Editorial

Abstract

Welcome to the first issue of the Journal of Construction Business and Management in 2018. The themes covered in this issue are related to risk management and procurement practices used in the delivery of construction projects. These papers fill critical gaps in the knowledge and practice of construction procurement, business and project management by exposing the reader to innovative procurement systems and risk management techniques. The issue contains five articles that were written by authors based in South Africa and Nigeria. Altogether, eight authors produced these papers aimed at strengthening the discourse in and enhancing construction project procurement, business and management research.

The first paper by Ayegba investigates the duties performed by and the required competencies of management contractors, towards elucidating essential considerations for the selection and use of management contractors on construction projects. The study establishes that a management contractor's duties involve multi-tasking over the design and construction stages of a project. Paper two by Olusanya examines the influence of subcontracting systems on access to social protection measures by workers in the informal building construction sector and suggests that the government in Nigeria should advance formalization of employment in the informal sector and support community-based social insurance schemes. Dosumu's paper highlights the need to identify risks on projects before the initiation of the project based on the research findings that although stakeholders are aware and adopt risk management techniques on construction projects, the implementation is at response level rather than identification level. Paper four by Waziri identifies nine risk factors as significant contributors to the high-risk profile of Build Operate and Transfer projects and proposes that stakeholders should focus on these risk factors responsible for 80% of the risk impacts. The final paper by Anugwo, Shakantu, Saidu and Adamu suggests that a significant number of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMME) contractors in South Africa are reluctant to amplify their potential capabilities, and needed the readiness to develop international business strategies that would enable them to penetrate and participate in the South African Development Community region and global construction market. The authors recommend that both the SMME and large contractors in South Africa should harness their potential capacity towards globalizing their businesses and improving their global competitiveness.

Finally, I wish to thank all authors who submitted papers for consideration, members of the Editorial Board and Panel of Reviewers for their assistance, timeous feedback and comments that helped shape and improve the quality of the submitted manuscripts. Finally, we welcome your feedback and suggestions that will help improve the quality of the journal and maintain the integrity of the findings published.