CRGP Executive Director Ryan Orr and visiting scholar Pi-Chu Chiu shared honors with two external co-authors to win "Excellent Paper Award" at the 12th International Research Symposium on the Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate. The paper is titled "An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Construction Firms' Entry into Africa." Held August 2007 in Sydney, Australia, the symposium highlighted international trends in the construction and real estate sectors of emerging economies. The sponsor is the Chinese Research institute of Construction Management (CRIOCM).

The paper was completed in conjunction with a larger collaborative effort involving researchers from Stanford, World Bank, OECD and Tsinghua University to investigate the rise of Chinese investors and contracts in Africa. The abstract and a link to the paper are below.

ABSTRACT:Based on original empirical data collected through a Chinese-language mail-survey, this paper analyzes the intentions, strategies, and risk management perspectives of 35 Chinese contractors active in Africa and contributes to a better understanding of the growing potential of African construction markets. It summarizes the qualitative evidence from the survey and the main trends that emerge from analyzing the data as a whole. The study offers a unique look into the mindset and philosophy of the biggest players in the Chinese construction industry, at a time when they are expanding aggressively beyond their traditional home market into Africa and beyond. With such a large sample, conclusions drawn from the survey can be reasonably extrapolated to the full universe of Chinese contractors in Africa. Read full paper here.

Posted by dcjaya at August 24, 2007 8:40 PM