Competitive benchmarking of Iranian construction companies management performance

The companies which are categorized as grade one can be considered as leading contractors in Iran, but the question is if all these companies have similar performances in different managerial issues. In order to answer this, a comparison study amongst construction companies was conducted. To identify processes or factors to be benchmarked, the knowledge areas of PMBOK were chosen as performance issues which could be regarded as key performance indicators (KPIs). In order to achieve the essential data, a questionnaire was prepared and dispatched to companies' managers. The mentioned questionnaire consisted of 40 questions based on 9 knowledge areas heading such as time, cost, and quality managements. The results of the survey were obtained from 81 out of 354 existing grade one companies. The first step of the research involved assigning scores to each company in accordance to KPIs. Then the comparison was undertaken between two groups (i.e. the leading ones and the others). The findings revealed that in comparison to pioneer firms most of companies demonstrate different management states. In addition, the results showed the disparity existing between the two groups of companies. Eventually, the paper presents the main weak points and the relevant solutions for Iranian companies.