Korean company practice in Malaysia

Abstract

The recent growth of Malaysian construction industry has attracted some international contractors to participate. This situation makes the local construction industry became more competitive. Foreign construction companies especially from South Korea are familiar with local construction practices. They have good track record in completing Malaysian major projects such as Penang Bridge and Kuala Lumpur City Centre. This study has been conducted with the main aim to evaluate the main practices of the Korean construction company in Malaysia. Aspect that related to the basic organizational structure, philosophy embraced by the Korean construction company and their key success factors has been evaluated. Specific focus is also directed towards understanding how they handled the quality issue. The findings of this study have found that the Korean construction company is practicing the functional type of organization management and their company organizational structure has been strongly influenced by their culture and philosophy. Their strong management foundation, culture and working etiquette are their key success factor in executing the construction project. For them, all aspect of management including delivery a quality construction product, cost management and time management are consider very important. However on top of it, safety is their priority as it’s involved a human life. In handling the issue of quality, they are following the international standard of Quality Management System and their management is involved in creating a quality environment to their project site. It is hope that the competitive culture as practice by the Korean contractor can be a good example for local contractors to follow.