Strategies to Enhance Implementation of Infrastructure Asset Management in Developing Countries

Abstract

Infrastructure around the world is deteriorating, particularly in developing countries, where systems for managing infrastructure assets are immature or nonexistent. Because of successful implementation of infrastructure asset management in developed countries, there are promising approaches to address the difficulties faced by developing countries’ infrastructure organizations and their managers. This paper presents an infrastructure asset management organizational model to help decision makers in developing countries explore the impact of various strategies on the organization’s performance in a variety of external conditions. These decisions will support managers in implementing infrastructure asset management in their organizations. The researchers first categorized countries into three classes according to external conditions: supportive, intermediate, or unsupportive environments. Then a cross-impact analysis model was applied to simulate the impacts of strategy alternatives, drivers, and processes on outcome measurements, given this variety of external conditions. The findings show that organizations in each class should focus on implementing a specific strategy correlating to the external variable’s conditions. For instance, organizations that work in an intermediate environment should build a strong communication networking strategy before investing in organizational support or organizational structure strategies.