Construction logistics management is crucial for timely and cost-effective project delivery. While studies highlight improved project performance with a strategic and long-term approach to construction logistics management, there is a tendency to pursue project-centric logistics planning, hindering long-term, strategic approaches. Building contractors often prioritize dedicated solutions for specific projects, resulting in a lack of focus on company-wide efficiency. In the context of project-oriented building construction, where the logistics organization governs the planning, coordination, and control of resource flows, there is little known about how to tailor logistics strategies for the context of building contractors. While studies highlight the potential of strategic approach to logistics on project and supply chain performance, the adaptation of logistics strategies in the construction sector, especially considering influential contextual factors, remains largely unexplored.

Current logistics strategy literature predominantly draws from the repetitive manufacturing industries, often in the United States, failing to account for the distinct challenges posed by project-oriented construction. This thesis addresses how building contractors should strategically design their logistics organizations, accounting for building contractors’ specific contextual factors and subsequently proposing logistics organization design configurations that align with their unique characteristics.

The purpose is to investigate building contractors’ logistics strategy content and process with a focus on how to design the logistics organization. To fulfil the purpose, the following three research questions are formulated:

RQ1. What contextual factors influence the design of building contractors’ logistics organizations?

RQ2. How do the identified contextual factors influence the design of building contractors’ logistics organizations?

RQ3. How should building contractors design their logistics organizations in response to the contextual factors?

In response to RQ1, a combination of conceptual research, case studies, and a questionnaire study were undertaken to identify contextual factors influencing building contractors' logistics organizations, including the number of strategic business units (SBUs), product characteristics, and production process characteristics. These factors influence logistics organization design elements in terms of the degree of centralization, formalization, integration, and division of labour.

To answer RQ2, a mix of conceptual research, case studies, and a questionnaire study were undertaken to investigate how contextual factors influence the logistics organization design element. The findings indicate that while product and production process characteristics influence logistics organization design, the impact of company size remains inconclusive. The findings challenge conventional understanding regarding the influence of company size on logistics organization design, emphasizing the central role of product characteristics, production processes, and the number of SBUs among building contractors.

In response to RQ3, case studies were used to classify several logistics organization design configurations determined by the building contractors' product characteristics, production process characteristics, and the number of SBUs. These configurations outline responses to product characteristics, production process characteristics, and the number of SBUs. For instance, configurations reflecting single business unit contractors with high logistics predictability favour a centralized logistics organization, while those involving multiple SBUs lean towards divisional logistics function structures. Furthermore, the findings highlight the feasibility and preference for hybrid configurations in aligning logistics organization design with the unique characteristics of building contractors, contributing insights valuable for adapting organizational structures in diverse operational contexts.

This thesis contributes to logistics organization design literature by explaining how contextual factors shape building contractors' logistics organizations. The focus on construction-specific contextual factors, such as the degree of pre-engineering (product characteristics) and off-site fabrication (production process characteristics), broadens the scope beyond repetitive manufacturing contexts. The suggested logistics organization structures and configurations provide a foundation for understanding logistics strategy in construction and similar engineer-to-order industries. However, generalization to other engineer-to-order sectors requires additional research.

The thesis highlights a lack of formalized logistics strategies among building contractors. The identified logistics organization structures and design configurations offer practical insights for initiating a strategic logistics process, thus contributing to construction logistics practice. However, while the thesis advances logistics organization design understanding, the need for further research remains. Future research avenues include investigating the impact of company size, exploring misfit consequences, developing key performance indicators, and refining the implementation process. The methodological approach suggests the need for practice-oriented research designs to actively apply and evaluate the thesis' concepts in real-world scenarios.

Purpose The construction industry shows an increased interest in how to manage logistics within construction projects. Often construction logistics is outsourced to a logistics service provider (LSP). However, construction logistics is normally approached either as a strategic decision or as an operational issue and rarely as a tactical concern. The purpose of this study is to explore how to organize the logistics outsourcing decision at strategic, tactical and operational levels.

Design/methodology/approach This study is performed as a single-case study within a construction corporation, containing (amongst others) a building contractor (BC) and a construction equipment rental company (CERC) offering logistics services.

Findings The study shows that to procure construction logistics service successfully, BCs need logistics capabilities at strategic and tactical levels to maintain an alignment between the use of logistics services and operational characteristics. Simultaneously, CERC’s need to design their service offerings to correspond to the needs of the BC.

Research limitations/implications This study builds on a single-case study of a Swedish construction corporation. Further research is needed to better understand current logistics outsourcing and development practices and how these can be improved to foster better logistics management at the project level.

Practical implications BCs find suggestions of different logistics organization structures and suitable outsourcing arrangements. CERCs and LSPs can use the findings to understand their customers’ needs and adapt service offerings.

Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies of how two companies within a corporation can work together to develop construction logistics service offerings.

Purpose Contingency studies within logistics and supply chain management have shown a need for longitudinal studies on fit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the logistics strategy from a process of establishing fit perspective.

Design/methodology/approach A large Swedish building contractor's logistics strategy process was analysed using a longitudinal single-case study for a period of 11 years (2008–2019).

Findings The case study reveals three main constraints to logistics strategy implementation: a dominant purchasing organisation, a lack of incentives and diverging top-management priorities. This suggests that logistics strategy fit is not a conscious choice determined by contextual factors.

Research limitations/implications Establishing fit is a continuous cycle of regaining fit between the logistics context and logistics strategy components. Fit can be achieved by a change to the logistics context or to logistics strategy components.

Practical implications Logistics managers may need to opt for satisfactory fit in view of the costs incurred by changing strategy versus the benefits to be gained from a higher degree of fit.

Originality/value This paper adopts a longitudinal case design to study the fit between the logistics context and strategy, adding to the body of knowledge on organisational design and strategy in logistics and supply chain management.

On-site activities are typically performed when the end-product is immovable once it has been assembled and/or due to weight and space constraints in the production and transportation system. It is primarily a customer order driven type of production with a high level of customization. However, some customer order driven and/or customization activities can, or should, be performed off-site, but these aspects are typically treated in isolation of each other. There is therefore a need to make a combined assessment of on-site activities, customer order driven production, and customization activities. The purpose of this paper is thus to develop a typology that provides a holistic view of on-site activities in relation to customer order driven and customization activities. A flow-based three-dimensional typology is developed to assess combinations of three dimensions: flow driver, flow differentiation, and flow location. The property of each dimension is determined using decoupling points. The typology represents how on-site activities impact the feasibility of customer order driven and customization activities. “On-site” is defined as pursuing activities at the site where the final delivery is made. The findings show that forecast driven activities are risky to perform on-site and these should instead be performed before delivery to the site (off-site). The typology is applied to three case companies to illustrate its applicability to building construction. Future studies should extend the typology application to other types of construction and ETO industries to enable benchmarking of site-based production to other contexts with similar challenges related to on-site/off-site production.

Purpose

The understanding of how to develop or expand logistics service offerings to the construction industry has received limited attention in the research community. The purpose of this study is to investigate how construction equipment rental companies (CERCs) can approach the challenge of expanding their service offerings to include construction logistics services.

Design/methodology/approach

The study builds on a descriptive case study to analyse how a CERC has approached developing logistics services for construction through the lens of New Service Development literature.

Findings

The study shows that the CERC’s ongoing transition from a construction equipment supplier to a logistics service provider requires both back-end and front-end service development. The New Service Development process extends into sales and delivery of solutions where the company’s established customer-base in the construction industry can be beneficial.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to the Swedish construction context and further studies are needed to generalize the findings. Future studies should investigate how well service offerings match the contractor’s needs.

Practical implications

The study can be used by contractors and prospective logistics service providers for developing logistics services.

Original/value

The study contributes to construction logistics literature by addressing how construction logistics services can be developed by adopting a New Service Development approach.

A logistics strategy is at the foundation of how a company manages the flow of resources in the supply chain. It ensures that the logistics function of a company contributes to fulfilling strategic goals. In the project-based building construction industry, logistics is a means of supporting building operations by ensuring that resource flows are managed efficiently in the supply chain and at the construction site. However, there is a tendency to focus on operational logistics issues and to adopt established logistics principles from other industries to solve logistics-related problems in building construction, which typically favour “one size fits all” solutions. These approaches to construction logistics are problematic because building contractors target different market segments through their type of products, production methods, and supply chains. Therefore, there is not a “one best way” of managing logistics in building construction. 

This thesis focuses on how a building contractor can adopt a more strategic and long-term approach to logistics. Strategy is typically regarded in terms of three dimensions: context, content, and process. Consequently, building contractors need to understand the logistics strategy context, how it influences the logistics strategy content, and the process of formulating and implementing a logistics strategy. The purpose of this licentiate thesis is therefore to investigate the fit between logistics strategy context and content for building contractors.

To fulfil the purpose, the following two research questions are answered:

RQ1: What elements of logistics strategy context and content can be used to assess the fit of building contractors’ logistics strategies?

RQ2: What leads to fit/misfit in building contractors’ logistics strategies?

To answer the research questions, a combination of conceptual and empirical research methods has been used. The conceptual part comprises a literature review that was used to derive constructs to develop conceptual research frameworks. The literature review also served as input to defining research questions and as guidance for collecting empirical data. The empirical methods used are based on case studies to further develop and verify the conceptual research framework.

The main findings of this thesis are four logistics strategy context elements and five content elements that can be used to assess the fit between a building contractor’s logistics strategy context and content. This fit is important to facilitate logistics’ role as a support function for a cost/delivery or flexibility-oriented competitive strategy. However, fit is difficult to achieve in practice and the logistics strategy process can be constrained by the building contractor’s previous investments and the support given by internal stakeholders. This means that fit is not solely a deliberate choice made for efficiency/effectiveness reasons but includes comprises between previous and future directions and managerial discretion. 

This thesis contributes to the logistics strategy body of knowledge concerning the context, content, and process dimensions of logistics strategy within building construction. The thesis shows that there are trade-offs in selecting a logistics strategy that supports a cost/delivery or flexibility-oriented strategy. These trade-offs emerge as a consequence of different degrees of pre-engineering, type of production systems, and supply chain structures employed by building contractors, which building contractors needs to address during logistics strategy formulation. A logistics strategy profiling template was developed, which is a tool that managers in building contractor organizations can use to analyze and reconfigure a logistics strategy. Furthermore, the thesis highlights that building contractors should establish a central logistics function that takes responsibility for strategic logistics decisions, regardless of their logistics strategy context.

En logistikstrategi utgör grunden för hur ett företag hanterar flödet av resurser i försörjningskedjan och säkerställer att logistikfunktionen bidrar till att uppfylla företagets övergripande strategi. Inom husbyggande har logistik en stöttande funktion som avser att hantera resursflöden effektivt i försörjningskedjan och på byggarbetsplatsen. Byggentreprenörer tenderar dock att fokusera på logistiken i enskilda projekt och på att föra in etablerade logistiska principer från andra branscher. Detta tillvägagångssätt är problematiskt eftersom logistiklösningar som fungerar i andra branscher inte nödvändigtvis fungerar i byggproduktion. Byggproduktion skiljer sig från industriell produktion och husbyggnadsbranschen är mångsidig med olika typer av entreprenörer som riktar sig till olika marknadssegment genom att leverera olika typer av produkter, vilket i sin tur kräver olika typer av produktionsmetoder och försörjningskedjor. Därmed behöver byggentreprenörer anpassa sin logistikstrategi till dess kontext eftersom generella lösningar riskerar att vara dåligt anpassade för att hantera logistiken i olika typer av husbyggande.

Forskningen som presenteras i denna licentiatavhandling fokuserar på hur en byggentreprenör kan ta ett mer strategiskt och långsiktigt förhållningssätt till logistik. Syftet är därför att undersöka hur logistikstrategin bör anpassas till dess kontext. Studierna som avhandlingen bygger på har genomförts hos stora byggföretag som i huvudsak har sin verksamhet i Sverige.

I denna avhandling har fyra beståndsdelar identifierats som representerar logistikstrategins kontext samt fem beståndsdelar som representerar logistikstrategins innehåll. Dessa beståndsdelar kan användas för att bedöma hur väl anpassad logistikstrategins innehåll är till dess kontext. Denna situationsanpassning är viktig för att underlätta logistikfunktionens roll som stöd för en kostnadseffektivitets- eller flexibilitetsinriktad konkurrensstrategi. Forskningsresultaten visar dock att detta är svårt att uppnå i praktiken då implementeringen av logistikstrategin begränsas av byggentreprenörens tidigare investeringar och av olika interna aktörers intressen. Detta innebär att det inte enbart går att utforma sin logistikstrategi utifrån effektivitetshänseende, utan det behövs tas hänsyn till balansgången mellan tidigare och framtida strategiska inriktningar.

Denna avhandling bidrar till kunskap om logistikstrategi i termer av strategikontext, innehåll och process hos byggentreprenörer. Avhandlingen visar att det finns avvägningar i att välja en logistikstrategi som stödjer en kostnadseffektivitets- eller flexibilitetsinriktad strategi. Dessa avvägningar uppstår som en konsekvens av att logistikstrategin måste vara utformad för att tillgodose den komplexitet och förutsägbarhet som finns i logistikprocesser, vilket i sin tur beror på graden av förprojektering, typ av produktionssystem samt försörjningskedjans struktur. För att underlätta för byggentreprenörer i deras logistikstrategiarbete har en profileringsmall utvecklats. Mallen är ett verktyg som logistikchefer och logistikansvariga i byggföretag kan använda för att analysera en befintlig, eller formulera en ny, logistikstrategi. Detta arbete bör ha sin utgångspunkt i en central logistikfunktion som tar ansvar för strategiska logistikfrågor, vilket i dagsläget är ovanligt hos byggentreprenörer.

Previous research indicates that the success of logistics solutions in building projects depends on how they are organized in accordance with the logistics context, which is determined by building contractors’ competitive priorities, product characteristics, and production process choices. Taking a configurations approach, the purpose of this paper is to describe the fit between the logistics context and the organizing of logistics at a strategic level. A conceptual research framework is derived from literature postulating an influence of the logistics context on the organizing of logistics. The framework is applied to four cases by the means of strategic profiling, which provides a snapshot of the fit in the cases’ logistics configurations. The findings indicate that the type of production process influences the degree to which logistics decisions should be made centrally and that the degree of standardization and pre-engineering influence the degree to which logistics processes should be formalized. The main contributions are the identification of logistics configuration variables and the description of the fit between building contractors’ logistics context and the organizing of logistics. For managerial practice, a logistics configuration profiling template was developed that can be used as a tool in the logistic strategy process.

Building contractors need to understand their operational context to manage logistics efficiently andeffectively. However, we know little about the choices regarding organization of logistics in buildingcontractors and its relationship to performance. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop a typologyof ideal logistics configurations and to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the fit as profiledeviation perspective for logistics configuration studies in construction. The typology is based on acritical review of stand-alone contingency studies within the logistics and construction managementresearch domains. Two logistics configurations positioned at the extremes of a spectrum are identified.The first is the product-process oriented configuration resembling to the way industrializedhousebuilders organize and manage logistics. The second is the project-oriented configuration, whichresemble to how logistics is managed when operations are characterized by a high degree of on-siteconstruction and project-specific engineering designs. The product-process oriented configurationtypically generates low total costs of material supply and short and reliable lead times, while theproject-oriented configuration has a flexible material supply process to support the high degree ofvariability in on-site operations and in the supply chain. Thus, these two configurations will performbetter within different performance categories (project lead time, cost, and flexibility). Furthermore,the fit as profile deviation perspective is a promising approach to empirically assess the twoconfigurations. For managerial practice, the typology can guide building contractors and consultantsin evaluating existing logistics configurations and how to maintain ideal configurations when newlogistics roles emerge.