Using Sun Tzu’s Military Strategies to Achieve Competitiveness in China

Abstract

The rapid growth of mainland China’s construction market has spurred the increase of projects, but at the same time also attracted competition from local and foreign architectural, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) firms. For these A/E/C firms to survive and expand, appropriate and effective strategies and practices need to be adopted to improve competitiveness. The aim of this research is to identify relevant military like strategies that A/E/C firms adopt to improve their competitiveness in China, with a focus on the practices that Chinese firms adopt that lead to higher competitiveness. Metrics of competitiveness are winning large numbers of projects, winning large value projects, achieving client satisfaction, having a good public image, delivering product/service speedily, and a high level of quality and profitability. Data were collected from foreign and Chinese A/E/C firms operating in China using a structured questionnaire. The results show that many practices Chinese firms adopt that lead to competitiveness do not reap the same benefits for foreign firms. It is recommended that foreign firms adopt to a greater extent the practices identified in this study that enable Chinese firms to achieve higher competitiveness so that foreign firms may compete more effectively in China.