Innovation and learning in complex offshore construction projects

Concern about the poor performance of the construction industry, in the UK and elsewhere, is coming at a time when its customers are demanding more and projects are becoming increasingly complex. Many of the industry's performance problems stem from inadequate inter-organisational co-operation. The paper explores the problems and solutions in aligning the construction industry more closely to its customers in CoPS-type projects. Using the example of a high value, high complexity offshore oilfield construction project, the paper examines the use of 'partnering' as a tool for stimulating performance gains at the project level and innovation and learning benefits at the organisational level. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.