Internationalisation of Tanzanian Contractors
Keywords:
Construction industry, internationalisation, strategies, TanzaniaAbstract
The construction industry in Tanzania has been growing very fast especially in the last decade. Despite this growth the level of Tanzanian contractors of investing overseas is still low. The research sought to identify the characteristics of contractors with overseas investment, the factors that hinder Internationalisation of Tanzanian contractors and the strategies for Tanzanian contractors wishing to invest overseas. The approach used included literature review, personal interview and questionnaires administration to 60 Tanzanian contractors based in Dar es Salaam. The findings suggest that the internationalisation of Tanzanian contractors is good as 41.7% of the respondents have carried assignment outside the country. Regarding the factors affecting the internationalisation of Tanzania contractors it was found that among the selected five strengths and weaknesses attributes, the technological ability was the most critical attribute according to the respondents having a mean score of 3.96 followed by cost differences with a mean score of 3.50 and financial ability with 3.33. Regarding the threats for internationalisation of Tanzania contractors it was found that among the three threats social & political environment, and economic environment are more revealing having mean scores 3.67 and 3.67 respectively. In addition, the market and competition is also a force to reckon with recording a mean score of 3.58. Regarding the strategies for internationalising the contractors, it is recommended that Tanzanian contractors wishing to export their services should, as a strategy, put more focus on strategy like use of easier & comparatively cheap technologies which had a mean score of 3.17 followed by controlling construction costs and delivering quality performance with a mean score 3.00. The quality of performance will increase Tanzanian contractors’ reputation and help them to secure a number of large scale construction projects internationally.
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