Integrated housing supply chain model for innovation: Narrative analysis towards developing pathways methodology

There are significant problems in the supply of housing in Australia yet very little attention has been paid to the housing construction supply chain. To date the housing supply debate has been largely focussed on housing demand, affordability and land supply. It is contended that one of the key causal factors of poor housing supply is the poor coordination between supply chain actors. The development of integrated supply delivery solutions have not been extensively recognised in the Australian residential sector. Ad hoc examples and applications by some major building companies has seen some limited success, however, this has not been diffused throughout the sector with little real impact on overall sector performance and individual company competitiveness. Whole-scale industry improvement requires a concerted effort to undertake a stepwise change. A key to the solution is to investigate successful examples of integrated supply chains which have resulted in productivity and/or innovation performance improvements. The aim of this research is to undertake a case study analysis of successful implementation of delivering an innovation to the Australian housing construction industry which required an integrated construction supply chain model. The paper describes the theoretical background to the study and the preliminary results of the case study.