The Possibility of “Bundling” in PPP as a New Business Model for Japanese Civil Engineering Consulting Firms - From a Case Study of a Bundled PPP Project in the Philippines

Abstract

Many Japanese civil engineering consulting firms have faced a challenging business environment for the last twenty years following the decrease in the public works budget. To counteract this decline, many of them have tried to expand into new businesses; one such business is entering into PPP projects in Asia. However, there have only been a few successful cases. In this study, therefore, a successful PPP project in the Philippines is raised as a case, where one such consulting firm has been involved in. Through this study, two factors for the success were identified; one is that the involvement in the PPP/PFI in Japan, similar to the Asian PPP in the nature of business, can help to some extent, and the other is that starting with small scale projects can work to mitigate risk, while using a method of “Bundling”. The idea of bundling several projects together could overcome such negative aspects arising with the work on small-sized projects, from the viewpoint of private sector’s participation in the projects. Furthermore, using the Bundling could add another revenue source as a “Platformer”. It is thus ensured that this study can contribute to their successful expansion into new business opportunities.