The cult of customer responsiveness: is design innovation the price of a client‐focused construction industry?

Abstract

Much has been written about the positive contribution made by the customer to innovation in bespoke and low‐volume products like those of construction. Far less attention has been given to the potentially corrosive effects the client might have on innovation. Drawing on three construction case studies, this paper argues that strong client leadership may have negative consequences for innovation, including the suppression of innovation and an overly narrow focus on particular types of innovation. Given that innovation has a key role in the future competitiveness of any industry, it is argued that the role of the client in construction innovation requires more careful examination than it has thus far been afforded.

Keywords:

• The client
• innovation
• competitiveness

Notes

1. A tendency also noted amongst UK house purchasers. Probably, it is suspected, because of customer interest in re‐sale, and therefore with the ease of sale of the property (Guy and Shove, 2000).

2. This is less evident in the retail and transport case study in which the client had considerable interest in the construction process.

3. Partnering contracts have emerged over the last decade or so as an organizational cure for the fragmented and heavily adversarial style that pervades large projects. RTC has been a key organization in promoting partnering, about which much as been written (see, for example, Cox and Townsend, 1998). ‘Partnering’ effectively attempts to shape project management to reflect individual and organizational motivations through engineering incentives that encourage co‐operative behaviour and joint problem solving. Partnering does this by tying the rewards given to individual firms to project success, rather than to individual success in individual parts of the project (i.e. all parties share in gains (and pain) on overall project performance). To support this, a ‘no blame’ culture is also fostered along with the removal of the traditional hierarchy between clients, consultants, contractors and suppliers.

4. Research into Alstom Transport's Pendolino ‘tilting train’ as part of the ESRCs Learning Across Business Sectors programme.

5. For example, the difficulties of some notable early ‘system build’ projects during the 1960s, such as the Hulme Crescents in Manchester, have provided valuable lessons for future users – such as the requirement for new skills sets amongst contractors. This learning was earned at great cost, however, to Manchester's local authority and other ‘early adopters’.