Critical success factors for Ghanaian contractors

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of a set of critical success factors (CSFs) for Ghanaian contractors. The factors collectively define a set of best practices which Ghanaian contractors should focus on improving if they are to attain internationally competitive performance. Design/methodology/approach - A systematic review of previous research, literature on existing programmes, models and frameworks commonly used for improving performance was undertaken to identify the most important success factors. The identified factors were scored and ranked with 16 of the most frequently occurring success factors selected. A questionnaire-based survey of Ghanaian contractors explored their perceptions of the most important success factors. Using factor analysis, the most important success factors were extracted. Findings - Eight CSFs were identified for Ghanaian contractors. These were: quality and zero defects culture, organisational design, work culture and work environment, client satisfaction, strategy, leadership, measurement, analysis of information and knowledge management and implementation of lean principles. Practical implications - The CSFs developed provides a ready set of criteria which can be used by contractors with little or no experience of benchmarking to compare their performance in best practices or to implement improvement programmes. Originality/value - The first formal set of CSFs for Ghanaian contractors is presented. Not much research work has been done on organisational CSFs that are focused by this research.