An investigation into the adoption of target costing on Brazilian public social housing projects

The suitability of target costing for use in construction remains controversial and specific studies to assist its implementation are lacking. This research aims to critically inspect the contextual characteristics that may influence its implementation during the product development process (PDP) for social housing projects in Brazil. An exploratory and instrumental case study within a state social housing provider company provided PDP-related data. Data collection involved conducting unstructured interviews of higher management and diverse technical staff, and the analysis of company documents and records. A framework describing how target costing is applied in PDP is presented and general propositions are drawn from a theoretical basis built on the relationship between the characteristics of the analysed context and target costing theory. Opportunities and obstacles to target costing applicability were derived from them, as well as clarifications about relevant issues concerning the implementation process of this approach. Although the possibilities of applying target costing to social housing projects are limited by its intrinsic characteristics and traditional institutional barriers to new procurement methods, this article contributes to the discussion for more efficient and proactive ways of conceiving social housing projects, in an effort to deliver more value to stakeholders and end-users.