Assessment of Competitiveness of Architectural Consulting Firms in Tanzania Construction Industry

Abstract

Architectural firms in Tanzania construction market are from different countries with different experiences and backgrounds. The objective of this study is to assess competitive consistency of architectural consulting firms in Tanzania construction industry, also to examine the competitive strategies used by the architectural consulting firms, to identify factors affecting adoption of available competitive strategies and to recommend competitive strategies that will bring competitive consistency to architectural consulting firms. The survey approach was employed to collect data from architectural consulting firms. Literature review, interviews and questionnaires were the data collection instruments. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.00 and the findings were interpreted and appropriate recommendations were made. The findings in this study showed that differentiation, cost leadership, focus and growth strategies are widely used by the architectural consulting firms. Also the study proposed out of all factors that affect implementation of strategies; uncertainty is by far most important factor influencing implementation of strategy in the firm. These findings are important references particularly to those who want to conduct studies on competitiveness, to the new local architectural consulting firms and to those overseas architectural consulting firms for understanding the local architectural consulting business. While the data used in the analysis are collected from Tanzania architectural consulting firms, the findings provide useful references for conducting comparative studies between Tanzania architectural consulting firms and other countries or regions