Journals Proceedings

Abstract

The international construction market is rapidly expanding again following the financial crises in Europe and the US, providing more opportunities for international construction firms to increase revenues from overseas projects. To advantage of these circumstances, most contractors seek opportunities to enter the growing overseas markets, particularly into the sector of infrastructure projects including high-speed railway and super long-span bridge. In the pursuit of this entry, these contractors must strategically decide which entry mode to use for a targeted market or project. In the present study, the entry mode for international projects is examined based on the following two questions: "Which factors should be considered to determine the entry mode?" and "How do these factors influence the entry mode?" To address these questions that are specifically tailored for super long-span bridge projects, “The five elements of strategy” are applied to develop a framework for contractors to use when the firm selects an entry mode for a targeted international project. To verify the suggested framework in terms of its practical applicability, four case studies and an in-depth case study are performed on a super long-span bridge project. The results showed that the proposed and actual entry modes are almost coinciding, validating the proposed framework. The framework presented here is expected to help contractors identify the optimal strategy for proposing international projects in this rapidly increasing market.