Critical success factors for brown-field capital and renewal projects

Abstract

Manufacturing companies operate in a business environment where, due to the factors such as cost and location of the infrastructure, incremental growth and competitive advantage may be a result of in-house construction projects. Competitive advantage may be realised by effective management of the critical success factors of in-house construction projects. These projects often tend to be of a brown-field nature and are characterised by a high degree of uncertainty, predominantly due to the interaction between the project and the existing physical asset base. In this regard, it is vital to understand the factors that influence the success of capital and renewal construction projects in the brown-field context. Although each project has unique features, there are critical success factors which can be customised towards successful outcomes in the brown-field environment. Based on a survey of recent projects, this paper examines critical success factors applicable to brown-field capital and renewal construction projects. The paper also provides an empirical assessment of the degree of managerial focus on the critical success factors and its impact on the outcome of brown-field construction projects.