Chinese Investment in Angola : How can construction firms become more competitive in a foreign market

Sammanfattning: Chinese construction firms like any other construction firms, have to face a lot of challenges when dealing with the African construction environment, but unlike the others their success is heavily related to the network they have with their government as well as the African local government. A successful project marketing couple with a good mapping network as well as a clear understanding of the African business environment will then be the tools to be effectively competitive in that market. The main problem arising is therefore how Chinese construction firms can use project marketing to achieve a tangible competitive advantage against their competitors. Angola, an African country, was used as our single-case study. While relying on secondary data, we have discovered a country where most of the institutions were not fully established yet, and where the construction market was influenced to a certain level by the bilateral agreements between the Angolan government and the country of origin of the companies involved. Such bilateral agreements are closely related to the oil production of Angola. Our findings indicate that Chinese government is of great influence when it comes to the project marketing of Chinese construction firms before and after entering Angola but also that Chinese construction firms are already competitive in the market. Our conclusion on how a construction firm can be successful in African countries using project marketing is explained in a model that we have created for every company wishing to invest in the African construction market. Africa countries are nowadays a profitable market for construction firms and the availability of funds from the bilateral agreements makes those construction projects affordable for the African government. That is why we came into the conclusion that not only a good understanding of the African environment may help the construction firms succeed but also a strategic use of project marketing.