"World-Class" contractors in the Scottish construction industry: Awe fur coat and nae knickers?

She's got a 'fur coat and nae knickers' is colloquialism attributed to women residing in an 'up-market' area of Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh. A number of genteel ladies residing in an area know as Morningside are said to have kept up an appearance of being well-off when they were in fact poor. Today, reference to such idioms are commonly made by people from Glasgow who wish to 'cast doubt' over the Edinburgh populace or more generally within Scottish culture as an accusation directed towards individuals who are 'all show but lacking in substance'. This paper explores the use of this analogy as attributed to the Scottish construction industry with specific reference to indigenous contractors. The concept of 'world-class' performance in the UK construction industry was noted in John Egan's (1998) report Rethinking Construction and is frequently cited as an ambition for wholesale improvement. However, defining, or benchmarking what 'world-class' construction businesses & projects should look like is no easy task. This paper examines why the proliferation of 'micro' Small & Medium Sized (SME'S) contracting businesses in Scotland creates particular barriers to continuous improvement. In particular, the paper examines why so few owners / CEO's have developed an understanding of 'world class' performance and why so few clients demand this service from them. The discussion will also examine the 'institutional' barriers that may be preventing Scottish contractors becoming world-class.