Exploring transaction costs in the prefabricated housing supply chain in China

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:226

Article

Wu, Hongjuan¹  Qian, Queena K.¹  Straub, Ad¹  Visscher, Henk¹ 

[1] Technol Univ Delft, Fac Architecture & Built Environm, OTB Res Built Environm, NL-2628 BL Delft, Netherlands

关键词: Transaction costs;    Prefabricated housing;    Construction supply chain;    Stakeholders;    Social network analysis;    Sustainability;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.066

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The growing environmental problems, the rapid urbanization, and the disappearance of the demographic dividend in China has brought unprecedented opportunities to the development of prefabricated housing (PH). However, many barriers are hindering the promotion of PH, for instance, cost, lack of regulations, and the shortage of knowledge, among which cost is identified as one of the most critical barriers. Unlike previous studies focused only on production costs, this research aims to investigate transaction costs (TCs), e.g., searching costs, negotiation costs, and enforcement costs. First, this paper develops a theoretical TCs framework of the PH supply chain, based on an extensive literature review. Secondly, an empirical study was conducted on two cases in Chongqing to validate the TCs framework. Key stake-holders are identified by Social Network Analysis (SNA). Subsequently, 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders, both to verify the new TCs framework and to explore stakeholder concerns about TCs. The centrality metrics by SNA identified six key stakeholders who have a significant influence on TCs. It is found from the interviews that both the conceptual phase and the construction phase are stages where the majority of TCs occur. Both the developer and the general contractor are paying for more TCs compared to the other stakeholders. This study contributes to theory by initially introducing the concepts of TCs to the PH field, and the findings bring implications on the governance of PH supply chain to both private stakeholders and the government. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free