Month: March 2015

Doing, Selectionbehaviour, incentives, monopolies, opportunism, vendors

Dealing with difficult vendors

Fortunately, truly difficult and opportunistic vendors are rare. But we have all had the experience of the vendor who knows you depend on them and exploits the advantage ruthlessly. They…

Change, Doing, Planning, Teamscompetencies, experience, financial distress, improvisation, intuition, weak signals

“I have a bad feeling about this…” – Why experience matters

Jumping to conclusions is efficient if the conclusions are likely to to be correct and the costs of an occasional mistake acceptable, and if the jump saves much time and…

Doing, Planning, Scope, Selectionconstruction management, contractors, incentives, information asymmetry, moral hazard, remuneration, risk

Getting the right incentives into construction management agreements

Poorly-designed incentives may encourage a contractor to behave in unexpected and unpleasant ways. And construction management is a form of contract that is especially vulnerable. The Construction Management Association of…

Change, Doing, Selectioncontractors, financial distress, insolvency, local content, remuneration, risk, social licence to operate

Feeding stray cats: Should you support a contractor in financial distress?

You know what it's like to have a hungry stray cat begging at the back door. You try to ignore it. You hope it will go home. But one day you…