From the earliest times, there has been an interest to know what the future might bring. Anticipating the future is considered as a useful way to align and improve current strategies and this interest has been reflected in future studies, strategic planning, scenario thinking and planning, foresight, and futurology. There are many examples for previous foresight research at the industry level. Harty et al. (2007) provided a good review of thirteen future studies focusing on the construction industry and investigated the methodologies adopted. Bringing together the key themes and areas addressed in these studies, two future construction scenarios were developed for year 2025. Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) reports, produced in UK, identified
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Betts and Ofori 1992). Here, ‘strategic planning’ is taken to mean a management function for developing a longer-term plan (beyond the next project), which will shape company characteristics and determine the market in which it is going to operate. Many reasons have been put forward for construction organizations lack of effort in strategic planning (Brightman et al. 1999), most being due to inadequate resource capacities, instability of employment and the unpredictability of the construction market. Strategic planning is often the responsibility senior managers; however, the time they can dedicate to the task is limited as they also have day-to-day operational responsibilities (Burt and van der Heijden 2003). This problem is increased by the prevalence of small construction companies in the sector. Fierce competition and the transient nature of construction employment often results in smaller companies struggling to survive, let alone plan for the long term. Hence, their focus is often just on their current project, as well as winning the next one. If they do plan ahead, then this may have to be aborted due an emerging need to respond to emerging market demands, hence rendering the whole process of long-term planning less beneficial. In most cases, there is little evidence of a formal process in the formulation of long-term strategies (Edum-Fotwe 1995; Brightman et al. 1999). There is thus little capacity for strategic planning in companies in the construction sector and little emphasis on the need for long-term planning as its benefits have not been fully and immediately realized (Soetanto et al.
Betts and Ofori 1992). Here, ‘strategic planning’ is taken to mean a management function for developing a longer-term plan (beyond the next project), which will shape company characteristics and determine the market in which it is going to operate. Many reasons have been put forward for construction organizations lack of effort in strategic planning (Brightman et al. 1999), most being due to inadequate resource capacities, instability of employment and the unpredictability of the construction market. Strategic planning is often the responsibility senior managers; however, the time they can dedicate to the task is limited as they also have day-to-day operational responsibilities (Burt and van der Heijden 2003). This problem is increased by the prevalence of small construction companies in the sector. Fierce competition and the transient nature of construction employment often results in smaller companies struggling to survive, let alone plan for the long term. Hence, their focus is often just on their current project, as well as winning the next one. If they do plan ahead, then this may have to be aborted due an emerging need to respond to emerging market demands, hence rendering the whole process of long-term planning less beneficial. In most cases, there is little evidence of a formal process in the formulation of long-term strategies (Edum-Fotwe 1995; Brightman et al. 1999). There is thus little capacity for strategic planning in companies in the construction sector and little emphasis on the need for long-term planning as its benefits have not been fully and immediately realized (Soetanto et al.