Limits to the Implementation of Benchmarking Through KPIs in UK Construction Policy: Insights from game theory

Abstract

Benchmarking through the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) has been an important part of the UK government's market-oriented reforms to improve efficiency across the public sector and in other areas such as construction where government is a major client. However, government attempts to implement construction KPIs have not followed the expected course. We argue that insights from game theory show that the initial plan for construction benchmarking failed to take account of the strategic value of the information collected and was not implementable because the sharing of information by construction suppliers with their clients was a dominated strategy.