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<doi>/ISEC.res.2017.12</doi>
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<article-title>SIMILARITY ASSESSMENT OF COUNTRIES TO<br/>
FACILITATE LEARNING FROM INTERNATIONAL<br/>
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS</article-title>
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<author>BESTE OZYURT, GOZDE BILGIN, IREM DIKMEN, and M. TALAT BIRGONUL</author>

<aff>Dept of Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey</aff>


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<abstract>
<title>ABSTRACT</title>
<p>Companies’ ability to learn from projects is a source of competitive advantage in
project-based industries. Learning from experiences in international markets is
particularly important for global contractors so that the right bidding strategy can be
developed, effective project governance systems can be established, and similar
mistakes are not repeated. In this study, we assert that countries can be clustered
according to their similarity so that experiences gained in these markets can be
transferred and adapted to forthcoming projects. Thus, similarity factors to be used for
clustering of countries can be identified, and a methodology can be developed to store,
retrieve and reuse country-related information in international construction projects. In
this paper, we report the factors identified for similarity assessment of countries to be
used to facilitate learning from projects. As a result of literature review, interviews
with experts and an online questionnaire administered to company professionals who
have international construction experience, 12 factors have been identified for
clustering of countries. As a result of ranking analysis; factors of “development level
of and culture in the construction industry”, “political condition of the country” and
“financial condition of the country” are obtained as the most important factors. The
identified factors will be explained and how the clustering of countries can help
companies to extract valuable information from previous experiences will be discussed.</p>
<p><italic>Keywords: </italic>Cluster analysis, Construction industry, Organizational learning,
Questionnaire survey, Ranking analysis.</p>
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