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Appendix A: Internationalization of Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Firms Appendix A: Internationalization of Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Firms Background Interviewee’s information Company Designation Name Role Years of experience Contact Telephone number Email address Interview Location Time Discussions Please note that The Organization refers to the collective units of main and field- offices while The firm refers to the branch office which is away from the headquarters. S/no Questions and aims Reference (and rationale) Internalization and Strategic models 1 Please describe your organization and Dunning’s Eclectic Paradigm firm’s background in terms of ownership, (OLI and distance) locational and internalization (OLI) factors. How does flight-distance influence OLI factors? (continued) L.C. Peh and S.P. Low, Organization Design for International Construction Business, 325 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35164-8, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 326 Appendix A: Internationalization of Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Firms (continued) S/no Questions and aims Reference (and rationale) 2 Please describe your organization and firm’s Porter’s Diamond Theory (Diamond strategies and structures due to rivalry, and distance) factor and demand conditions, supporting and related industries, government intervention and chances. How does flight-distance influence the Diamond’s factors? 3 Please describe your organization and McKinsey 7S (Change in strategies due firm’s strategic management model to distance) and strategic thrusts. Discuss isomorphism of firms Discuss embeddedness. Internationalization: Reasons for overseas venture and where, when, what, why, who, how 4 Discuss agglomeration and localization effects Krugman’s Agglomeration economics Discuss centrality of cities in the world 5 In which countries and cities does your Ghoshal and Barlett’s Transnational organization have offices? Organization When were these country and branch- offices formed? What were the reasons for these overseas ventures? Why were these countries/cities chosen? What were their qualities? How familiar is the firm with the environment, its regulations and markets? What type of entities are these offices? How are the experiences of the firm in internationalizing? Who are the managers of these offices? How are the experiences of the managers in internationalization? What varieties of services do these offices provide? How are these services similar or different from those provided by the main office or headquarters? How much control does the headquarters have over the overseas offices or how much independence each overseas office has? How are the resources available different or similar? How are the businesses integrated? How did the firm decide on these strategies? Organizational structures and business/entry strategies – from vision to implementation 6 What are the firm’s vision, mission, Waterman and Peters’s Excellent objectives, investment horizon and Company pay-back considerations, policies, programs, plans, culture and values? (continued) Appendix A: Internationalization of Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Firms 327 (continued) S/no Questions and aims Reference (and rationale) 7 Please describe the organization structure, Mintzberg’s Strategic Management processes and culture of the organization, (Company’s organizational headquarters and overseas office? structure) 8 What was the spearheading/entry strategy Root’s Entry Strategy (Company’s when the firm entered the particular entry strategy) geographical market? Did the firm consider and apply varied entry strategies in different countries/cities? How did the firm prepare itself for the particular overseas venture? How were the decisions made? What were the sequence and steps of considerations? What were the entry modes? 9 What were/are the instructions for the overseas Theory of the firm -Value-costs office – from setting-up to present? evaluation What are the costs break-down for an overseas posting and assignment? 10 What are the competitive strengths of the firm? Hamel and Prahalad’s Core How competitive is the firm? Did venturing Competencies (Core competence abroad impose discontinuities and erode and distance) comparative and competitive advantages? 11 Does the firm take a region-centric, Geocentric model of management ethnocentric, polycentric or geocentric and marketing approach in management? Please give some examples. (region-centric – approach based on regional environment; ethnocentric – approach solely based on home environment; polycentric – approach based on individual country/city; geocentric – integrated approach) 12 How does your firm manage Octagonal + 2 factors internationalization and distance’s (Internationalization and distance) implications on inconveniences, control, psychic and cultural distances, communications, value and costs, sap of resources, time-differences, time-lags, and physical changes which may require assimilation training for A&E specialists, networks, spill-over, friction etc.? 13 What are the main risk considerations by Risk-returns evaluation the organization? What are the social (risk and distance) interactions that affect risk assessment? Why is the firm concerned about these risks? How are they different or similar in each city? How is the risk adverseness of the firm towards commitment and investment in each city? What are the firm’s goals of risk management? How are risks managed? Political, legal and contractual, project and operational, management, financial, cultural, etc. (continued) 328 Appendix A: Internationalization of Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Firms (continued) S/no Questions and aims Reference (and rationale) How does the firm perform risk evaluation? What were the techniques used? How does risk management benefit the organization? 14 What are the critical success factors (CSF) CSF and Pit-falls and possible pit-falls in each city? What are the pre-requisites for Pre-requisites internationalizing construction firms? Is the Singapore-brand helpful? 15 What were some of the problems regarding Problem-solving (problem solving and organizational design encountered by distance) the firm and how were they solved? What were some of the problems regarding business strategies encountered by the firm and how were they solved? How were conflicts resolved? 16 How have the organizational structures of (A) Collin’s Organic Evolution of the Firm of the organization evolved? And (B) of (Evolution of strategies and the branch-office evolved? distance) How have the business strategies of (A) of the organization evolved? And (B) of the branch-office evolved? 17 What is the value chain of the organization and Networking (Networking and distance) branch-office? Does the firm have alliances or collaboration with other firms or institutions to enable overseas ventures? 18 Is there localization in resource management? Resource Management What are the procurement assessment criteria and options? 19 What are some important lessons from Experience and learning (Experience, previous internationalizing experiences? learning and distance) How can organizational learning and experiences aid to improve decision making for these instances? 20 What are your experiences with transnational Flight-time/distance and travel work? What do you think of flight-distance and availability of flight and their impact on internationalization? What do you think of “time-space compression” and “virtual collocation” Does distance sap resources? Appendix B: Internationalization of Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Firms Survey on Organizational Structures in Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Consultancy Firms Part 1: General information of your firm 1 Does your company have overseas branch-offices? If yes, how many does it have and where are these offices situated? 2 What is the organizational structure of the firm? 3 What is the nature of your organization’s businesses and services? 4 How are the services provided by the overseas branch-offices similar or different to those provided by the headquarters? 5 What are the business strategies of the organization? Are they different at the overseas branch offices? 6 Financial turnover of organization 7 Age and evolution of the organization 8 Permanent/contractual/temporary employees in organization Least relevant Most relevant 147 To what extent does the following best describe your assessment? Please circle your assessment, based on a specific city, like the example shown above. Part 2: Internationalization Proximity and access to resources, networks and markets 1 Our foreign office have accesses to resources from our Singapore head- 1234567 quarters/regional head-quarters 2 Our foreign offices have accesses to networks from Singapore 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3 Our foreign offices are patronized by our Singaporean business partners 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (continued) L.C. Peh and S.P. Low, Organization Design for International Construction Business, 329 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35164-8, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 330 Appendix B: Internationalization of Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Firms (continued) Part 2: Internationalization 4 Our Singapore office has access to the host resources 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5 Our Singapore office has access to the host networks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6 Our Singapore office has access to the host markets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Discontinuities 7 Our foreign office’s access to organizational resources, networks and markets 1234567 could be discontinued at city boundaries (e.g. office in Boston not receiving adequate support from RHQ in New York) 8 Our foreign office’s advantages due to access to home’s resources, networks 1234567 and markets are discontinued
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