Intro; Contents; Abbreviations; List of Figures; List of Tables; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Background; 1.1.1 Quality and Value for Money; 1.1.2 Problems with Interpreting Quality; 1.1.3 Construction Quality in Singapore; 1.2 Research Problem; 1.3 Research Aim and Objectives; 1.4 Research Hypotheses; 1.5 Research Significance; 1.6 Book Structure; 2 The Economy and the Construction Industry; 2.1 Some Basic Concepts of the Construction Industry; 2.1.1 Construction as an Economic Activity; 2.1.2 Construction Products; 2.1.3 Infrastructure; 2.1.4 Structure of the Construction Industry
2.10 Economic Recessions and the Effects on Construction Quality2.10.1 What Is Quality?; 2.10.2 The Yardstick; 2.10.3 The Trend; 2.11 Summary; 3 Government's Role in a High Quality Built Environment; 3.1 Major Construction Quality Schemes in Singapore; 3.1.1 National Productivity and Quality Specifications (NPQS); 3.1.2 ISO Specifications; 3.1.3 Buildable Designs and Higher Productivity; 3.1.4 BCA Awards for Construction Excellence; 3.1.5 Procurement Frameworks for Public Sector Projects; 3.1.6 Higher Skilled Construction Workforce; 3.1.7 BCA Contractor Registration System (CRS)
2.2 Major Economic Factors Influencing Construction Activity2.2.1 Instability of Demand; 2.2.2 Main Construction Inputs; 2.2.3 Sources of Finance; 2.3 Construction and Aggregate Output; 2.3.1 Capital Formation; 2.3.2 National Income; 2.3.3 Other Observations; 2.4 Construction and Sectoral Output; 2.4.1 Backward Linkages; 2.4.2 Forward Linkages; 2.5 Construction and Macro-economic Stabilization; 2.6 Government Institutions for Construction Industry Development; 2.7 Key Concepts; 2.8 Economic Recessions in Singapore; 2.9 Economic Recessions and the Impact on Construction Firms
3.1.8 Tapping the Overseas Market3.1.9 The Quality Mark Scheme; 3.1.10 BCA Construction Quality Assessment System (CONQUAS); 3.1.11 Bonus Scheme for Construction Quality (BSCQ); 3.1.12 Better Quality Home Choices for Consumers; 3.2 Government Pump-Priming on the Construction Industry; 3.2.1 Government Pump-Priming in the Singapore Construction Industry; 3.2.2 Keynesian's Theory and the Impact of Government Pump-Priming; 3.3 Summary; 4 Firm Characteristics and Strategies; 4.1 Firm Characteristics; 4.2 Firm Strategies; 4.3 Summary
5 Firm's Time-Cost-Quality (TCQ) Tradeoff Decisions and the Theory of Firm Behavior5.1 Firms' Time-Cost-Quality Tradeoff Decisions; 5.2 Theory of Firm Behavior; 5.2.1 Auction Theory for the Conceptual Framework; 5.2.2 Profit Maximization Theory for the Conceptual Framework; 5.2.3 Institutional Theory for the Conceptual Framework; 5.3 Summary; 6 The Conceptual Frameworks; 6.1 Developing the Conceptual Framework; 6.2 The Conceptual Framework; 6.3 Summary; 7 Research Design and Methodology; 7.1 Overview of Research Process; 7.2 Survey Method; 7.2.1 Sample Identification; 7.2.2 Sample Size
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This book discusses the relationship between construction quality and the state of the Singapore national economy, and describes how construction quality is affected as contracting firms strategically manage issues relating to profitability and survivability during economic boom and bust cycles. Adopting a three-pronged approach to explain the key issues, the book first explains the effect of the state of the Singapore national economy (boom or bust) on the construction quality delivered by contracting firms. Secondly, it explains how contracting firms respond to the performance of the national economy through their dynamic bidding strategies, leading to significant quality trade-offs in some instances, especially when there is imprecise market information. Thirdly, it recommends various strategic measures that key stakeholders and government policy-makers can take to circumvent the quality trade-off in the construction industry when faced with dynamic fluctuations in the performance of the national economy. Although the book focuses on Singapore, it appeals to a global audience since countries worldwide (and their respective building-related stakeholders) face the same issues in terms of the time-cost-quality trade-off decision-making process involving the entire supply chain.