Lessons learned from building the education revolution (BER) program by the South Australia construction firms

In response to the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2009, Australia undertook to mitigate the crises through the development of the National Building and Jobs Plan. Part of this plan for the construction industry was the commencement of Building Education the Revolution (BER) projects which comprised over one per cent of Australia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a massive outlay of expenditure to be delivered over a rapid time frame by a number of construction organisations. Despite the crisis, there have been limited studies conducted to document the effects of BER, and how construction organisations responded to the challenges. This paper aims to explore the lessons learnt from the strategies implemented by the construction organisations during that BER period. A mixed method approach was employed for the study. Data was collected from of 48 organisations using questionnaires, and two interviews were conducted to validate the findings. The following five lessons learned were identified: (i) the potential for high profits existed which brought about an increased requirement for careful resource management; (ii) the preservation of existing client base is crucial for post stimulus survival; (iii) threats and risks are brought about by stimulus and require consideration and planning; (iv) stimulus in the construction provides an opportunity to build an organisation's reputation; and (v) learning from the changes in competitor behaviour should be undertaken throughout stimulus; and by undertaking further research into strategic management, a sixth lesson was identified: (vi) organisations must re-address their business strategies post stimulus to adjust to their new external environment conditions. Given that there have been few stimulus implementations in the South Australian construction industry; the identified successful strategies based on the lessons learnt from the BER could assist construction organisations in undertaking and maintaining work post stimulus, despite the cyclic nature of the industry. The research was localised to the South Australian construction industry.