Stimulating Innovations in Alliances: Case Study of Infrastructure Construction

This paper discusses how a company stimulates innovations by suppliers in infrastructure construction by using an alliance model. In this industry, the designers and contractors have traditionally worked separately, and projects have been precisely defined in advance. Construction projects that use an alliance model excel in terms of costs, profit, improved solutions, and total cost of ownership. In this paper we show how open communication, shared targets, responsibilities and profits, and interactive ways of working enhance idea and innovation generation, and enable the change from competition-oriented to collaboration-oriented mode of operation.