WHEN STRATEGY MEETS STRUCTURE: UNLOCKING INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT CIVIL ENGINEERING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJIREV.824032Keywords:
Civil Engineering Innovation, Resilient Infrastructure, Strategic Management, Sustainable InfrastructureAbstract
The civil engineering sector is under growing pressure to deliver infrastructure that extends beyond technical efficiency to achieve long-term sustainability and resilience amid climate change, accelerating urbanization, and ongoing technological disruption. Although advanced digital technologies and innovative materials offer substantial potential to address these challenges, their adoption in practice remains inconsistent. This disconnect underscores the importance of strategic management in bridging the gap between technological capability and realized infrastructure outcomes. This study explores strategic management as a critical enabler of innovation in civil engineering, framing it as the essential “soft infrastructure” underpinning sustainable and resilient development. Using a qualitative, multi-phase research approach, the study integrates a narrative synthesis of the existing literature with illustrative case studies drawn from smart city initiatives and infrastructure resilience contexts. Insights from the literature inform the development of an integrated conceptual framework that links innovation drivers with key strategic management enablers, including governance and leadership, data-informed decision-making, lifecycle cost analysis, and change management practices. The proposed framework adopts a governance-first perspective and operationalizes innovation adoption through four interconnected implementation pillars: governance, financial evaluation, organizational readiness, and data governance. These pillars are supported by a phased process comprising environmental scanning, strategic alignment, and agile execution. The case studies illustrate how strategically aligned management practices can enable the successful uptake of advanced technologies and materials by overcoming organizational, financial, and institutional barriers. Overall, the findings indicate that innovation in civil engineering should not be viewed solely as a technical undertaking but as a strategic process shaped by managerial capability and organizational preparedness. This study contributes to the literature by offering an integrative framework that connects engineering innovation with strategic management, while also providing practical insights for infrastructure organisations and policymakers seeking to strengthen long-term sustainability and resilience.
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