Review of organizational approaches to the construction supply chain

Supply chain management (SCM) for an individual organization emerged in the late 1990s as a distinct fi eld of research in the construction management discipline [London and Kenley 2001]. Lean construction has been universally supported in the literature and has had uptake by selected large clients and/or contractors. SCM has been ad hoc in its diff usion by practitioners in the property and construction industry; yet at the heart of the lean production concept is the supporting system of interfi rm relationships along the supply chain [Hines 1994; Nischiguchi 1994; Lamming and Cox 1995]. Lamming’s empirical research, where he defi ned the concept of lean supply, identifi ed the importance of the strategic arrangement of the fi rms that would support such a system. Lamming’s (1993) concept of lean supply is important to the understanding of strategic procurement in the supply chain.