Assessment of the performance of local and foreign road construction firms in Ghana

Abstract

The apparent imperfect competition that exists between local and foreign construction firms, coupled with the perception that governments give most of the big projects to the foreign firms has brought about the need to undertake a comparative study. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a significant difference between the performance of local and foreign road construction firms in Ghana. The study involved a cross-sectional survey that used a structured questionnaire administered to 69 respondents of road construction professionals. The results ranked foreign firms significantly higher than their local counterparts in terms of effective cost management, time management and quality management practices at 95% confidence level. Therefore, the study found the foreign road construction firms more efficient in terms of performance (cost, time and quality) than their local counterparts in Ghana. Copyright � 2009 The Chinese research Institute of Construction Management.