Integration mechanisms for material suppliers in the construction supply chain: a systematic literature review

Abstract

The construction industry has long been criticized for its fragmented, inefficient, and uncoordinated supply chain. Thus, construction companies are actively looking for new strategies to overcome these issues and to improve their productivity. Supply chain integration is one strategy and many articles have addressed the mechanisms to help integrate the construction supply chain. However, little interest has been paid to material supplier integration despite their important role and their vast experience in the market. Hence, this study aims to identify the mechanisms that could contribute to facilitate material supplier integration in the construction supply chain. A systematic literature review was conducted to uncover the studies on this topic. A total of 310 articles were reviewed and analyzed to first reveal six integration mechanism categories: supplier qualification, supplier development program, contractual and relational policies, information sharing and integration systems, joint team working and problem solving, as well as supplier integration evaluation. Secondly, this study proposes a roadmap to illustrate when these mechanisms should be implemented in a construction project, according to both the project phases and the project delivery system. Finally, research gaps in the field are identified as well as future research directions that could be further explored by researchers and professionals.

Keywords:

• Systematic literature review
• material supplier
• supplier integration
• supplier involvement
• collaboration
• mechanism
• construction supply chain

Subject classification code:

• Research paper

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), through its IRC program (IRCPJ 461745-18), as well as the industrial partners of the NSERC industrial chair on eco-responsible wood construction (CIRCERB).