Many large contractors in Vietnam are lacking an effective method to measure their performance and identify weaknesses and threats. The integration of the balanced scorecard (BSC) and strengths‐weaknesses‐opportunities‐threats (SWOT) matrix is described to evaluate the strategic performance of large contractors in Vietnam. The AnGiang Construction Company (ACC) was used as an example to validate the approach. The BSC‐oriented SWOT matrix is developed to formulate the short‐ and long‐term strategies of ACC. The benchmarking approach was adapted to evaluate the ACC's performance and expose its competitors' best practices for improvement. The results indicated that only the financial perspective is at a poor level on the performance scale whereas the customer, learning and growth, and internal process perspectives are at a moderate level on the performance scale. The effective evaluation matrix uncovered 11 effective solutions that could be grouped under four categories: (1) innovating organizational structure; (2) effectively managing processes at construction sites; (3) stepping up cost control; and (4) improving equipment management. The findings may benefit not only Vietnamese construction firms but also firms in other developing countries to identify their strategies, quantify the strategic performance, and improve their competitive advantages.

A lot of non value-adding activities are existing in construction practices. Most of them were left unnoticed or unattended during construction. Previous studies have shown that significant amounts of project values were lost due to these problems. This paper was conducted based on the basis of waste concepts in construction under the philosophies of lean production. A survey was carried out through questionnaire, which was answered by experts and experienced people in high-rise building projects. The results showed that the relationship of waste recognition with its control ability was low with 0.461, 0.695 and 0.701 for contributory time waste, direct conversion waste and non-contributory time waste, respectively. The test on inter-relationship between recognition, control and frequency of waste signified that there was only one case that has negative relationship (r = −0.236) for contributory time waste. The trend of connecting the waste factors to their cause was carried out by a cause-and-effect matrix. The most dominant cause for all waste factors belongs to people cause with 52.6%, and the most unlikely cause belongs to information/communication cause with 0%. This paper then proposed some courses of action to reduce or eliminate level of waste based on expert survey.

In recent years, Vietnam has many diseases such as measles, HFMD, chicken pox, and so on. Although there are many new hospital projects, the central hospitals of government still usually overload. Besides that, similar to other construction projects, the hospital projects in Vietnam always have lengthy delays. This research analyzed the factors that cause delay the time of hospital projects in Vietnam, a type of specialized industrial construction projects. Factor analysis and survey expert were used in this case. The concept of correlation was also applied. The result of this survey shows that the main reason groups of the delay for hospital projects: ability of owner and contractor, ability of consultant and contractor, outside effects, ability of designers, ability of supervisors and other causes. With these groups, thirty-three factors have found and ranked. This result can be used for checking the policy for hospital project management; and will help the practitioners achieve successful hospital projects.

Production planning has a critical role in obtaining project success through improving the reliability of workflow. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of production planning in construction projects. This study aims to examine the current practice of production planning system in Vietnam Construction Industry (VCI) based on the Last Planner System (LPS). An assessment framework for production planning procedures has been employed according to the previous studies. Questionnaire survey, case study and expert survey were employed in this study. The results of analysis have indicated that most of production planning procedures at team workshop step and weekly work plan step in VCI are well performed; whereas most of procedures at lookahead plan step are superficially performed. Master schedule and weekly work plan are the most used plans when executing a construction project. Tool for constraints analysis and tool for measurement of percent plan completed are highly employed. ‘Low understanding of the concepts of LPS’ and ‘language and culture issues’ are the largest and smallest barriers respectively. ‘Indirect cost savings’ is the most beneficial factor if the present barriers are removed. This study then proposed some relevant solutions to enhance the performance of production planning processes in VCI.

Infrastructure projects are very essential in societies today because they enable the uninterrupted flow of goods, services, and information across any country. Although much research has been done to investigate cost overrun in different infrastructure projects such as transport, bridge, power plant, road, or even petroleum; little is known about what factors cause the most significant cost overrun in transmission lines construction projects. In order to fill this literature gap, the current study is aimed at identifying main cost overrun factors in these projects. A literature review is first conducted to capture causes of cost overrun in the construction industry. A survey questionnaire is then designed to collect data from transmission lines projects in Vietnam. Factor analysis is applied and seven factors of construction cost overrun are extracted including: risks, resources, incompetence of parties, firm policies, project policies, poor collaboration of parties, and components, transportation and machinery cost. A regression model is subsequently developed to assess the impact level of these seven factors on cost overrun. It is concluded that risks, resources, incompetence of parties, and components, transportation and machinery cost are the four main causes of cost overrun in transmission lines projects while the remaining factors are found to have no impact. The paper ends by pointing out limitations of the study and providing some suggestions for future research.

Purpose: This study aims to identify key knowledge enabling factors (KEFs) which can enable construction companies to improve various organizational effectiveness outcomes (OEOs). Design/methodology/approach: Using a questionnaire, data are collected from construction companies in Vietnam. Mean score method is used to calculate the mean values of KEFs. In addition, regression analysis is used to identify KEFs which significantly affect OEOs. Findings: A list of 32 KEFs, whose ranking orders of importance are provided according to different types of construction companies, is presented. In addition, different lists of specific KEFs which could significantly affect different OEOs are identified. Furthermore, seven key KEFs which could have a significant impact on many OEOs are highlighted. Practical implications: The findings of this study could help construction companies to know the controllable KEFs, on which they should focus more. Hence, they could perform these KEFs properly to improve various aspects of organizational effectiveness. Originality/value: This study identifies 32 KEFs and 10 OEOs specifically for knowledge management in construction companies. This study also provides construction companies with a better understanding of the impact of KEFs on various aspects of organizational effectiveness. Hence, they could develop effective KEFs-based management strategies to enhance various aspects of organizational effectiveness.