Chapter 1

1.0 Research Background

The rapid growth of construction industry in Malaysia has inadvertently changed the
dynamics of what was a stable competitive market. As of now, the construction industry
in Malaysia is ever-changing, volatile and unpredictable. Sudden changes in the
construction industry has made a need for a more agile and flexible companies, firms and
its workers.
This in return has created changes in the demands of the market of both quantity
surveying firms and quantity surveying undergraduates. The challenges faced by the
quantity surveyors of the current turn of century as stated in Yvonne Simpsons Twenty
first century challenges for the professional quantity surveyor faces not only demands
of the services expected, the clients needs based on their type and expectation but the
global positioning of themselves individually and of themselves as a company as a
whole.
Individually, Yvonne Simpson has highlighted challenges of the 21st century
professional quantity surveyor in which she highlighted 4 major challenges due to a
bigger window of accessing and gaining knowledge in the form of the Internet, client
expectations that are even higher than of the previous generations of customers and
clients with an increase amount of know-how and clients with experiences gained in
previous projects. These phenomenon has increased competition amongst peers in the
profession, struggling to be relevant in the market both locally and globally.
These stimuli of challenges, opens up challenges that many of the current crop of
professional quantity surveyors and the future graduates of the noble professional course
are currently and will face. Constraints placed on the professionals in delivering sound

advice and professionally judging are made faced with the increase advancement of the
information made by the World Wide Web, unrealistic and highly taxing expectations
from clients made in a global competition.
The very demanding and volatile environment has constructed a facade of tumultuous
and gruelling competition amongst professionals either in the form of inter-competition
amongst the same profession or intra-competition where other professions compete with
our profession in order to get the best deal in the project. These symphony of volatility,
highly demanding and rapid uncertainty paints the picture of one of the terms that was
commonly inferred to as hyper-competition.
Hyper-competition is characterised by an intense and rapid competitive moves, in
which competitors must move quickly to build (new) advantages and erode the
advantages of their rivals. The term made popular by Richard Daveni is a new term
coined relatively new and was widespread much later in the late 1980s. Its been
characterised as a high velocity competition in (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1998) further
depicting hyper-competition as a form of competition where temporary advantages in a
highly advanced technological shift in the market are the norm in the environment.
In the local construction industry however, the term hyper-competition is relatively a
new profound area of interest among researchers and competitors in the construction
industry alike with the term being relatively unknown with an almost zero territory of
findings. However, the recipe for making hyper-competition does co-exist in normal
competition in the construction industry. Hyper-competition is characterised as a
competition but at a faster tempo, at a higher risk, at a shorter period of time in
advantages and still mainly consists of know-how, client demands and the backing up of
deep pockets.

1.1 Research Problem and Research Question

1.0 Are there any hyper-competition existing in the construction industry in Malaysia and are
they aware of what hyper-competition is?
2.0 What are the common traits of the individual quantity surveyor in a hypercompetitive
market?
3.0 Are the current quantity surveyors well adept to the current global competition and what
are the characteristics making them well adept in the current trend of competition and
hyper-competition?

1.2 Research Aim

The aim of this research is to provide an outlook on the presence of hyper-competition
in the construction industry and the characteristics of competent quantity surveyors
associated with the current hyper-competitive market.

1.3 Research Scope

The scope of this research are based on current quantity surveyors and their
perception on the hyper-competitive market. The flow of research would see different or
shared perspectives made of such firms in understanding the current trend and issue in
Malaysia in terms of competition, hyper-competition and the readiness of the quantity
surveyors in handling the current trends.

1.4 Research Objectives

Mainly, the study will be emphasising on:
1.0 The current roles of a quantity surveyor and its significant changes
2.0 The common traits and goals of the current quantity surveyor
3.0 The perception of relevance and being competent in the current hyper-competitive
environment
4.0 The perception of hyper-competitive among the current quantity surveyors

1.5 Rationale and Significance of Study

The rationale of the following studies could be predated to previous studies involving
competitive market research made in Malaysia involving the construction industry. Following
with the trend of competition in the market, it is found out that in most of the findings and
research made by others of the market in Malaysia does support the trend of what it is known
as being hyper-competitive. The researcher however begs to differ, as hyper-competition is
commonly attributed to rapid and dynamic competition characterized by unsustainable
advantage. With the current market pursuing ready-made graduates with ready-made
experiences (e.g.: a graduate with a degree/masters certificate with 3 years minimum of
experiences) and the constant pursuit of gaining an upper hand over other firms/consultancies
with a barrage of surveyors or better programmes/software on a yearly basis has prompted the
researcher to believe that Malaysia is at the early stages of entering a hyper-competitive
environment.
The uncertainty of the current market motivates the trend of hyper-competition. The
said trend, disallows stability in companies and market as the trends are changing in a higher
pace of time. This would normally would discombobulate an individual. Individuals would
then stimulate a variation of flight or fight in terms of pursuing their respective careers.
Should they quit early and pursue another career? Should they have a side income that they
could rely on? Should they pursue in gaining promotion after promotion or should they get a
professional status, namely being an SR status in terms of what the researcher is researching
on.

1.6 Quantity Surveying; what it is and how it started

What is quantity surveying?
According to (Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia), a quantity surveyor (QS) is a
professional working within the construction industry concerned with building costs.
Quantity surveyors are the cost professionals who measure and estimate cost of
resources for construction projects (The New Zealand Institute of Quantity Surveyors). What
they do is they mainly aim for projects to be on budget among many other roles.
Quantity surveyors bear many names amongst them are construction economist or
cost manager. In the construction team, our main objectives are to estimate and monitor
construction costs in a progressive state from the feasible stage of the construction to the end
of construction where we hand off the finished item to the owner of the building. We are
involved in the whole lifecycle of the building even after construction where a quantity
surveyor may perform tax depreciation schedules, replacement cost estimation for insurance
purposes and if necessary, mediation and arbitration. (AIQS)
Quantity surveyors get their name from the Bill of Quantities, a document which itemises
the quantities of materials and labour in a construction project. This is measured from design
drawings, to be used by the contractors for tendering and for progress payments, for
variations and changes and ultimately for statistics, taxation and valuation. (AIQS)

Typical Quantity Surveying practice

A quantity surveyor typically gives out this services that are mainly cost related to the
building either before, during or after construction. These services include:

Preparing tender and contract documents which includes bills of quantities with the

architect/client
Undertaking cost analysis for repair/maintenance project work;

Assisting in establishing a clients requirements and undertaking feasibility studies;

Performing risk, value management and cost control;
Advising on procurement strategy;
Identifying, analysing and developing responses to commercial risks;
Preparing and analysing costings for tenders;
Allocating work to sub-contractors;
Providing advice for contractual claims;
Analysing outcomes and writing detailed progress reports;
Valuing completed work and arranging payments;
Maintaining awareness of the different building contracts in current use;
Understanding the implications of health and safety regulations
(Prospects, 2014)

Other services provided by the quantity surveyor

Offering advice on property taxation

Providing post-occupancy advice, facilities management services and life cycle

costing advice
Assisting clients in locating and accessing additional and alternative sources of funds
Enabling clients to initiate construction projects
Advising on the maintenance costs of specific buildings
(Prospects, 2014)

History of quantity surveying

The history of surveying itself has been known to be predated to ancient times when
Egyptians were the first ones to assert a primitive role of sorts as their surveyors in
construction, building great monuments that stood the test of time in the likes of ancient
temples of deities, pyramids and the Sphinx.

Figure 1: The Sphinx

Ancient Egyptian assigned scribes that were instructed to learn the ways of
mathematics and surveying among other things. In ancient Egypt, they had developed their
own set of measuring systems.

unit
mh
st
db
kht

name
cubit
palm (of hand)
digits (fingers)
rod (100 cubits)

(Paulson, 2005)
The Egyptian phrase for a surveyor was rope stretcher and surveying at that time was
better known as stretching a rope (Paulson, 2005). The roles of the ancient Egyptian
surveyors were important and plentiful as surveyors of that time, the scribes were not mere
rope stretchers but men who were involved in the legal aspects of land ownership, tax

valuation, orientation and levelling of buildings and recording information with regards of the
land itself. (Salmon, 2003)

The Modern Quantity Surveying

The current quantity surveying profession could be traced back to the early 17th
century when the Great Fire in 1666 had consumed many national building assets in the
United Kingdom. Pre-1666 basic labourers, masons, carpenters and other craftsmen were
paid at a daily basis but due to the tolling amount of reconstruction needed, the craftsmen
were paid by quantity of work rather than on a daily basis. (Nigerian Institute of Quantity
Surveyors, 2015)

Figure 2: aftermath of the Great Fire of London

The profession however was develop during the 19th century; from the earlier
"measurer", a specialist tradesman (often a guild member), who prepared standardised
schedules for a building project in which all of the construction materials, labour activities
and the like were quantified, and against which competing builders could submit priced
tenders. Because all tenders were based on the same schedule of information, they could be
easily compared so as to identify the best one. (Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia)

In those early days the quantity surveyor acted for the master tradesmen, measuring
the work after completion and frequently submitting partisan Final Accounts to the building
owner. As a direct result of these activities it increasingly became the practice of building
owners to have work executed under contract and to call for tenders before any work was
undertaken. A procedure therefore developed whereby building owners would approach an
architect to design a building. Drawings and specifications were distributed to selected master
builders, who would then submit tenders for the total price rather than a collection of prices
from master tradesmen. (Association of South African Quantity Surveyors, 2015)
The foundations of the current organisation of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor
were started when 20 surveyors met at the Westminster Palace Hotel. Under the chairmanship
of John Clutton, they appointed a sub-committee to draw up resolutions, bye-laws and
regulations. This was done in order to establish a professional association to represent
surveyors and the growing property profession thus starting a prolific association dedicated to
the welfare of the quantity surveyor. (RICS, 2016)

1.7 Economic Competition, Hyper-Competition and Relevant Theories

Economic competition is define as the effort of two or more parties acting
independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favourable terms
(Merriam-Webster, n.d.)
Competition is a situation in which two or more people or groups are trying to get
something which not everyone can have. (Collins, n.d.) The activity or condition of striving
to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others (Oxford
Dictionary, n.d.)
The market implies that there are three types of competition; a) direct competition, b)
indirect competitors and c) replacement competitors.
Direct competition is a situation where people or businesses are selling the same
product or service (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). In other words, a direct competitor offers the
same product and with similar objectives and goals as you are. (Burstein, 2012)
Indirect competition deals with the conflict between competitors of different similar
products or services but satisfies similar consumer needs (WhatIs.com, 2015). Substitute
competitors however are competitors that satisfies the customers need but at an alternative
way. (Center For Advantage, n.d.). Substitute competition are synonymise with replacement
competition, the more relevant the competitor of that nature is the more likely itll replace or
substitute the services or products that you provide. (Leopard Solutions, 2014)

Hyper-competition is postulated by Richard Daveni in 1994 as a market that is gives

competitors small temporary advantages over other competitors with its intense, rapid
competitive moves. It is also depicted as a high velocity competition. The competition was
observed at first during late 1980s (Thomas, 1996) and throughout the 1990s where
technology and the rise of World Wide Web usages is rapidly expanding. Thus many writers
attributed hyper-competition as not only catalysts to not only intense rivalries and changes in
technologies used but the rise of substitute products, business models, globalisation and the
modern client-educated, demanding and individualistic tastes and opinions. This lead to the
disruption of industries, industry leaders and ending up destroying the oligopolistic nature of
the 1980s and 1990s (Bettis & Hitt, 1995) (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1998) (Christensen, 1997)
(D'aveni, Hypercompetition, 1994) (D'aveni, Hypercompetitive Rivalries, 1995) (Hamel,
2000) (Quinn, Intelligent Enterprise, 1992) (Quinn, Strategies for Change: Logical
Incrementalism , 1980) (Slywotzky, 1996)
In a nutshell, hyper-competition is characterised as an unpredictable, fast changing
competitive nature of the environment where it is fuelled by the rapid morph-changing of
technology, temporary limited advantages against other competitors and the insatiable desires
and demands of the new age clients whom are well-equipped with experiences and
information.

1.8 Relevant Management Theories relating to competition and hypercompetition

1. Performance Management by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall
2. Thriving in Uncertainty; 10X theory by Jim Collins and Morten T Hansen
Performance Management

Before we delve into what performance management is according to the perspective of

Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, first well explain what performance management
is in a broad perspective.
Performance management is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor
and an employee that occurs throughout the year, in support of accomplishing the strategic
objectives of the organization. The communication process includes clarifying expectations,
setting objectives, identifying goals, providing feedback, and reviewing results. (University
of California, Berkeley, n.d.)
At its best, performance management is a holistic process that ensures employees
performance contributes to business objectives. It brings together many of elements of good
people management practice, including learning and development, measurement of
performance, and organisational development (CIPD, 2015)
Performance management is at its best is a litmus test on how a person is valued in a
corporation with regards to what the company is doing albeit it being from selling products or
providing services.
Ashley Goodall, Chief Learning Officer at Deloitte and Marcus Buckingham had run tests
that indicated that the current way of assessing the current crop of employees are obsolete as
they arent tailored to individuals rather they are fashioned to operate for the masses. This
hiccup of sorts allows uncertainty and wrong data to be interpreted.

One of the reasons to address this situation is the meticulousness of the annual performance
review, the quarterly review or project performance review of an individual and replace it
with a simpler one to one performance snapshot where a person is rated on a daily basis by
their team leader which would in return rate the team leader himself.
The performance index is set in set of questions addressing the team leaders assessment of
his/her teammates by simple questions like,
1. I would award the person the highest possible compensation increase and bonus
based on his performance if it were my money
2. I would always want him/her in my team based on his/her performance
3. this person is at risk of underperforming
4. this person isnt suitable for a promotion yet
Questions one to two are answered based on a Likert scale of strongly disagree to strongly
agree and questions three to four are based on a yes or no question. By having the previous
questions answered, itll be easier to assess and address individual performance.
As stated in Buckingham and Goodalls paper, based on How People Evaluate Others in
Organisations, edited by Manuel London which states Although its implicitly assumed that
ratings measure performance of the ratee, most of what is being measured by the ratings id
the unique rating tendencies of the rater. Thus ratings reveal more about the rater than they
do about the ratee
In a sense, by having such a simple assessment, one could not only get the performance
snapshot of individuals but the individual-bias of the team leader and why they are more
prone to choosing certain individuals over another. This idiosynchratic rater effect that is
taking place however must be reduce and the findings made by Buckingham and Goodall
have concluded by using the future-focused statement questions as mentioned above, leaders

are less likely biased as the frequency of the performance is at a constant basis which could
change the perspective of an individuals performance.
Deloitte proposed a simple measure of performance individual index with these factors in
consideration.

Criteria

The questions were made to assess the

extremes of situations with clarity and
transparency using simple relatable words
that raters could understand without any

confusion
Team leaders are to assess ratings as theyre

Rater

the closest to the tammates and still

provides an authoritative point of view
(POV)
Questions were put into test to produce

Testing

useful data by carefully ensuring the

consistency of data is obtained at an
Frequency

understandable and agreed rate

Frequency is provided at a timely interval,
from daily, quarterly or monthly coinciding
with the severity and complexity of the

Transparency

teams and projects handled.

Individuals will obtain their results annually
regardless of frequency as to avoid
complacency in results.

Adopted from (Harvard Business Review, 2016)

Rationality of Performance Management in this study

Performance management encompasses the dire need of showing possession of the
strengths needed to succeed in a competitive area. By showing the relevance of the constant
change that is reflected in Deloittes initiative of having a performance snapshot rather than
just a performance overall, an individual in this case, a quantity surveyor must look forward
in terms of performances and preparations in handling ones self in a competitive
environment.

This in return is similar to the demands and characteristics of hyper-competition

whereby competency of an individual is based on how well he/she adapts to the hedonistic
environment of unsustainable advantages and rapid changes in the industry. An individual
that is regularly good in their performance snapshot shows more effectiveness in hypercompetitive situations.
Thriving in Uncertainty; 10X theory (Collins & Hansen, 2011)

Fanatic
Disciplin
e
Level 5
Ambition
Producti
ve
Paranoia

Empirical
Creativit
y

Figure 3: Characteristics of a 10X person

10X theory in a brief

10X theory as discussed by Jim Collins and Morten T Hansen discusses in the book,
Great By Choice are the characteristics of companies that has prevailed in the most
tumultuous of times in economy, thriving and asserting themselves as companies that are
exemplary cases of being relevant and competent throughout all the times in crisis and in
safer times. The book discusses of what drives the companies commander-in-chief and their
strategies in ensuring that they stay relevant at all times. It is relevant in this study to

showcase how competency has a simple and similar algorithm although individuals may take
different methods or means to achieve it.
The book emphasises on three practices that these individuals aptly named 10Xers
practice and preach religiously. 20 Mile March, Bullets to Cannonballs, Leading above the
Death Line; and the SMaC Recipe. These methods of implementation showcases the identity
of what a 10X does in his/her life and work which runs parallel with the diagram above.
10Xers extreme persistence, high level of ambition, a high level of productivity along
with workable creativity is hypothesise to create the strategies that was mentioned in earlier
paragraphs. The writers opined that 10Xers are players that arent the ones who changed the
game radically but the ones who remain to its rhythm and maintain its productivity regardless
of the situation either good or terrible. This philosophy or style of thinking is called the 20
Mile March. Its about having concrete, clear, intelligent, and rigorously pursued
performance mechanisms that keep you on track. It creates 2 self-imposed discomfort; a
discomfort of unwavering commitment to high performance in difficult conditions and
holding back during good conditions. (Quoted from Great by Choice, (Collins & Hansen,
2011) )
The Bullets to Cannonballs refers to a method that implements low risk, low cost, low
distraction test or experiment. The bullets that are fired are used by 10Xers to evaluate
empirical validation of a certain work. The bullets are fired to ensure that risks are reduced
before firing a calibrated cannonball. The aforementioned cannonball is a metaphor of a
full scale plan that capitalises on the bullet that was fired. An uncalibrated cannonball per
say, results in calamitous results that could harm the individual/company very badly. One of
the prime example of this is the introduction of the Apple retail store during the time Steve
Jobs had retook over Apple Inc. Steve Jobs had created an in-house design of a prototype of

its retail store until he got it right. After several iterations, reiterations and redesign, Apple
launched its first two retail stores in Virginia and Los Angeles (firing bullets). Once after the
stores were proven successful, the retail stores were then rolled out at a progressive pace.
(Based on Jerry Useems Simply Irresistible, Fortune magazine, March 19, 2007; Apple
Stores procured from the book, Great by Choice).
Continuing with the 10X theory, the next strategy in mind is leading by the Death
Line. This method explains on the importance of preparing for the worst of the worst and
how to prepare for it. This strategy focuses on the one of the productive paranoia of
individuals associated with the 10X theory. 10Xers, in this case exercise extreme vigilance in
ensuring that they are able to counter risks that is involved be it on an individual scale or in
an entrepreneurial venture. The risk highlighted in the book discusses on the theoretical
death line risk, asymmetric risk (risks that dwarfs the upside of any probability) and
uncontrollable risk (risks that are unpredictable nor manageable). Death line risk are the risks
that could kill or severely damaged an enterprise/individual.
10Xers overcome such risks by zooming in and zooming out of the problems that
they are facing. The method in principle emphasises on zooming in on their objectives,
emphasising on perfect execution and calibrating themselves based on conditions they are
facing. Whenever adversity looms in, they zoom out to assess the problems and relocate
their efforts based on what their facing and zooming in on new efforts.
SMaC (Specific, Methodical, and Consistent) are a set of durable operating practices
that creates replicable and consistent success formula that are clear and concrete. This enables
organisations/individuals to have a clear system of guidance of what and what not to do in
any situation from the tedious to the perilous of situations. The SMaC method adheres to all
the behaviours that are illustrated earlier on, it emphasises on the empirical creativity of an

individual to develop and change the SMaC from time to time, it needs fanatic discipline to
adhere to it and the productive paranoia of changing the SMaC from time to time.
Rationale of the 10X
The 10X rationalises on creating and developing a mind-set that could be well
equipped to face any adversity regardless of its predictability. It is necessary for the current
crop of quantity surveyors to adhere and develop their characters mirroring the 10X methods
and behaviours as discussed earlier. (Collins & Hansen, 2011)
The book highlights the very nature of what an individual is supposed to embody in a
hyper-competitive market. The changes, the vast uncertainty and the intense competition may
leave individuals wrong-footed unless they were to be trained in a manner that makes them a
rock in any uncertainty. The ability to adapt and adept symbolises the competency that an
individual should have and be able to retain throughout their careers and lives. As Bruce Lee
once said, don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like
water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water in a cup, it
becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot it
becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. (Lee & Little,
2000)

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