• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2D
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• pp.247-253
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• 2011

In 2009, the Korean international construction industry showed a great performance, totaling 49.1 billion of contract and then this achievement has been considered a key milestone presenting that the international construction industry is one of the primary export industries of Korea. However, because of the construction firms' equalized levels of technology and price competitiveness, the competition among bidders is becoming more intensive. Moreover, this changing market circumstance leads construction firms to apply for bidding with the lowest price that could not meet the expected profitability of a project. Therefore, to develop various strategies based on project characteristics becomes one of the critical capabilities that construction firms should possess. Based on these motives, this study is aimed to investigate associations among number of bidders, contract award rate, profitability on international projects. For the correlation analysis, a set of data is structured by collecting all projects ranging from 1993 to 2009, excluding projects funded by official development and domestic funds. The number of bidders were grouped depending on project characteristics such as market regions, project types, bidding types, and order organization types. As the result of correlation analysis, contract award rate increases as the number of bidders increase, but the relationship between the number of bidders and profitability is negative. Understanding the correlations among variables can be employed in developing strategies to improve construction firms' competitiveness in the international construction market.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.1283-1287
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• 2009

The Korean government implemented 259 road projects from 2004 to 2007, valued at $18.4 billion. Change orders of these road projects occurred 8,973 times and, subsequently, caused significant increases in the cost of the projects, approximately up to $4.2 billion (22.8% of the initial budget). These significant problems of huge change orders require a more workable control system for budget management whereas the effectiveness of the government's control is still not satisfied. However, previous approaches and studies mostly limited their analyses to simply classifying the causes of the change orders. This paper investigates the real frequency and cost impacts incurred by each cause of a change order, primarily based on 218 road projects in Korea. The paper then identifies the attributes of change orders through a survey of 204 project participants in that those sources were inevitable or avoided if properly managed. The causes of the change orders are further analyzed with analysis of variance (ANOVA) in connection with contract volume, bid award rate, the contractor's capacity to perform, and the design company's capacity. This study found that if the contract volume is smaller, then the possibility of change orders is higher. Interestingly, if the bid award rate is less than 67.5%, it signifies the highest rate of change orders. In addition, the contractors whose construction ability is assessed as the top-ranked group showed the lowest change order rates. With these results, this paper provides the preventive guidelines for reducing the likelihood of change orders.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.245-272
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• 2004

This study is focused on the cases that Korean hotels stepped into international airports, public facilities, and successfully solved the contract related disputes by using arbitration in accordance with arbitration law. This case study on arbitration derives the hotel management strategy points as follow: 1. It must be a good chance for a famed hotel to step into international airports that have big publication effect. The feasibility study focused on marketing feasibility rather than finance feasibility may, however, not be good. 2. Written contract is required in entering into a contract with government organizations. However, oral contract still exists. 3. If the contract is made to always pay the higher amount between annual minimal guarantee and sales rate in expenses of store using charge, such contract shall cause very hard sales environment from the initial stage of the contract. 4. The airports have made optional contracts for national service. Such optional contracts are, however, not free from public criticism. 5. This case study is the first case study on arbitration applied to hotels. This study shall be, therefore, frequently referred to in setting a management strategy of hotels that want to run restaurants in another facility outside themselves.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.49-97
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• 2014

This study is about the availability of Chinese internal arbitration institutions by Korean invested companies. Generally, Chinese internal arbitration institutions lack independence from government. However, because parties seeking an arbitration award have ways to get neutrality from internal arbitration institutions that guarantee party autonomy, these Korean companies can use Chinese internal arbitration institutions to resolve disputes in China. Special attention should be given to the following. First, because Korean companies invested in China are legally in the same position as Chinese companies, unless foreign-related factors intervene, when disputes occur with Chinese companies or individuals, the disputes correspond to internal dispute, and when it comes to choosing the arbitration institution, these Korean companies must choose either a Chinese internal arbitration institution or foreign-related arbitration institution. Second, most Chinese internal arbitration institutions still lack independence from government, which can influence the fairness of arbitration in the future. Therefore, Korean companies invested in China should think about alternative ways to get a minimum impartiality in arbitration cases. Third, the parties are allowed to choose arbitration rules freely in Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou arbitration commissions. Therefore, in arbitration cases, the parties can get impartiality by choosing arbitrators according to the arbitration rules which they agree on, or by choosing partially modified arbitration rules of those arbitration commissions. Fourth, in order to get an impartial arbitration award from Chinese internal arbitration institutions in China, it is important for Korean lawyers or arbitration experts -- fluent in Chinese -- to be registered in the List of Arbitrators of Chinese internal arbitration institution by way of signing a MOU between the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, or the Korean Association of Arbitration Studies and arbitration commissions such as those of Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou which comparatively do guarantee party autonomy. Fifth, because application of the preservation of property before application of arbitration is not approved in China, in practice, in order to preserve property before application of arbitration, it is best to file another suit in China based on other legal issue (e.g., tort) independent from the contract which an arbitration agreement is applied to. Sixth, in arbitration commissions which allow different agreement regarding arbitration procedures or arbitration rules, it is possible to choose a neutral arbitrator from a third country as a presiding arbitrator via UNCITRAL arbitration rules or ICC arbitration rules. Seventh, in the case of Chinese internal arbitral award, because the court reviews the substantive matters to decide the refusal of compulsory execution, the execution rate could be relatively lower than that of foreign-related cases. Therefore, when Korean companies invested in China use Chinese internal arbitration institution, they should endure low rate of execution. Eighth, considering the operational experiences of public policy on foreign-related arbitration awards so far, in cases of Chinese internal arbitration award, the possibility of cancellation of arbitral award or the possibility to refuse to execute the award due to public policy is thought to be higher than that of foreign arbitral awards. Ninth, even though a treaty on judicial assistance in civil and commercial matters has been signed between Korea and China, and it includes a provision on acknowledgement and enforcement of arbitral award, when trying to resolve disputes through Chinese internal arbitration institution, the treaty would not be a big help to resolve the disputes, because the disputes between Korean companies invested in China and the party in China are not subject to the treaty. Tenth, considering recent tendency of conciliation by the arbitral tribunal in China and the voluntary execution rate of the parties, the system of conciliation by the arbitral tribunal is expected to affect as a positive factor the Korean companies that use Chinese internal arbitration institution. Finally, when using online arbitration, arbitration fees can be reduced, and if the arbitration commissions guaranteeing party autonomy have online arbitration system, the possibility of getting impartial arbitration award through them is higher. Therefore, the use of online arbitration system is recommended.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.243-279
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• 2004

The construction arbitration field has developed considerably since the latter half of the 1990s. Through analysis of construction arbitration cases taken up by KCAB, this paper intends to show the present condition and the improvement direction of construction arbitration in Korea. The number of construction arbitration cases filed at KCAB has been increasing rapidly after 1997, but recently the rate of increase has tended to decline. From 2000 to 2003 the number of arbitration cases increased 23％ each year, on average, but in 2003 the increase was only 7.6％. In the very beginning, public construction claims made up the majority of all construction cases, however, civil construction claims are increasing gradually. The arbitration amount in the construction field is very high, owing to public construction claims. For example, the arbitration amount per case was 5 billion won, on average,. in the public construction field. It is shown that the claimants of arbitration are mostly constructors and the main reasons for making claims are to demand payment for construction and payment for additional work. KCAB investigated the performance status of arbitration awards. The voluntary performance rate for awards in construction arbitration is nearly 80％ and in 11％, a suit was filed to appeal the arbitration award. In spite of the development of construction arbitration, some improvements are requested. There have been arguments about the effectiveness of selective arbitration agreement in the General Terms of Construction Contract. This has caused a decrease in arbitration cases, so improvements in this dispute settlement clause need to be made. Enforcement of arbitration awards is granted by the judgment of a court. Resulting from this, appeals for arbitration awards are not allowed, however, up to three appeals for the enforcement of awards are allowed in court. As such, the enforcement system for arbitration awards needs to be improved and simplified.