Computer-based cartography: A marketing information system tool for the EU construction industry

Abstract

Trans-national construction companies (TNCCs) would need information when venturing overseas to increase their share of the global construction market and to achieve a higher level of global performance. A good marketing information system is thus important to develop strategic marketing plans. Against this setting, the importance of a marketing information system is becoming more apparent today; however its application remained limited in the construction field. For this purpose, the aim of this study is to develop an iterative computer system using cartograms for TNCCs to gain information relating to the which, where, why and when of global construction. A cartogram is a representation of a map which shows quantitative information, thereby rendering spatial comparison between countries/regions possible. The use of computer-based cartography can therefore effectively yield a clearer representation of geographical attributes in the global construction market. This study develops, for the first time, a computer-based cartography approach to analyzing and presenting the EU construction market. The research design comprises of several stages that produce an appropriate computer-based cartography that can clearly reflect the relative positions/potentials of all the countries/regions in the world which can be used to analyze the global construction market for TNCCs. Following the development of the global cartogram, further studies can be undertaken to analyze the correlations which the construction industry may have with other economic variables such as GDP and population, and with other economic sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture. A proto-type computer-based cartogram for the EU construction market will be presented in the paper.