Practitioners’ awareness, understanding and attitudes towards the competition ordinance (Cap.619) in construction industry

Abstract

Since the Competition Ordinance (Cap 619) has been enacted for a year and it is expected to draw the attention from the practitioners and eliminate the anti-competitive activities in Hong Kong. This study concerns the practitioners’ awareness, understanding and attitude towards Ordinance currently by carrying out a face-to-face interview survey from five different sectors of practitioners, namely, client, consultant, main contractor, subcontractor and supplier. It is found that the interviewees generally have thorough understanding to the Ordinance, but the awareness of the practitioners in the whole industry is considered on the low side, especially those who work in building maintenance projects. The government and the Competition Commission are advised to input more resources on promoting the Ordinance, as well as to speed up the process of investigation to the suspected anti-competition activities.