At period 7, the third round of MERIT, the two teams from The Mass Transit Railway, Hong Kong , ‘New Lines New Minds’ and ‘New Lines New Minds Enginetic’ hold positions one and two which they have occupied from the beginning. This is the first appearance of teams from MTR in MERIT and they have clearly done their homework on how to succeed. Perhaps it’s the number of trials they ran that has given them the edge or perhaps it the rumour from Hong Kong that they’ve built their own model to analyse MERIT decisions! If so, it is a very good model. An Arup team, ‘They think its all Ova’ are lying third. Arup have form in MERIT being the reigning champions having won in 2012, they also won the sponsors prize in 2011. So there is some experience there.
In fourth place is ‘NOVA’ a team from Atkins Hong Kong. Atkins Hong Kong have had a team in the last two finals and on both occasions the team members travelled from Hong Kong to attend the final at Loughborough.
AURECON have teams, ‘Unicon’ and ‘AURECON Global’, in fifth and seventh places. AURECON have also had teams in the last two finals travelling from Australia to attend the Loughborough final and last year they won the sponsors prize. They are again looking menacing. AURECON clearly won’t rest until they get the champions crown.
An Amey team, ‘AmeyMDP’, lying sixth are looking to be the first Amey team to make the final.
Amongst the rest are Mott MacDonald with teams lying eleventh and twelfth are likely to threaten. MottMac are the most successful ever in MERIT having been champions twice and having won the sponsors award twice. Arup have been champions twice and have won the sponsors award once. MottMac aren’t just there to make up the numbers they usually compete ferociously.
One team that has improved on past performance are the team from UTM at seventeenth they are doing much better than last year, we look forward to more Malaysian students benefiting from the MERIT experience.
‘Unchartered Territory’ and ‘Vanquish’ teams from the CIOB HQ are lying at sixteenth and eighteenth. ‘Vanquish’ was better placed in the previous round at eighth whereas ‘Unchartered Territory’ have risen from thirty-seventh. An indication that it is all still there to play for.
Amongst the teams welcomed back to MERIT are teams from Flour Harleem, Atkins UK and India, SKM, Ramboll, Pick Everard, AECOM, Byrne Looby, Buro Happold, Grontmij, Taylor Woodrow/BAM Nuttall, URS, Kier, Tony Gee, Balfour Beatty ( the sponsors of the original MERIT in 1988 and 1993 without whose support MERIT would never have been created), Babcock, Jacobs( as Babtie Shaw and Morton my old company!) and Pell Frischman. Some new comers are Murphy, Parsons, South of Scotland Electricity, NPS Property Consultants, Donaldson, Severn Trent Water and Manchester University.
There are five rounds to go before the top six who qualify for the final are decided. The market is likely to tighten and the strategies that have succeeded so far will need adjusting. The teams with the organisation to recognise changing circumstances and the flexibility to respond with revised strategies will succeed. This is all about leadership and discipline. Teams who have the leadership to organise the efforts of the individual team members will succeed. This means ensuring that the team members are allocated tasks that suit their skills and that the individuals deliver on the tasks allocated. Think like directors, act like directors learn the skills to be directors.
The finance director will be watching the turnover/capital ratio as a measure of how hard the company’s capital is working, usually a key indicator of a successful company who has developed to the size best for the company in the market conditions.