Supply chain management: a review of implementation risks in the construction industry

Purpose – The purpose of the present study is to analyze the development of supply chain management (SCM) introduction in the construction industry, investigating the risk factors affecting the implementation of SCM principles. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the research objective a literature review approach was adopted, which involved the selection and classification of about 140 research articles. Papers were critically classified and analyzed according to a risk management (RM) perspective. Findings – Results from the literature review identified a lack of construction supply chain risk management (CSCRM) literature which is mainly conceptual and descriptive and focused especially on the risk assessment phase. A total of 13 common risk factors are identified in literature and critically analyzed considering eight key perspectives. These stress the attention on the project planning phase and confirm the main contractor as the main promoter for the SCM practice. Research limitations/implications – The developed model has to be further investigated and tested with empirical case studies and its major limitation results from a subjective selection of researches and from the comparison between findings with distinct aims. Originality/value – The research explores SCM literature in the construction field, spanning a period of 11 years (2000‐2011). None of the review dealing with SCM principles focuses on the risk management area in the construction field. Findings constitute a first attempt for the development of an operative risk assessment framework supporting a successfully implementation of SCM in the Sector. Gaps in research are described in order to give a contribution and encourage additional works.