Editorial

Citation

Holt, A.P.G.A.D. (2014), "Editorial", Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, Vol. 19 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMPC-04-2014-0007

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, Volume 19, Issue 2

Welcome to Volume 19, Issue 2 of The Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction (JFMPC) 2014.

Before introducing the issue’s papers, we thought it would be useful to offer an overview of recent JFMPC developments. The journal is most pleased to have recently been accepted into SCOPUS. This achievement reflects the quality of our authors’ papers, the expertise and support of our international Editorial Advisory Board, the valuable contribution made by all of our expert reviewers and the support of our global publisher Emerald. The SCOPUS recognition, therefore, jointly acknowledges all of these stakeholders while confirming JFMPC’s increasing presence and strength in the subject field. Our recently adopted reviewing policy of seeking at least three sets of expert peer reviews per paper further bolsters our emphasis on quality, while ensuring that authors receive balanced and comprehensive feedback on their submissions. We continue to broaden our reviewer base, especially taking account of reviewer geographical location and areas of subject expertise, given widening international submission of papers and the subjects they address; so we continue to welcome inquiries in this regard (in the first instance, please contact the respective property or construction Editor if you want to apply to become or nominate a reviewer).

This second issue Volume 19 Issue 2 of 2014 moves us from the sharp focus of the previous Special Issue on cost overruns, to offer a mix of papers that reflect JFMPC’s broad editorial remit. In doing so, three papers are drawn from the construction discipline and two from the property discipline; whose subject matter ranges from procurement practice in the developed world, to valuation practice in the developing world and from workforce management in large projects to the “value” of open spaces. Three papers (3, 4 and 5) have one unifying theme – challenges presented by globalisation in emerging markets. Two papers (3 and 5) utilise surveys of industry participants, while three others (1, 2 and 4) present quantitative analysis of data gathered for other purposes by private organisations or public authorities. Two papers (1 and 3) focus on the challenges faced by construction sector small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and another two (2 and 4) examine issues of house prices. One thing is consistent across all five however: strong practitioner, industry and policy relevance. Given the ongoing ambition of the property and construction sectors to “shrug off” the economic downturn, combat the effects of austerity and rise to the developmental challenges faced, the practical focus combined with academic rigour inherent among this issue is very much welcomed.

The first paper from Konno investigates why construction SMEs disengage from the process of formally tendering for public works in Japan. Japanese public tendering is regulated via contractors’ registration in an evaluation database known as Keiei Jikou Sinsa or Keisin. The study explains why (excluding business failure) some firms remain in the Keisin from year to year, while others deregister. Both financial and non-financial attributes that are recorded in this particular form of pre-qualification are harnessed in the study as parameters for a factor analysis. Konno’s findings suggest that experience, strong cashflow and the “safety net” of insurance are relevant factors in the ability of firms to retain their position in this tendering “premier league”. The research may prove useful in both academic and practical terms, the latter especially by highlighting factors that can be addressed to support construction SMEs and broaden the active base of public sector tendering in this country.

In the second paper, McCord et al. use a hedonic pricing specification to measure the effect of public green space on house prices in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The findings augment international studies linking green spaces positively with house prices and provide empirical evidence for this in a UK setting, but suggest that these effects are strongest for terraced and apartment properties, where outdoor space is limited and less significant for detached and semi-detached properties which generally have their own, more substantial gardens. There is also a suggestion that while open space may provide a positive effect in proximal deprived areas, the same spaces may have a disamenity effect on more affluent areas. This heterogeneous effect of open spaces raises interesting questions for planning policy and development practice in designing and regenerating residential areas.

Maqsoom and Charoenngam provide us with the third paper, which reports on a survey of Pakistani construction firms of varied size and international experience. The work investigates the “appetite” and potential for firms to diversify beyond their home markets. Findings suggest that there is limited consensus on the purpose and advantages of internationalisation. Smaller firms, striving to establish themselves in congested, precarious home markets, may be seeking a more conducive business environment – what may be considered “push” factors. Larger firms with a well-established home market share may be seen as seeking to maximise established international links to access lucrative overseas expansion opportunities – perhaps identifiable as “pull” factors. The research highlights a hierarchy of challenges, notably a difficulty in access to funding for smaller firms which may serve to hamper growth efforts both at home and abroad. The research is indicative of the challenges faced by construction firms in similarly situated jurisdictions, as they attempt to capitalise on the opportunities that globalisation can offer.

The fourth paper is by McCluskey et al. This returns to a theme which has been developed in earlier issues – the investigation of alternative methods of mass appraisal which may facilitate the efficient and effective administration of property taxes and, in so doing, support municipal finances. The study examines the potential of utilising boosted regression trees (BRTs), a machine learning technique, in a case study setting in Malaysia. The authors find that BRTs do, to an extent, serve as a robust predictive tool, outperforming traditional approaches including multiple regression analysis. This is attributed to several factors such as lower data cleansing and transformation needs and lower overall data requirements, invaluable in markets with “thin”, unreliable or opaque transactional evidence. The findings support research from other disciplines which suggests BRT has a role to play where predictive accuracy is required and data availability is an issue. Such empirical evidence to support the strengthening of the “armoury” at the disposal of municipal tax authorities is to be welcomed.

The final paper in this issue is by de Silva et al. Their treatise examines another feature of the increasing globalisation of the construction industry – the effects of a multi-national workforce. While the history of construction is replete with examples of “foreign” workers, globalisation has intensified this trend. Their research helps understand the dynamic between native and foreign workers and in doing so, identifies positive and negative factors that can affect productivity. The study distils out 10 employee characteristics and 16 strategies which, taken together, paint a rich picture of the perils, pitfalls and potential associated with a multi-national workforce. The geographical setting can be taken as a “test bed” for other countries, and many of the issues presented will have much broader international applicability. Hopefully, both academic and practitioner audiences can glean increased understanding of the “ground rules” for multi-cultural workforce management and in doing so help the industry better specify workforce requirements to the potential benefit of project productivity.

Akintoye Akintola, Davis Peadar and Holt Gary