Implementation of construction innovation : A study of a large Swedish contractor firm

Abstract: In the increasingly competitive market, innovation has become important if not crucial for entrepreneurial survival. The construction industry, although argued to be a bit behind, is catching on. As the ambition to become more innovative rapidly increase, several challenges must be managed within the building sector and one of them is the implementation of innovations. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the implementation process of innovation in a construction organisation’s projects. More specifically, to increase the understanding of the important aspects, which could result in a more effective implementation in the future. This will be done in collaboration with a large contractor firm in Sweden, NCC and with the help of an implementation framework developed by Sarah E. Slaughter. The framework will be used to see how well theory reflects practice and is especially directed towards the construction industry. It describes how innovations in general should be implemented, regardless of its type. The thesis is built around a case study and where a particular project within NCC has been chosen to study more closely. The project, which is addressed as the “Pilot Project” is a collaboration between NCC and an external supplier. In this collaboration they have worked together to implement an innovation, however, the process will be looked through the contractor’s eyes. The empirics has been collected through a qualitative interview study including individuals in different positions in the pilot project but also complemented with interviews with other individuals in the firm that have in some way been involved in an implementation of an innovation. Through the empirics, a number of significant aspects could be identified in the following categories: “Commitment”, “Communication”, “Organizing teams and Creating good Conditions” and last “Evaluation”. The result was that the majority of the most important factors were in line with the framework’s stages but that it should be complemented or modified with several aspects found in the empirics. It can therefore be concluded that the model, to a large extent, reflects reality in a good sense.