شناخت راهبردهای مدیریت ریسک سیاسی در پروژه ساخت و ساز بین المللی Identifying Political Risk Management Strategies in International Construction Projects

1. Introduction With the rapid development of economic globalization, the global construction market has thrived in the past decade [1]. Moreover, the large market for construction in Asia, Africa, and Latin America will create widespread prosperity and opportunities for international construction enterprises (ICEs). By taking advantage of these opportunities, increasing numbers of international contractors will expand into the international construction market [2]. However, opportunities are always accompanied by risks, and ICEs will be exposed to new risks when venturing outside their home countries [3, 4]. ICEs have witnessed a dramatic increase in political risks around the world, such as the credit crises in Greece, Venezuela, and Congo; the wars in southern Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, and Libya; the terrorist attacks in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia; and the coups in Niger, (ailand, and Honduras [2, 4, 5]. (ese risks had a very large negative impact on the global market and resulted in great losses for ICEs. Given the increasingly complex business environment, political risks should not be ignored by ICEs when they approach global markets [2, 6, 7]. Political risk in international construction projects refers to uncertainty related to political events (e.g., political violence, regime changes, coups, revolutions, breaches of contract, terrorist attacks, and wars) and to arbitrary or discriminatory actions (e.g., expropriation, unfair compensation, foreign exchange restrictions, unlawful interference, capital restrictions, corruption, and labor restrictions) by host governments or political groups that may have negative impacts on ICEs [6]. Compared with the nonsystematic risks (e.g., technical risk, quality risk, procurement risk, and financial risk) of construction projects, political risk is more complex, unpredictable, and devastating and is usually outside the scope of normal project activities [2]. Much of the extant literature has focused on political risks in international general business [8, 9] but has paid less attention to political risks in international construction projects. In most cases, political risk management is practiced only as a part of risk management at the project level in construction projects. However, project-level political risks can also affect enterprises’ objectives (e.g., financial, reputation, stability, survival, development, and strategic decisions) [10]. Implementation of political risk management only at the project level has some drawbacks: (1) lack of a comprehensive understanding of political risks; (2) overemphasis on short-term project goals and less consideration of corporate strategic objectives; (3) constraints because of limited resources or inappropriate resource allocation among projects; and (4) lack of accumulation and sharing of risk management experience. (erefore, risk management only at the project level no longer seems to be sufficient to help ICEs to address political risks in the global market [11].