Title: A study of the competitiveness of the Spanish construction industry

Authors: Jose Parreno Fernandez, Patricia Ordonez de Pablos

Addresses: Departamento de Administracion de Empresas y Contabilidad, Universidad de Oviedo, EPSI Gijon, Campus de Viesques. Edificio Energia, 33.204 Gijon – Asturias, Spain. ' Departamento de Administracion de Empresas y Contabilidad, Facultad de Ciencias Economicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Oviedo, Avd/del Cristo, s/n, 33.071 Oviedo – Asturias, Spain

Abstract: This study has a two-fold objective. First, it sets out to describe the present situation of the Spanish construction industry and its importance for the competitiveness of the national economy. It then goes on to consider the issue of forecasting for this strategically important sector, by considering three time series – total amount of tendering, the consumption of cement and the total number of homes built – and then forecasting by applying the Box-Jenkins methodology. The comparison of ex-post forecasts with the real data for the three variables, provides a way to evaluate the goodness of the models selected for forecasting.

Keywords: competitiveness; Spain; construction industry; forecasting.

DOI: 10.1504/WRSTSD.2004.004855

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 2004 Vol.1 No.1, pp.50 - 59

Published online: 07 Jul 2004 *

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