Adaptive capabilities for road agencies in emerging economies

Organisations internationally are embracing asset management (AM) as a capability with significant levels of investment in infrastructure assets. The paper’s perspective is rooted in the concept of organisational capabilities. A model for an enhanced AM capability is presented, which includes portfolio, programme and project management and the intelligent client function. The research methodology is qualitative and iterative and builds theory and organisational models from case study data. To reflect the authors’ reasoning, cases are grounded in relevant literature. Four case studies are presented sequentially. Two are from emerging economies; one presents a longitudinal model using the enhanced AM capability. Two are from the UK, demonstrating complementary transformation programmes for building AM capabilities in road agencies. The intention is subsequently to combine these models into an organisational archetype for emerging economies, encompassing enhanced AM capability, whole-life value and whole-life asset investment. The paper concludes that for emerging economies, systemic long-term funding is necessary to support transformation initiatives in AM, which inevitably encompasses institutional and organisational change programmes. To ensure sustainable implementation of these initiatives, project-driven investment to create or tap into organisational capabilities based on a primary investment in physical infrastructure is insufficient.