Identifying critical management activities for off-site construction supply chain coordination: an importance-performance analysis approach

Off-site construction (OSC) offers a transformative path toward faster, cleaner, and more consistent project delivery. Its success, however, depends on strong OSC supply chain coordination (OSC-SCC) across phases. Persistent fragmentation, unclear responsibilities, and reactive risk management continue to disrupt performance and constrain OSC’s scalability. Prior research identifies critical risks, but often treats them in isolation, without a phase-based perspective on how coordination failures unfold or which management actions fall short. This study addresses these gaps by developing a structured, risk-responsive framework for OSC-SCC that (1) identifies critical risk categories and corresponding management activities across project phases; (2) evaluates their perceived importance and actual performance; and (3) clusters these activities to reveal cross-phase coordination gaps and inform targeted improvements. The analysis is grounded in importance-performance analysis, supported by expert surveys. Results reveal persistent underperformance in supplier incentivization, logistics traceability, responsiveness to demand changes, and process standardization. If left unaddressed, these issues cascade across phases, undermining efficiency and amplifying risks. The study contributes a practical tool that helps stakeholders align risk management with OSC’s interdependent workflows. By translating risk insights into actionable, phase-aware strategies, the framework bridges theory and practice, supporting more resilient and scalable adoption of industrial construction.