International Readiness Passport: User Guide, Version 1.1
Due to increasing globalization in the construction industry, companies are doing more work in countries in which they have not worked previously. The Construction Industry Institute tasked Research Team (RT) 294 with two objectives: 1) establish a way to determine if a company or project team is ready to enter a country in which it has little or no experience working; and 2) create a process to help companies and project teams improve their readiness. To accomplish these objectives, the research team developed an assessment method and a series of strategies for mitigating gaps in readiness. The team integrated these processes in the International Readiness Passport (IRP), an easy-to-use MS Excel-based tool. This implementation resource introduces the IRP tool and provides step-by-step guidance for its use.
In order to evaluate readiness to deploy best practices abroad, the research team identified, verified, and weighted 62 commonly encountered issues. These issues represent various barriers to the successful deployment of best practices in unfamiliar countries. The team used the 62 issues and their weightings to create an international readiness metric.
The team categorized the 62 issues into the following nine categories:
- Business Customs
- Communications
- Cultural and Social
- Geography and Logistics
- Human Resources and Workforce
- Legal and Contracts
- Market and Political Conditions
- Regulations
- Safety and Security.
RT 294 members weighted and rated each of the issues for its importance and for how unique it is to international project execution. The categories were also weighted relative to each other. Table 1 provides a listing of all issues and categories, with their weightings. These weightings became the basis of the metric that determined the IRP scoring system. The score provided by the tool gives a reference point for companies to evaluate how ready they are to deploy best practices in an unfamiliar country. Research Summary (RS) 294-1, Deploying Best Practices in Unfamiliar Countries, and Research Report (RR) 294-11, Deploying Best Practices in Unfamiliar Countries,provide more detail on how the team identified the issues, determined the weightings, and calculated the scores.
