Enhancing design management by partnering in delivery of international EPC projects: Evidence from Chinese construction companies

The engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) approach has been increasingly adopted in competitive international markets, in which design management is critical to project performances. Existing studies have embraced a partnering strategy to integrate stakeholders' diverse expertise and need for better solutions to design. This study has quantitatively investigated the cause-effect relationships among partnering, design management, and project outcomes by developing and testing a conceptual model. With the support of data collected from Chinese construction companies as EPC contractors, this study reveals that contractors' design management should focus on four factors: planning and executing, resolving disputes, optimizing design, and promoting techniques. Path analysis confirms that partnering can not only significantly facilitate design management, thereby improving project outcomes, but also directly promote project performances and create long-term strategic benefits. Canonical correlation analysis further quantifies the different extents to which two groups of partnering critical success factors (CSFs) interact with four design management factors, together with their effects on five indicators of project outcomes. This research has important primary contributions to the body of knowledge by establishing interdisciplinary linkages among knowledge areas of partnering, design management and international project delivery, demonstrating the multiorganizational dynamics in delivering international EPC projects on a holistic view. Understanding the in-depth underlying causes to improve design management will be crucial for EPC contractors to optimally integrate all stakeholders' resources into designs by considering project lifecycle processes.