A LITERATURE REVIEW ON RISK FACTORS ON INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Internationalization is one of the most critical decisions for construction companies. Although expanding into new markets promises several benefits such as new job opportunities, increases in market share and profit margins, etc., it is exposed to risks and difficulties, which in turn result in poor project performance in terms of delays and cost overruns. Therefore, construction companies should thoroughly recognize the potential risk factors and develop proper risk management strategies against these risk factors. This study reviews the recent studies on risk factors on international construction projects, which might cause delays and cost overruns, in order to help construction companies that mostly undertake international construction projects in recognizing risk factors and developing their risk response strategies against them. For this purpose, semi-systematic literature review was conducted, 32 journal articles from 14 academic journals reviewed in depth, and 23 different risk factors were identified. “Host government related risk”, “Resource price fluctuations”, “Unavailability of resources in the host market”, and “Contractor’s lack of managerial skills” were found to be “highly cited risk factors”. On the other hand, “Adverse public attitude”, “Project specification and standard problems”, “Technology and proprietary information sharing problems”, and “Virtual Risk” were found to be “lowly cited risk factors”.