Change and continuity in the Chinese construction sector: Practitioner responses to bidding and tendering

Despite the phenomenal growth and international reach of the Chinese construction sector there is a notable absence of empirical data relating to the challenges faced by practising managers. The broader context is provided by the introduction of the espoused social market through a series of policy announcements dating back to the 1980s. Collectively, these comprise a significant shift from Soviet-style centralised planning towards an espoused reliance on quasi-market mechanisms. The scale of change is illustrated by the rapid growth of registered privately-owned contracting firms which currently account for over 50% of Chinese national construction output. This structural re-alignment of the way construction activity is organised has been accompanied by sustained discourse of projectivization coupled with a requirement to adhere to at least a nominal enactment of competitive bidding. Current research relating to the Chinese construction sector remains dominated by quantitative studies based on supposed critical success factors. What remains notably absence is any sustained attempt to understand how managers within construction firms make sense of the changing environment within which they operate. Empirical research is reported which sought to address this shortcoming in the current literature. The adopted method combined qualitative interviews with the analysis of original documentary sources. The underlying methodological position follows the precepts of sensemaking. The focus lies on how practitioners negotiate a plethora of day-to-day paradoxes and contractions to construct a coherent account of the environment within which they operate. Particular emphasis is given to the self-identities which practitioners create for themselves in the context of the emerging social market. The implications of the research extend beyond China to other transitional economies characterised by an increasing reliance on market mechanisms.