Determination of Contractor Strategies in Delivering Construction Projects in Oman

: Contractors are responsible to deliver construction projects as per contract. Past literature highlighted various implications of poor project delivery and as the ones who are responsible to deliver the project, contractors need to plan and strategise to ensure their projects are successfully delivered to the client. This paper focuses on identifying the strategies adopted by Omani main contractors to deliver construction projects successfully. Using 48 strategies identified through literature review, a survey has been conducted with 108 main contractors in Oman with top grade level of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) to investigate the significant strategies adapted ensuring successful project delivery. The top grade level contractor is on the focus of this research because they are involved as main contractors for construction projects in Oman. Using Factor Analysis technique, the 48 strategies have been reduced into 28 sub-strategies which are grouped into seven main strategies. The seven main strategies are: i) people and subcontractor management; ii) environmental protection; iv) develop technical capability, monitor and control; v) organisational efficiency and financial stability; vi) legislative compliance; and vii) clients’ satisfaction. This research revisits the su ccessful strategy for project delivery and restructures them to suit the practices in Oman. The strategy can be emulated by contractors in the country, and perhaps other middle east countries, as a way to expedite better construction performance.


INTRODUCTION
The construction industry plays major role in every country's economic growth (Albino & Berardi, 2012;Hwang, Shan, & Lye, 2018). The success of construction projects generates income to project organisations such as the developers, contractors and consultant, as well as contribute to national growth (Zavadskas, The Omani construction industry faces issues in project delivery due to absence of standard construction procedure manual or guidelines (Alnuaimi et al., 2010). Oyegoke & Al Kiyumi (2017) have identified that contractor's lack of experience and insufficient workers provision cause delay in Omani large projects. Lack of contractor's experience has led to inappropriate construction planning by them. Contractor's improper materials procurement plan with inaccurate lead time calculation causes material shortage in Omani construction project delivery (Islam & Khadem, 2013). They fail to make payment for the daily construction expenses due to their financial instability. Most of the time, construction workers and employees are forced to work overtime with inadequate salary resulting in productivity loss. Majority contractors and their workers are expatriates and exhibit poor understanding of cultural differences (Islam & Khadem, 2013). Most of these workers, including those who became the project supervisors, are unskilled and yet did not receive any proper training.
Such incompetent supervisors are responsible for poor planning and poor coordination of construction projects in Oman. Thus, Omani contractors need to strategise to overcome these issues and deliver successful projects. While few studies have been conducted on construction projects in Oman, the contractors' strategies to deliver successful projects have been paid little attention in spite of the research by Alnuaimi & Mohsin (2013) which identified that contractors' poor performance has caused project delay which in turn impacted the national economy.
In view of these issues, this study aims to identify contractors' strategies to deliver successful project in Oman. Through systematic literature review focussing on contractor strategy and performance in delivering construction projects, a total of 48 strategies have been identified. Questionnaires were developed and tested in a pilot study before sending out to begin the survey.
The respondents from the contractor firms were asked to rank the importance of these strategies using a Likert scale during the survey. Factor analysis was conducted to significantly group the strategies. The results are expected to fill the gap in project success factors research and provide useful information and practical guidance to contractors on project execution practices.

LITERATURE REVIEW Oman Construction Industry
Oman is a developing country in which the construction industry is one of the promising sectors that contributes to the country's economy (Project Oman, 2020). As part of the government's strategy to diversify economy away from oil and gas, the construction sector in Oman has been buoyant over the last few years (The World Bank, 2019; Townsend, 2017). The construction industry in Oman has registered an average annual growth rate of 9.4% under the Eighth Five Year Development Plan 2010(Global Data, 2018. Continued growth is expected during the period 2018-2022 with approximately USD 180 billion worth of planned or on-going projects in Ninth Five Year Development Plan 2016 -2020 (Malik & Mitchell, 2018). With 6,75,757 workers in the year 2017 for example, the industry has provided job opportunities for both Omanis and expatriates (Oxford Business Group (OBG), 2020). The Omani Government uses the industry as a "tool" to lower its unemployment rate. To cater to the growing population, government is spending heavily on social infrastructure including housing, education and health sector (Alpen Capital, 2015). This is also to attract private investment to the economy. Rapid urbanisation, a fast growing middle class and housing loans availability at low interest rate are driving Oman's housing sector construction activity (Alpen Capital, 2015). Although the industry has recorded a drop of 5.8% due to pandemic in 2020 (Al-Amri & Marey-perez, 2020), Mordor Intelligence (2020) forecasts a growth of 6% from 2019 to 2024. The industry is expected to grow in the future as it is pursuing its diversification plan 'Vision 2040'.

Contractor Roles in Construction Project Delivery
Contractor is one of the major players in the project team who is responsible for executing the construction project work until completion and handover to client (Rao, Kumar, & Kumar, 2018). They are customer-focused organisations that understand and fulfil the expectations of the client. Contractors are expected to complete projects within the timeframe provided for in the contract as delay may lead to penalties (Dvir, Raz, & Shenhar, 2003). Therefore, contractors are expected to make an effort to establish a comprehensive and specific schedule before project commencement (Oyegoke & Al-Kiyumi, 2017). Aje et al. (2009) reported that contractor's monitoring and control procedure have an impact on the cost and time performance of construction project. Contractors are required to plan for materials and procure based on their usage at construction site to avoid work stoppage due to material shortage or unavailability (Osawaru et al., 2018). Contractor is responsible for site logistics and site management (Jaśkowski, Sobotka, & Czarnigowska, 2018). Main contractors need to monitor subcontractors to ensure that they meet the agreed budget, schedules and technical specifications (Bryde & Robinson, 2005). Contractors need to constantly liaise with consultants for clarification of project drawings. It is imperative for contractors to maintain harmony with consultants to achieve expectations of both clients and consultants during project delivery (Egemen & Mohamed, 2005). It is the contractor's responsibility to ensure quality of projects (Lou, Xu, & Wang, 2017) and safety of all personnel at the work site (Yong & Mustaffa, 2013). One of the major responsibilities of contractors in recent years is minimising environmental impact of construction activities at site (Alzahrani & Emsley, 2013). Overall, contractors are not only responsible for on-site activities including material procurement and environmental protection, they are also expected to manage site workers, subcontractors and liaise with relevant parties such as consultants, suppliers and local authority. Manley, McFallan, & Kajewski (2009) define strategies as "the planned actions of firms to improve core competencies and facilitate outcome achievement".

Construction Project Delivery Strategy
They represent a course of actions to fulfil the needs and expectations of stakeholders. The actions that bring success to a firm differ from country to country based on their operating environment, legislative requirements and policies (Yong & Mustaffa, 2012). In the context of construction firms, "strategies" are defined as planned actions to achieve its organisational goals such as to be competitive among other firms (Chew, Yan, & Cheah, 2008) or operate business globally (Choi, Cho, Han, Kwak, & Chih, 2018) or achieve improved business outcome (Manley et al., 2009) or to manage environmental issues of construction (Fergusson & Langford, 2006) in response to changing market environment. However, these prior studies focused on strategies at firm level that contributes to construction firm performance. It is widely acknowledged that contractor firms' capability is critical for successful execution of project. Thus, "construction project delivery strategy" is plans and actions by the contractor firms to bring them success in construction project delivery, within a changing market environment, to meet the needs and expectations of clients.
The study of strategies that contribute to project success is often considered as one of the important ways to deliver projects successfully (Gunduz & Yahya, 2015). These strategies which are related to company's personnel, resources, processes and management, if not taken care properly are likely to result in project failure (Farooquie & Farooquie, 2009). Shen, Lu, & Yam (2006), investigated key contractor competitiveness indicators for success in different types of projects. They identified that effective quality policy and plan, technology capacity and plan, construction program, human resources, cost control system, effective organisation operation, plant and equipment resources, relationship with subcontractors and suppliers are critical for all types of project. Manley et al. (2009) (Yong & Mustaffa, 2013) 2.
Manage information using proper documentation plan and technology (Fortune & White, 2006) 45.

THE FINDINGS
The aim of this study is to group the variables and identify the significant strategies of contractor firms to deliver successful projects. The survey data of 48 strategies were subjected to Factor Analysis (FA). The results are presented in Tables 3 to 5 and Figure 1. Initially, the data were tested for their reliability. The analysis results revealed that the overall degree of inter-correlation among the variables is observed to be sufficient as the correlation matrix revealed coefficients of above 0.3 and below 0.9. This range of coefficient is recommended by Field (2013). The KMO value (0.863) and Bartlett's test of sphericity (p=0.000) in Table 3 also confirmed that the data were appropriate for FA (Kaiser & Rice, 1974). Cronbach's Alpha of 0.968 shows an excellent internal consistency reliability of the items used.

Factor Extraction and Interpretation
The principal component analysis revealed seven components with eigenvalue greater than one, accounting for 74% of the variance. The factors grouping after varimax rotation is shown in Table 4. Items with loading exceeding 0.50 were only retained to interpret the factors as they are accepted to have enough relation to be grouped under a factor (Kazaz, Er, & Ozdemir, 2014).
Based on the highest loading items of each factor and common theme of the variables, the 7 factors dubbed as strategies are labelled. Strategy 6 comprises of two sub-strategies i.e. submit required plans to authority for approval and comply with required rules, regulations and legislation.
Strategy 7 comprises of two sub-strategies i.e. advocate all the contractual terms to demonstrate professionalism and fulfilling client's requirement.

Reliability and Validity
The reliability of the main-strategy dimensions were assessed with Cronbach Alpha values. Composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) values indicate validity of the strategy dimensions. The reliability and validity values are presented in Table 5. According to (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988), CR must be above 0.6 and AVE must be above 0.5 to establish convergent validity. The correlation of strategies should be lower than square root of AVE to demonstrate the discriminant validity (Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2018). All CR scores are above 0.70 and all AVEs are above 0.50 except the strategy five (AVE = 0.45).
The square root of the AVE of all seven strategies greater than the levels of correlations involving that strategy confirms discriminant validity of all seven strategies. There is no issue to consider strategy five with AVE slightly below 0.5 while it exhibits discriminant validity (Sekar, Viswanathan, & Sambasivan, 2018).

DISCUSSIONS
The literature review has identified a total of 48 strategies for contractors to deliver construction projects. The data collected from Omani contractors were subjected to FA to identify the main and sub-strategies. A total of seven main strategies were identified significant for Omani contractors to deliver successful projects.

People and Subcontractor Management
This survey has identified that 'people and subcontractor management' as the where possible, outsource for specialised needs (Reichstein, Salter, & Gann, 2008;Wilkinson, Johnstone, & Townsend, 2012). Training has also been identified as one of the sub-strategies, as supported by (Kuwaiti et al., 2018) that indicates the necessity of training for skill development and to enable better achievement of project goals. In construction projects, main contractors enter a contract with many sub-contractors. Main contractors are responsible to manage the subcontractors, apart from their own staff. According to Yong & Mustaffa (2012), while competent subcontractors support the contractor to complete the project on time, inexperienced subcontractor can put the project at risk. Therefore, careful selection of the sub-contractors is needed for ensuring successful project delivery. This survey also acknowledged the need to maintain continuous relationship with the sub-contractors and to ensure the responsibility and liabilities of the sub-contractors are clearly defined. This finding supports the statement by Tan et al. (2017) which indicated that main contractors' competitiveness can be improved through their long-term business relationship with subcontractors. The importance of promoting good and healthy working environment in a project has also been identified as one of the sub-strategies. Zhao et al. (2009) stated that good and healthy working culture helps to develop loyalty of staff as it brings safe work environment for them.

Technology and Innovative Solutions Adoption
The results also showed that 'technology and innovative solutions adoption' is another significant strategy with 13.8% of the total variance. Large and challenging projects are dealt with adaptation to new technologies and innovative methods of construction. Contractors are required to acquire appropriate technologies and develop capability for their implementation.
While Zhao et al. (2009) reported that advanced technologies' adoption by Chinese contractors increased their capability to tackle complex projects in international market, Islam & Khadem (2013) identified that low level of technology available in Omani market caused project delay. Contractor's investment in new software and system would help site personnel's unnecessary visits to the firm office. This is supported by Mahmoud, Mehmet, Clevenger, & Fanning (2015) who stated that application of software packages such as BIM in projects results in decreased project schedule due to low request for information. In addition, automation with robotics is also a strategy identified in this study. According to Kurien, Kim, Kopsida, & Brilakis (2018), the use of automation with robotics in construction projects increases productivity and reduces the risk for workers during work in hazardous environment. Kim, Chi, & Wang (2015) also reported that automation with robotics can help managers to quickly and accurately identify quality issues and manage them. This survey identified the need to apply modern construction technology, product, and process to reduce rework and improve productivity. Contractors who apply new technology and process achieve enhanced work efficiency and better quality of finished product (Agenbag & Amoah, 2021). In agreement with previous studies by Fang et al. (2016), the survey results reveal that latest IT systems for site security helps decision makers to locate workers and materials to improve project execution productivity.

Quality, Safety and Environmental Protection
The third important strategy is 'quality, safety and environmental protection' with 12.9% of the total variance. This strategy has five sub-strategies related to three key areas such as quality assurance, health and safety of workers and environmental protection. In this study, quality assurance has been identified as an important sub-strategy. Contractors ensure quality of project through the workmanship quality and conformance to specifications. Alzahrani & Emsley's (2013) research shows that contractors' investment in quality policy is important to deliver quality project. Implementation of an effective quality assurance program can ensure smooth handing over of construction project to client (Kuwaiti et al., 2018). Secondly, the survey results show that health and safety has paramount importance in construction site. It is the contractor's

Develop Technical Capability, Monitor and Control
The results also showed that 'develop technical capability, monitor and control' is a significant strategy of contractors with 10.6% of the total variance.
Contractor's technical competence to perform specialised work is one of the most important factors for successful project delivery. Several past studies concurred that high technical capabilities of a contractor indicate his abilities to deliver the project with quality on time and within budget (Acheamfour et al., 2020;Aje, 2012). This study indicates that selection of appropriate construction methods is an important sub-strategy. The research by Tsai, Lin, Lee, Chang, & Hsu (2013) shows that appropriate construction method selection is critical to contractors to manage delivery of modern complex construction projects.
Contractor's regular monitoring and accurate change control process during implementation of planned activities helps project delivery. This is acknowledged by Davies & Harty (2013) as consistent project monitoring helps managers to make decisions on corrective measures and reschedule the construction program to ensure project delivery as planned. Another substrategy is to apply effective cost and budgeting control. Previous study by Lu et al. (2008) has addressed the importance of cost controlling. Another research by Yong & Mustaffa (2013) shows that poor monitoring and control will lead to project delay and cost overrun. This research also indicates that mitigation of delays and conflicts is also an important sub-strategy. Conflicts in construction project delivery process not only delay the project but also affect the quality (Ariffin & Sutrisna, 2010). Previous study by Sambasivan & Soon (2007) revealed the need to minimise delays as it leads to cost overrun and disputes during the course of project delivery.

Organisational Efficiency and Financial Stability
This research highlights 'organisational efficiency and financial stability' as another main strategy with 8.3% variance. This strategy consists of four substrategies that are divided into two elements as, organisational efficiency and financial stability. For organisational efficiency, the survey showed that contractors must identify potential sources of risks and take necessary steps to manage those risks. Past research has reported that risk identification and management is crucial for contractors to meet the time, cost and quality targets (Hwang & Lim, 2013

Legislative Compliance
In any construction industry in the world, compliance to legislations and law is prudent and necessary. It is what ensures the durability, stability and safety of the buildings and its occupants. Thus, it is unsurprising that Oman contractors also view that 'legislative compliance' is another main strategy to deliver conventional projects which accounted for 7% of the total variance. Standards and regulatory controls are essential for construction as these construction activities play major role in environmental health, economy, and social welfare.
Under this strategy, submission of required plans to authority for approval is one of the sub-strategies. Past research by Islam & Khadem (2013) showed that contractors' submission of drawings and plans to concerned authorities to obtain their approval to proceed determined their productivity which in turn helped project delivery. Another sub-strategy is to comply with required rules, regulations, and legislation of the country. It is mandatory for contractors to comply with the established technical standards and requirements of the country to ensure health, safety, environmental protection, social welfare, and economic stability. According to Windapo & Cattell (2010), compliance to the rules and regulations of the country would ensure smooth handing over of the project.

Clients' Satisfaction
The final main strategy identified from the survey is 'clients' satisfaction' with 5.6% of the total variance. The main responsibility of the contractor is to deliver construction project according to the clients' requirements. One of the two important sub-strategies is 'advocate all the contractual terms to demonstrate professionalism'. This is acknowledged by Alzahrani & Emsley (2013) that, winning trust of the client through professionalism and adherence to contractual terms increases possibility of successful project delivery. Hwang & Lim (2013) reported that failure to manage the contractual obligations causes project delay due to conflicts. One more sub-strategy is fulfilling clients' requirements to ensure project delivery. Contractor has to fulfill various requirements of client including compliance to the client's schedule, budget and quality. Dikmen & Birgönül (2003) also asserted that contractors need to maximise client's satisfaction by fulfilling their requirements.

CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this study is to identify and group the significant strategies of contractor firms to deliver successful projects in Oman. A detailed literature review identified a total of 48 contractor strategies. These strategies were analysed by employing factor analysis approach. A total of seven main strategies and 29 sub-strategies adopted by the Oman main contractors to deliver projects have been identified. The seven strategies are: 1) people and subcontractor management (seven sub-strategies); 2) technology and innovative solutions adoption (five sub-strategies); 3) quality, safety and environmental protection (five sub-strategies); 4) develop technical capability, monitor and control (four sub-strategies); 5) organisational efficiency and financial stability (four sub-strategies); 6) legislative compliance (two substrategies); and 7) clients' satisfaction (two sub-strategies).
. This research unveiled the delivery strategy that has benefited the main contractors. As main contractors, they are the decision makers in ensuring projects are executed properly and in timely manner. Due to complexity at site, they need to ensure every aspect of project delivery is catered for efficiently.
Thus, having holistic strategies would be advantageous throughout the whole project execution. In Oman, the conventional construction still dominates the industry, however, the government is moving towards more modern and sustainable construction. This instigates changes to the current practice. By establishing strategies that have been successfully applied, more contractors can emulate the practices to increase the project performance. These strategies can also be adapted to answer the government's call for better construction industry. This research is currently focused on main contractor with top grade level of OCCI working on conventional projects only. This also indicates that the projects they are involved with are considered as large projects. Lower grade or smaller projects may adopt similar strategies or they may have different strategies to cater for smaller project budgets. More mega projects and green certifiable projects are also taking hold in Oman. Although the delivery strategy adopted by the conventional projects are most likely appropriate for mega or green projects, there could be additional or newer aspects that the contractor need to be aware off to ensure successful delivery.
Thus, this opens avenue for further research on delivery strategy to cater for this more challenging construction projects.