Formulating competitive strategy in the UK housebuilding industry: Executive summary

The UK housebuilding industry faces the challenge of meeting demands for higher quality and greater choice with a construction process that has not changed for many years and a diminishing pool of skilled labour. The situation is exacerbated by the difficulties of finding sufficient land for development. This has led to a strategic bias amongst housebuilding companies towards land acquisition and asset turnover which results in a lack of customer focus. The sector is therefore vulnerable to new entrants with new technologies and more professional customer care practices. These circumstances present an opportunity for a UK housebuilder to develop competitive advantage by pursuing a strategy of innovation leadership. Such a strategy has proved successful in other sectors such as the automotive industry. This thesis analyses industry trends and lessons from best practice to shape a new competition framework for the UK housebuilding industry of the future. This suggests that research and development, product design, process and project management, relationships with customers, quality and innovation will be of growing strategic importance. Techniques such as the Balanced Scorecard, Strategy Mapping and Technology Roadmapping can help firms to explore options and formulate strategies to compete effectively in changing competitive environments. These tools have been employed to create a strategy for a major UK housebuilding company, balanced across four perspectives: financial; customer; internal business processes; learning and growth. This strategy has been implemented principally through the launch of three new businesses that have stimulated change within the core housebuilding business. Progress has been made in enhancing the company's value proposition downstream of its core business and in improving quality and efficiency through the introduction of off-site manufacturing into upstream operations. Early results suggest that innovation leadership can be an effective strategy for a UK housebuilder but progressive culture change across the industry is a key driver for long-term success.