by 16 companies from the construction sector. The research has been financed by Aalto University’s Digital Disruption of Industry (DDI) project, which is funded by the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland. The Finnish Science Foundation for Economics and Technology also financed the research. The authors would like to thank Luleå University of Technology and the Department of Construction Management and Building Technology for their support.
Keywords
- Construction industry
- Industrialised house building
- Technology transfer