Strategic Partnerships in the Construction Industry in Latvia

Abstract

In the modern world, where both business sustainability and competitiveness are among the main goals, none of the companies can survive without establishing some kind of informal or formal partnership with others, thus influencing the whole value chain. Meanwhile, business diversification has led to a multivariate construction industry structure challenging the traditional division of roles. Thus, the objective of the study was to establish the research methodology for the assessment of strategic partnerships, as well as to carry out empirical study on the extent to which the existing strategic partnerships influence the industry’s value chain. There was carried out an analysis of the construction industry’s structure in Latvia on the basis of the statistical data, developed the methodology for partnership analysis, approximated and analysed the major partnerships, and carried out the market stakeholders survey and focus group discussions to substantiate the findings. The study highlights partnership differentiation both by structure and strategic goals. It was discovered that customer-focused partnerships tended to last much longer leading to customer loyalty and repeated business, while profit-focused partnerships were often only a temporary solution, the major influencing factor for any successful partnership being the alignment of the strategic goals of all involved partners.