An Industrial Network Perspective on Innovation in Construction

When innovation in construction is viewed from an industrial network perspective, the interorganisational and interactive nature of innovation processes comes to the fore. Construction companies are generally thought of as poor at innovating, and there tend to be weak linkages between different construction actors. We propose that innovation is related to new or different interfaces being created between technical and organisational resources, used and combined across firm boundaries in the construction process. By using empirical examples from an ongoing research program, we show in what dimensions interaction is likely to bring about innovation. After examining innovation by considering interaction and adaptation processes between actors and their resources, we offer an alternative perspective on innovation. Applying an industrial network perspective rather than neoclassical market models has important implications both theoretically in terms of how innovation is conceptualised, and in practice in terms of companies’ own structuring of innovation efforts.