Market Concentration and Competitive Intensity of the International Engineering Contracting Industry

Abstract

Since the 21st century, the international engineering contracting industry has been developing rapidly. A growing number of contractors have entered the international market to engage in various business fields, leading to changing market structures and competition. As a result, international contractors face increasing difficulty in the selection of business areas and international markets to maintain or enhance their competitiveness. This paper aims to evaluate the market concentration and competition intensity of the international engineering contracting market based on the theory of organizational ecology. Using data about the top 50 enterprises that remained on a top 250/225 international construction contractor list from 2004 to 2016, this study proposes and calculates the market concentration index (MCI) and the competitive intensity (CI) of the international engineering contracting industry. Specifically, the MCI for the selected 50 enterprises overall and the 1,250 firm pairs formed by the 50 firms were calculated respectively to assess the concentration levels of the various firms. To assess the competitive intensity of the different business areas, the CI of nine business areas, including general buildings, manufacturing, power, water supply, sewer and waste, petroleum, transportation, hazardous wastes, and telecommunications, were calculated. Subsequently, to predict how the CI of the nine business areas change in the future, various time series models were employed and the potential development trend of the nine areas was obtained. This study provides a reference to understand the market competition of the international engineering contracting industry.