A System for Assessing and Communicating Contractors' Competitiveness : A thesis submitted to in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The Hong Kong Polyte

Today's business environment for construction has been changed to one characterized as increasing globalization and intense competition. To improve competitiveness is like the law of the jungle for contractors to survive in the market and outperform their rivals. This need is particularly urgent for China, which provides one of the biggest construction markets in the world. Competitiveness is a powerful thinking which can lead a contractor to gaining competitive advantage. Nevertheless,it is a concept that is neither well understood nor easy to communicate to people, despite widespread acceptance of its importance. In this thesis, an IT system called the Contractor Competitiveness Assessment and Communication System (C-CACS) has been developed which enables contractors' competitiveness to be easily understood and communicated.The C-CACS can be applied in three typical construction activities: for contractors to self-diagnose their competitiveness, for administrative departments to rank contractors in order of competitiveness, and for clients to pre-qualify contractors that are bidding for a contract.