Political context

6.6.2.1 Government influence on the procurement process

Under the political context theme, all three (3) respondents (see Figure 6-1) in CS1 were clear in their responses by acknowledging that, government influences have had a negative impact on the construction works procurement process in the construction industry. In many instances, tenders are skewed in favour of contractors who are able to command sufficient political influence; projects are awarded on political affiliation lines making monitoring of such project extremely difficult. Projects are eventually given out to contractors who do not have the resources to undertake such projects. Yet, AML thinks otherwise, political influence or intervention, according to AML may not necessarily be harmful however AML agrees that:

“…there is more to be done to improve the construction works procurement system in order to minimise human to human interface…”

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The above statement explained the negative effect of human to human activities in the procurement process. The significance of automating the procurement process was highlighted in literature (PPA, 2010, PPA, 2013). A typical example is the uploading tender documents on the PPA website. Further, AML was of the view that one the significant thing government can do from which the construction industry can benefit is by providing a national Internet infrastructure. This may as well be beneficial to the entire business community in Ghana. CRF agreed with AML and further mentioned that it has an significant role in promoting the use of ICT and e-business in construction. PML1 in CS1 similarly, think that political influence can be of benefit to the industry. For example, it can be exploited to restructure contractor registration framework to enable the system to allow only qualified people to enter the construction industry. PML1 further expressed the following view(s):

“…I think industry led skills development would help the industry to promote the culture of quality work, technology most especially ICT which can improve the industry’s outlook and performance, political influence in my opinion could be of immense benefit…”

In this context PML1 noted that it is significant for government to come to the aid of the construction industry as it appears majority of local firms do not have the financial capability to implement e-business technology.

6.6.2.2 Strategy to promote e-business in the construction industry

Under t political context theme three (3) respondents in CS1 and two experts who provided a general opinion on the research topic highlighted the significant role of government in promoting technology use (see Figure 6-1). CRF mentioned that government is the biggest employer in the construction industry in Ghana therefore, it has the responsibility to promote the use of ICT and e-business in the construction works procurement process. CRF further noted that this would minimise face-to-face contacts with government officials and other people involved in the procurement process, thereby reducing unnecessary delays. Osei-Tutu

et al. (2010), highlighted the negative impact of corruption on construction. PML1 agrees

with CRF and explained that this type of promotion may mean that all information relating to the works procurement should be published online in real time basis for contractors to access. This can encourage the various local firms to take up ICT as part of their system. SIMG moreover underscored the significance of government to promoting the use of ICT and e- business, by so doing government office responsible for works procurement would be

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adequately placed to monitor the procurement process. Further, SIMG explained that with an e-business system in place, it would be mandatory for all government entities to use the platform for its procurement activities. This requires that all tender notices, participation of tenderers as well as tender evaluation (price, technical specification, financial status, etc.) to be conducted online. This would enable the authority to monitor compliance of entities with their tendering process. This would include tender opening and closing periods, evaluation criteria, notification of contract award, and in some cases contract performance. Contributing to the discussion PMF1 and PML1 highlighted the significance of the government’s role in promoting the use of technology such as e-business, mentioning that it would enhance the technological capability of the local firms and the entire construction industry which is suffering from low technology absorption and a shortage of technical and management skills. AML supported the statement made by PML1 and emphasised that technological capability enhances the image of local contractors and moreover enable them to work closely with foreign firms who already exhibited high level usage of technology in their works.

The following section addresses the research question two (2) as outlines in Section 1.6.3 in Chapter 1 which deals with foreign firm support for skills development and e-business technology transfer to the construction industry in Ghana is CS1.

6.7 What motivates foreign contractors to support skills development and e-business technology transfer to the construction industry in Ghana?

Under research question two (2) foreign support for skills development and e-business technology transfer to local firms in the construction industry in Ghana was investigated within CS1 in order to determine influential factors that promote skills development within the construction industry in Ghana. These emerging factors from the interviews were recorded in NVvo 10 first as free nodes (see Figure 4-9 in Chapter 4) and then further grouped into themes as tree nodes (see Figure 4-10 in Chapter 4). The emerged themes, in particular, for research question 2 in CS1 as shown in Figure 6-2 were grouped under the following themes: business strategy of foreign firms and improving capability. Findings under the themes are presented below.

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Figure 6-2 Identified factors for skills and e-business development