BYDr. Siti Haryati Shaikh Ali

Norudin Mansor Zalinawati Abdullah3

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Contractors can be defined as a body or independent business people who are hired to perform specific tasks (Gunawan & Kleiner, 2005)

They are very much involved in labor-intensive industry and responsible for implementing ideas that are translated in the form of drawings and specifications to the actual shape of a building.

In the construction industry, effort are put in forming teams in running the project by combining intellectual effort and devoting individual capability in completing the project within the specified period.

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

However, in Terengganu the growth development is quite slow.

Put the contractors in “cautious” state.

Currently, the number of registered contractors has currently outnumbered the total existing projects in Terengganu.

In order to continue surviving and remain strategically relevant in the industry, they need to equip themselves with the right competitive advantage over their competitors. 

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Only 10% of them will be awarded with the contracts and earning high capital capacity

Another 40% of contractors could only survive

The remaining 50% are not capable of sustaining their ability to remain competitive in the industry.

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

They need to equip themselves with the right competitive advantage over their competitors.

This paper investigate strategic determinants of the contractors in Terengganu and their relationships with competitive advantage

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

STRATEGIC FACTORSINTERNALHuman ResourcesTechnologyFinancial Management CompetitiveEXTERNALGovernment AdvantageNew Market EntrantSupplier

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Sampling frame - based on sampling frame by Contractor Services Centre (PKK) (February 2011).

Population – 3331 Sample selected – 349 (based on Krejcie and

Morgan,1970) Method used to select sample -stratified

sampling technique Respondents – contractors (ranging from A to F

of contractors registered under Contractor Services Centre (PKK).

Method of data collection – structured questionnaire

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Stratified sampling technique

MARANG SETIU KEMAMAN 32 32 36

K.TERENGGANU DUNGUN 136 32

HULU TERENGGANU BESUT 51 30

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Factor analysis was performed on all questionnaire items to establish their suitability for performing the subsequent multivariate analysis.

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

FACTORS ITEMS (BEFORE F.ANALYSIS)

AFTER

INT – Human Resource 9 3INT - Finance 9 3INT - Technology 9 7EXT - Government 9 7EXT – New Market Ent. 9 0EXT - Supplier 9 8COMPETITIVE ADV 15 10

After a few rounds of analysis, finally, the remaining 38 items loaded well on six (excluding demographics) dimensions with scores over 0.50.

It is noted that the dimension of new market entrance was abolished during factor analysis due to high cross-loadings.

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

STRATEGIC FACTORSINTERNALHuman ResourcesTechnologyFinancial Management CompetitiveEXTERNALGovernment AdvantageSupplier

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

To test the association of strategic dimensions with competitive advantage.

(using Pearson Correlation)

**Correlation is significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed)• Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2 – tailed)

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

HUMAN RESOURCE

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

TECHNOLOGY

GOVT SUPPLIER

0.529** 0.379** 0.650** 0.122* 0.407**

To check on each item individually and to determine (among the five factors) which is the strongest factor contributing to competitive advantage

(using regression analysis)

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Summary of Regression Analysis

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

β t- value

P

Human Relation 0.352 8.525 0.000Financial Man. -023 -0.527 0.598 ***Technology 0.445 10.651 0.000Government 0.93 2.334 0.020 ***Supplier -0.246 -6.082 0.000

Overall, all the five dimensions contribute significantly to competitive advantage

Looking at the variables individually – two are not significant

Financial Management (p = 0598) Government (p= 0.020)

The biggest impact on competitive advantage is technology (β = 0.445)

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Further analysis on the role of technologyThe study wish to determine whether technology is

a strong variable/ dimension by itselfOR

is it a strong mediating variable that enhance

the role of other variables

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

Using regression analysis

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati

REGRESSIONStage 1 Stage 2

Technology Technology as a mediating factor

β (p value)

β (p value)

TECHNOLOGY 0.650 (0.000)HUMAN RESOURCE 0.646 (0.000)FINANCIAL MGT 0.035 (0.51)GOVERNMENT 0.167 (0.02)SUPPLIER -0.199 (0.000)

R2= 0.423 R2=0.541

It is clear the importance of TECHNOLOGY in promoting competitive advantage in construction companies.

May 3, 2023DR CT Yati