A temporal typology for innovation within the construction industry

Abstract

Without innovation a business does not have a rational source of competitive advantage in construction (CAC), necessary for appropriating added value. Various management research papers have identified factors that may create innovation conditions. Other researchers have shown how industries have innovated through time. This paper draws upon both sources to show a temporal development for the strategic introduction of innovation within the construction industry. This paper develops the temporal typology as a model for identifying and developing potential sources of innovation. The model (which consists of an ordered set of four epochs) provides a typology of innovation based on different routes through the epochs that together describe the different innovation (business cycle) contexts which can be utilised to identify which sources of innovation may be most appropriate in order to create a further (and higher) source of added value. This paper illustrates the representativeness of the model to “real‐life” businesses.