Pak. J. Commer. Soc. Sci.

2011 Vol. 5 (1), 140-154

Implementation of Strategic Management Practices

in the Malaysian Construction Industry
Abu Hassan Abu Bakar
Associate Professor and Deputy Dean, School of Housing Building and Planning,
Universiti Sains Malaysia. 11800, Pulau Pinang, West Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected]
Muhammad Asim Tufail (Corresponding author)
Ph. D. Candidate (Fellow), Construction Management, School of Housing Building and
Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia. 11800, Pulau Pinang, West Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected]
Mohamad Nizam Yusof
School of Housing Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia. 11800, Pulau
Pinang, West Malaysia
Tel: + 604653 4108 Fax: +604657 6523

Wiwied Virgiyanti
Ph. D. Candidate, Construction Management, School of Housing Building and Planning,
Universiti Sains Malaysia. 11800, Pulau Pinang, West Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Strategic Management is a concept that concerns with making decisions and taking
corrective actions to achieve long term targets and goals of an organization. The
importance of strategic management in a firm can be answered by analyzing relationship
between strategic management and organizational performance. Generally strategic
management practices can improve efficiency in various organizations. The objective of
this paper is to study the practice of strategic management in construction companies in
Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to 300 large construction companies listed
under G7 groups classified by Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The
response rate of the survey is 26% or that 78 construction companies replied. The
findings of the research showed that most of the firms practicing strategic management
have a clear objective, a winning strategy to achieve the objective and a sound mission
statement to guide the organization towards success.
Keywords: Construction Companies, Construction Industry, Malaysia, Performance,
Strategic Management.
1. Introduction
The economic and business planning framework and priorities have shifted from the short
term and tactical to the long-term and strategic (Betts and Ofori., 1992), due to various

Abu Bakar et al

factors including the particular challenges of the business environment (Benjamin et al.,
1984) caused by the increasing global competition in various industries (Levit, 1993).
Strategic management practice is an important practice as it gives a strong influence
towards firms success. The importance of strategic management in a firm can be
answered by looking at the relationship between strategic management and organizational
performance. Strategic management does give positive influence, especially in its
profitability to the large firms (David, 1997).
In Japan, Japanese contractors have successfully out-thought construction firms in many
markets in various parts of the world because of the attention they give to business
strategy (Hasegawa, 1988). US banks show higher return on equity for banks which had
both a strategic commitment to planning and provided regular strategic management
training. Firms with good performance such as The Body Shop, Sony and Merck
effectively exploit visionary strategies. Although, strategic management has until recently
been a low-profile activity within many construction firms, it is now becoming more
widely used by many large organizations that are allocating substantial resources to the
task (Price et al., 2003) and generally strategic management practices can improve
efficiency in various organizations.
The application of strategic management in business for various sectors has long been
adopted as a response to market demand, variations in clients taste and changing of
technology. The adoption of a clear strategic perspective in organizations is one of the
factors that affect the performance of these organizations. Having a good strategy is also
one of the important factors that enable the organizations/firms to survive and go further.
However, many large construction companies in Malaysia have yet to formalize the
strategic process.
This paper investigates the practice of strategic management implementation in business
strategies by the construction companies in Malaysia and it relationship with their
companys performance.
2. Research Objectives
The objectives of this paper are as follows:

to study the practices of strategic management in Malaysia construction

companies;
to determine how strategic management is being practiced; and
to study the impact of strategic management practice in Malaysian construction
companies on their companys performance .

3. Strategic Management in General

There are many definitions of strategic defined by various authors and according to
Mintzberg et al. (1998) there is no single, universally accepted definition of strategy. The
early definition of strategy was provided by the American business historian, Chandler
(1962) who defined strategy as determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives
of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources
necessary for carrying out those goals. In the context of construction, Channon (1978)
defined strategy in term of the extent of diversification, international activity and
acquisition policy. Mintzberg (1994) portrays strategy as a plan a direction, a guide or

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Strategic Management Practices in Malaysian Construction Industry

course of action into the future and as a pattern, that is, consistent in behavior over
time.
In terms of strategic management, it can be defined as a set of managerial decisions and
actions that determine the long-run performance of a corporation. It includes strategy
formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control (Wheelen and Hunger,
1984). It also can be defined as the art and science of formulating, implementing, and
evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives
(David, 1997).
Strategic management has evolved into a more sophisticated and potentially more
powerful tool (Stoney, 2001). The strategic management process requires competent
individuals to ensure its success (Stahl and Grigsby, 1992). The top management of an
organization has responsibility to ensure firm success and overcome any competition that
occurs. However, to be more effective, Hunger and Wheelen (2003) noted that people at
all levels, not just top management, need to be involved in strategic management;
scanning the environment for critical information, suggesting changes to strategies and
programs to take advantage of environment shifts, and working with others to
continuously improve work methods, procedures, and evaluation techniques.
4. Strategic Management Process
Strategic management is designed to effectively relate the organization to its
environment. The environments include political, social, technological, and economic
elements (Sharplin, 1985). Various strategic management models were introduced by
Sharplin (1985), Greenley (1989), Certo and Peter (1991), Stahl and Grigsby (1992),
David (1997), and also Hunger and Wheelen (2003). Table 1 shows some comparison of
strategic management models by various authors. Even though it can be seen that each
model of strategic management is different, the actions or activities that are involved are
actually similar. Majority of authors have put strategy formulation, implementation of
organizational strategy and strategic control focuses in their models. Planning strategy
and environmental analysis phase are also important and most of the authors put this
phase under formulation phase (Stahl and Grigsby, 1992; David, 1997).
Generally, strategic management process can be divided into three phases, i.e., the
formulation phase is a strategy that aims at ensuring that organizations achieve their
objectives (Certo and Peter, 1991). David (1997) stated that strategy formulation include
deciding which business to pursue, how to allocate resources without hostile takeovers
and whether to enter international markets. He also added that strategy formulation phase
comprises development of a mission statement, identification of external opportunities
and threats, determination of internal strengths and weaknesses, establishing long-term
objectives, generating alternative strategies, and choosing the best strategy to be
implemented. Second, is the implementation phase that initiates activities in accordance
to strategic plans (Sharplin, 1985). This requires firms to establish objectives, devise
policies, motivate employees, and allocate resources to execute formulated strategies.
Certo and Peter (1991) stated that without the effective strategy implementation,
organizations are unable to reap the benefits of performing an organizational analysis,
establishing organizational direction, and formulating organizational strategy. Lastly, is
the evaluation and control phase that requires information to be obtained on strategic
performance and comparing it with existing standards (Certo and Peter, 1991).

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Abu Bakar et al

Evaluation is also done by reviewing current strategies, measuring performance and

taking corrective actions. Strategy evaluation is needed because success today is no
guarantee of success tomorrow. Success always creates new and different problems;
complacent organizations experience demise (David, 1997).
Table 1: Comparisons of Strategic Management Model by Various Authors
Authors

Phases

Sharplin,
1985
(Two
Phases)

Environmental
Analysis
Strategy

Formulation
Planning
Strategy
Implementing
Organizational
Strategy
Strategic
Control

Hunger
and
Wheelen,
2003
(Four
Phase)

Stahl
and
Grigsby,
1992
(Three
Phases)

David,
1997
(Three
Phases)

Certo
and
Peter,
1991
(Five
Phases)

Greenley,
1989
(Four
Phases)

Focuses
5. Strategic Management in Construction Industry
In construction, many researches were carried out on strategic management practices
including studies by Chinowsky and Meredith (2000), Dikmen and Birgonul (2003),
Price et al. (2003) and Dansoh (2005). The traditional philosophy of management in
construction emphasizes on the ability to plan and execute. According to Abu Bakar
(2002) the management of the construction industry is important in order to improve its
performance and increase the number of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), since
the construction industry contributes on average between 5 to 9% of GDP in developing
countries. Stoner & Wankel (1987) stated that effective management must have a strategy
and must operate on the day-to-day level to achieve it. Chinowsky and Meredith (2000)
noted that while project management topics receive significant focus from construction
professionals, less attention is paid to strategic management. However, according to
Dikmen and Birgonul (2003), the need for a strategic perspective for construction
companies has long been stressed by many researchers.
From time to time the ability of the construction industry to innovate and manage change
has been widely debated by various authors including Lansley (1987), Gale and Fellows
(1990), Betts and Ofori (1992) and Yisa et al. (1996). According to Yisa et al. (1996) the
construction industry faces a continuous circle of changes in workload, work mix and the
method of managing the change. Chinowsky and Meredith (2000) noted that the rapid
advance of technology, communication, and market had made the global perspectives of
time, distance and spatial boundaries changes. Betts and Ofori (1992) noted that while
some construction firms have been very successful in responding to changing needs and
opportunities, using technological innovation and contractual development to provide

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competitive advantage, others have failed by being static. Yisa et al. (1996) stated that the
ability to distinguish between effective and ineffective construction firms in terms of how
far management of change by any firm has enhanced the overall capability of the industry
has been dependent on the ability of the clients. Furthermore, the desire for the firms to
change has become more from a fear of being left behind by competitors than from a
belief in the benefits of innovation (Burns and Stalker, 1961).
According to Price and Newson (2003) to be successful, construction companies need to
supplement their current short term approaches taken through improving organizational
effectiveness with more long term strategic approach. In his observation, Mulcahy (1990)
found that successful construction company is the company that applied clear objectives
recognizing the markets, wishes to address, services it will provide, risks it will carry,
structure it will use, the environment it will operate within, controls it will put in place
and returns it wishes to achieve.
6. Research Methodology
This study used survey method for collecting data where questionnaires were distributed
as a prime source of getting primary data. The respondents of this study are those at the
managerial level from large construction companies listed in G7 group classify under
CIDB. Questionnaires were sent to 300 respondents using mail service. From 300
questionnaires disseminated to large construction companies in Malaysia, 78 or 26% of
the completed questionnaires returned. Data collected is analyzed by using relevant
statistical methods as frequency; cross-tabulation, correlations and regression are carried
out to establish findings. Besides that, the data is also analyzed using Relative Important
Index (RII) for ranking purpose based on Equation (1) (Tam et al., 2000)
RII = w

(1)

An
Where w is the weight given to each factors by the respondent.
A is the highest weight, in this study A=4
n is the total number of sample.
RII is relative important index, 0<RII<1.
The questionnaires are divided into 3 main parts as follows:
1) Part 1: Respondents Profile. Questions on the respondents profile such as the
respondents age, position in the firm and the length of time the respondent has
been working in the previous firm.
2) Part 2: Firms Profile. Questions on the firms profile such as the firms status,
ownership and age, annual work done value, net profit estimation and the
respondents personal opinion on the firms performance
Part 3: Strategic Management. Questions are designed to identify the strategic
management practices in local contracting firms. There are seven variables that have been
used in these studies including mission statement, external environment, internal
environment, objectives, strategies, policies and strategic planning.

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7. Analysis
7.1 Respondents Background
From the analysis, the job designations of respondents are mainly managing director
(36%), project manager (19%) and managing officer (9%). In terms of status of firm of
respondents, 82% are from private limited, 9% come from partnership and only 6% are
from public limited. In terms of value of firms annual work of respondents, 78% of the
respondents are involved in projects worth more than RM 5, 000, 000 and 13%
respondents are from projects worth between RM 2, 000, 001 - RM 5, 000, 000.
7.2 Firms Objective
Objective is an important element to be considered in organizations strategy towards
success. It is important because objective provides a clear direction, aids evaluation
processes, creates positive competition, identifies priorities, enables coordination and sets
a basis for planning, organizing, motivating and controlling activities.
From table 2, majority of respondents (95%) stated that their firm have an objective in
running their operations. Only 3% of respondents claim that they do not have an
objective and 1% respondents are unsure.
Table 2: Firms objective

Valid

Frequency

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Yes

74

94

94

No

97

Unsure

100

Total

78

100

7.3 Firms Strategy

Strategy refers to a complete program used to achieve the long term objectives of an
organization. Different strategies are used in different situations and performances of the
firm. According to table 3, 77% or 60 respondents state that their firm is equipped with
the strategy to achieve its objective, while only 13% respondents stated that they do not
have a strategy and 10% respondents are unsure.
Table 3: Firms strategy

Valid

Yes
No
Unsure
Total

Frequency

Valid Percent

60
10
8
78

77
13
10
100

Cumulative
Percent
77
90
100

7.4 Firms Mission

Table 4 shows that most of respondents (78%) have mission statement. Only 11
respondents or 14% claim that they do not have mission and 8% respondent were unsure

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of their firms mission. This shows that almost all respondents are aware of the
importance of mission in their firm.
It can be seen that the number of firms that have a mission is similar with the number of
firms that have strategy, this is probably because the strategy cannot be formed without a
proper mission.
Table 4: Mission statement

Valid

Frequency

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Yes

61

78

78

No

11

14

93

Unsure

100

Total

78

100

7.5 Written Planning in a Firm

Table 5 shows the number of firms that have and do not have a written form of planning.
Majority of respondents (67%) claims that their firm incorporates planning in written
form.
It also can be seen that 24 respondents or 30% indicated that they do not have written
plan and another 3% respondents are simply unsure. This indicates that 52 respondents
performed formal strategic management while the rest performed informal strategic
management.
Table 5: Written planning in a firm

Valid

Frequency

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Yes

52

67

67

No

24

30

97

Unsure

100

Total

78

100

Table 6 shows the cross tabulation analysis between firms annual work done and written
planning in a firm. From the table it can be seen that among the firms that performed
written plan, 45 or 87% of respondents are from projects worth more than RM 5 million.
It can also be seen that 6% of respondents that have a written plan involved in project
between RM 500,001-2,000,000 and RM 2,000,001-RM 5,000,000. Among the firms
which do not have written plan, 16 or 67% of respondents are from projects more than
RM 5 million and 21% of respondents are from project 2,000,001-RM 5,000,000. On the
whole, firms that practice written plan tend to involve in an annual work done average of
more than RM5 million. It can be concluded that a firm that practices strategic
management will receive contracts of higher values which can generate higher profit for
the firm.

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Abu Bakar et al

Table 6: Cross tabulation between firms annual work done and written planning in
a firm
Value of Work Done Annually

Yes

written
planning

Total

RM 500,001-

RM

More than

unsure

RM
2,000,000

2,000,001.00RM 5,000,000

RM
5,000,000

45

52

written
planning

2%

6%

6%

87%

100%

% of Total

1%

4%

4%

58%

67%

Count

16

24

written
planning

13%

.0%

21%

67%

100%

% of Total

4%

.0%

6%

21%

31%

Count

written
planning

.0%

.0%

100%

.0%

100%

% of Total

.0%

.0%

3%

.0%

3%

Count

10

61

78

written
planning

5%

4%

13%

78%

100%

% of Total

5%

4%

13%

78%

100%

Count
% within

No

% within

Unsure

% within

Total

% within

7.6 The Firm Management Planner

Table 7 shows list of people that involve in management planning that can be divided
into 4 main categories, which include self-planning, financial planning, employees and
others.
Based on table 7, most of respondents (41%) stated that the firms plan is designed by
their own. These respondents hold the position of managing directors and thus are in
charge of the firms planning. Besides that, 26% or 20 respondents stated that the
management plan of their firm is designed by financial planning, while 18% of the
respondents claim others as planner.

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Strategic Management Practices in Malaysian Construction Industry

Table 7: The Firm Management Planner

Valid

Frequency

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Self-planning

31

41

41

Financial
planning

11

15

56

Employees

20

26

82

Others

14

18

100

Total

76

100

System

Missing
Total

78

7.7 The Accuracy of Planning with the Firms Real Operations

To measure the accuracy of planning with the firms real operations, 4 categories were
taken into consideration, that are 100% accurate, more or less 75% accurate, more or less
50% accurate and unsure.
From table 8 it can be seen that most of respondents (64%) stated that the accuracy of
their firms plan with firms real operation are more or less 75% accurate. This shows
that planning in most of the firms is in line with the firms operations, even though it is
not 100% accurate. This is followed by more or less 50% category (28% respondents)
and 4% of respondents were unsure. Three respondent or 4% claimed that their planning
is 100% accurate with the firms operations.
Table 8: The Accuracy of Planning with the Firms Real Operations

Valid

Frequency

Valid
Percent

Cumulative
Percent

100% accurate

More or less
75% accurate

50

64

68

More or less
50% accurate

22

28

96

Unsure

100

Total

78

100

7.8 Firm sensitive to changes in its surroundings which creates the need for an internal
and external analysis (SWOT)
According to table 9, most of respondents (68%) claimed that their firms are sensitive to
the changes in their surroundings and regularly carried out a SWOT analysis. Besides
that, 17 respondents or 22% stated that their firms are insensitive to the changes in their

148

Abu Bakar et al

surroundings and do not perform a SWOT analysis, while 8 respondents or 10% were
unsure.
Table 9: A firm is sensitive to changes in its surroundings which creates the need for
an internal and external analysis (SWOT)

Valid

Frequency

Valid
Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Yes

53

68

68

No

17

22

90

Unsure

10

100.0

Total

78

100.0

8. Firms Strength
Table 10 shows the strength of the firms participated in the survey. By using Relative
Important Index (RII), the strengths are ranked accordingly.
In term of importance, good client relationship ranked 1, followed by excellent image and
reputation, strong financial position, efficient organization structure and so on, as shown
in table 9.
Table 10: Ranking of Firms Strength
Variables

RII

Ranking

Good client relationship

Excellent image and reputation
Strong financial position
Efficient organization structure
Dynamic management skills
High profits

230
218
207
201
197
176

0.737
0.699
0.663
0.644
0.631
0.564

1
2
3
4
5
6

From table 11, it can be seen that the correlation for the performance multiplier and
identification of the strengths of the firm are positively related to each other. An efficient
organization structure and the excellent image and reputation are the strongest factors
influencing an organizations strength, compared to other aspects such as dynamic
management skills, strong financial plan, high profit as well as good client relationship.
Dynamic management skills and efficient organization structure must have a strong link
due to the nature of both aspects that largely deal with clients. These two factors recorded
a correlation value of 0.684. Besides that, excellent image and good client relationship
also have a strong link due to the nature of both aspects that largely deals with employee
management, recorded an acceptable correlation value of 0.682

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Strategic Management Practices in Malaysian Construction Industry

Table 11: Correlation of the firms performance with the identification of the firms
strength
Strong Financial Plan
Dynamic Management Skills
Efficient Organization Structure
Excellence Image & Reputation
Good Client Relationship
Strong Financial Plan
Strong Financial Plan
Strong Financial Plan
Excellence Image & Reputation
Efficient Organization Structure
Dynamic Management Skills
Strong Financial Plan
Efficient Organization Structure
Dynamic Management Skills
Dynamic Management Skills

<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->
<-->

Dynamic Management Skills

Efficient Organization Structure
Excellence Image & Reputation
Good Client Relationship
High Profit
Excellence Image & Reputation
Good Client Relationship
High Profit
High Profit
High Profit
High Profit
Efficient Organization Structure
Good Client Relationship
Good Client Relationship
Excellence Image & Reputation

Estimate
.529
.684
.570
.682
.382
.571
.396
.567
.440
.424
.331
.452
.531
.377
.539

For the purpose of regression, AMOS (Analysis for Moment Structure) software is used
(Figure.1), the results show a squared multiple correlation value (R2) of 0.39, meaning
that the model with the selected factors explains 39 percent of the total variance.

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Abu Bakar et al

Strong financial position

.53
.45

Dynamic management skills

.14

.57

.68
.05

.40

Efficient organization structure

.54

.38
.57

.38

.57
.06

Performance and progress

Excellent image and reputation

.53

.33

.39

.07
.68

.42

e1
.07

Good client relationship

.44
.38

High profit
Figure 1. Regression and Correlation of the firms performance with the
identification of the firms strength using AMOS.
Efficient organization structure has been the only variable significant with the value of P
= 0.06 (Table 12). This shows that efficient organization structure is the bed rock on
which a firms performance is founded. Thus, to be efficient in the long run, the efficient
structure of an organization plays the vital role.
Table 12. Regression weights of the firms performance with the identification of the
firms strength

Performance <--- Strong financial position

Performance <--- Dynamic management skills
Efficient organization
Performance <--structure
Excellent image and
Performance <--reputation
Performance <--- Good client relationship
Performance <--High profit

151

Estimate
.137
.051

S.E.
.128
.135

C.R.
1.067
.380

P
.286
.704

.410

.149

2.748

.006

.065

.148

.440

.660

.068
.081

.120
.128

.564
.634

.573
.526

Label

Strategic Management Practices in Malaysian Construction Industry

Furthermore, for the purpose of confirmation of regression results, a test to check multicollinearity is done using SPSS which does not show any sign of multi-collinearity as the
values of Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) fall well within the limit of 10 (Table. 13).
Table 13. Multi-collinearity of the firms performance with the identification of the
firms strength
Model

(Constant)
Strong financial
position
Dynamic
management skills
Efficient
organization
structure
Excellent image
and reputation
Good client
relationship
High profit

Unstandardized
Coefficients
Std.
B
Error
.421
.336

Standardized
Coefficients

Sig.

1.253

.214

Beta

Collinearity Statistics
Toleran
ce
VIF

.137

.134

.136

1.024

.309

.497

2.011

.051

.141

.051

.365

.716

.450

2.222

.410

.155

.378

2.637

.010

.425

2.355

.065

.154

.063

.422

.674

.391

2.555

.068

.125

.072

.541

.590

.492

2.034

.081

.133

.072

.609

.545

.624

1.604

a Dependent Variable: Performance and progress

9. Findings
There are several findings that have been established in this study. First, the findings of
this paper have shown that most of large construction companies in Malaysia are
practicing strategic management in one way or the other and majority of these companies
have clear objectives, winning strategies to achieve the objectives and a sound mission
statement to pilot the organization towards success. Most of large construction companies
claims to have some form of written planning system that is mostly formulated by the
managing director without the involvement of other employees. Secondly, the study also
found that most construction companies in Malaysia are able to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of their firms which instigate by management skills, organization structure,
client relationship, image and reputation and profit. Thirdly the study also found that the
large construction companies that implemented written planning system gained higher
performance, which further consolidates the fact that strategic management, is crucial in
order to succeed. Even though construction companies that do not practice strategic
management are a minority, but these companies generate a lower performance and
receive limited contractual works annually. Thus, firms should focus more on efficient
organization structure to be competitive in the challenging environment.
10. Conclusion
Strategic management is a management process that was utilized specially to increase the
performance of an organization's operations and administration. The application of
strategic management practice in organizations can help the organizations to enhance
their performance through improved effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility. This study
had proved that the effect of strategic management is positive, allowing organizations to

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increase profits while accommodating customer needs. However, in order to improve the
performance, the implementation of strategic management shall be conducted properly. It
shall analyze the external environment to obtain information in term of threats and
opportunities, and carry out the internal environment assessment to evaluate the firms
strengths and weaknesses in order to cope with the threats and opportunities.
Furthermore, to remain competitive in a long run, efficient organization structure should
be focused upon as an strategic management process as it allows the expressed allocation
of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities and is directly
linked with the cooperate culture. In todays dynamic business environment,
organizations need to re-structure themselves depending on the changing environmental
factors and the organizational business strategy. A change is effected in organizations by
organization structure to maximize efficiency and minimize costs under the prevailing
circumstances.
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