Purpose

This study aims to investigate the impacts of procurement strategies on the growing proportion of construction small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and whether the size of the construction company moderates the effect.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional questionnaire survey in achieving its objectives. The survey requires the respondent to identify both the most successful and most outstanding project that the respondent was involved in between 2010 and 2016.

Findings

The study found that only traditional and management-oriented procurement strategies ensure the achievement of all growth plans for construction SMEs in South Africa; and that medium-sized construction enterprises achieve social growth such as community empowerment, managerial skills and advancement on the cidb Register of Contractors.

Practical implications

The findings of the study imply that policymakers should base their decisions regarding macroeconomic issues and growth plans for construction SMEs on the internal and external factors such as differences in the sizes of construction SMEs and differences in the suitability of procurement strategies affecting the growth of construction SMEs.

Originality/value

In past studies, the diversity amongst SMEs is often overlooked and SMEs are erroneously assumed to share similar objectives, possess equal capabilities and face challenges of the same magnitude. The original contribution of this study is shown in the investigation of the moderating effect of SMEs’ diversity (in terms of company size) on their growth proportion as influenced by procurement strategies.

中文翻译：

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采购策略对建筑中小企业增长的影响

目的

本研究旨在调查采购策略对建筑中小型企业（SME）所占比重的影响，以及建筑公司的规模是否缓和了这种影响。

设计/方法/方法

本研究采用定量研究方法和横断面问卷调查以实现其目标。该调查要求受访者同时确定受访者在2010年至2016年参与的最成功和最杰出的项目。

发现

研究发现，只有传统的，面向管理的采购策略才能确保南非建筑业中小型企业实现所有增长计划。中型建筑企业在cidb承包商登记册上实现了社会发展，例如社区授权，管理技能和进步。

实际影响

研究结果表明，决策者应根据建筑业中小型企业的宏观经济问题和增长计划的决策，以内部和外部因素为基础，例如建筑业中小型企业的规模差异以及影响建筑业中小型企业增长的采购策略的适用性差异。 。

创意/价值

在过去的研究中，中小企业之间的多样性常常被忽视，并且错误地假定中小企业具有相同的目标，拥有相同的能力并面临相同规模的挑战。这项研究的最初贡献显示在对中小企业多样性（就公司规模而言）对受采购策略影响的增长比例的调节作用的调查中。