A comparative analysis of consruction industry international performance between China and United States using the International Advanced Index

The double-dip recession in the United States and the debt crisis in Europe have provided opportunities for international contractors in developing countries. The rise in construction activity in developing countries has caused an increase in competition in the global market. The Chinese construction industry has undergone a dramatic change caused by their internationalization strategy in recent years. Significant achievements have been made by the Chinese construction industry. This paper compares the Chinese and United States¿ construction industries based on the International Advanced Index which was a new measure generated to address problems identified with current measures in the literature. IAI measures the international performance of a country¿s construction industry by adopting the Depth Index (revenue composition), Height Index (top enterprises) and Width Index (fields involved). The key finding is although achievements have been gained by the Chinese construction industry in recent years, the gap in performance in comparison with the United States¿ construction industry is increasing. The implication of this result is that the current development strategy of the Chinese construction industry in the international market is problematic.