The aim is to advance business management (BM) in construction via the independent literature review. 71 construction-related BM concepts have been published between 1990 and 2013. Focal firms are based in the OECD countries. 34 (48%) concepts are related to construction management (CM), 14 (20%) concepts to industrial management and international marketing, 12 (17%) concepts to project management (PM) and 11 (15%) concepts to corporate real estate. The combined share of 16 Porterian, 16 dynamism-based, 15 organisation-based, and 10 knowledge-based concepts is 81%. The 71-concept platform is neither highly theoretically advanced, nor highly applicable. The propositions are defined for advancement. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B. V.