Great turbulence

The initial comment on the preliminary results for Period 6 is look at the turbulence. The average improvement is just over 17% with the range being from mid thirties to -14%. The result is that positions have been changed in the rank order by as much as over thirty places. Those that have moved up will be greatly encouraged, they only need to do it again and again and they soon will be competing with the leaders. The comment in Period 5 that no one was out of it still holds for Period 6. But as there are many moving up there are those going the other way and a thirty place slip has occurred as has a thirty place improvement. For those moving in the wrong direction there is no reason why it can't be recovered. But the evidence is clear that the pecking order is far from stable and there are six rounds to go.

The current top six have three teams that weren't in the top six in the last round. It is now UK, India, India, UK, Netherlands and UK with Hong Kong, Australia and Qatar slipping out.

The game is the same but there are many decisions to get right. Make sure that you make enough estimating effort to give an estimate you can have confidence in. If you're not winning your bids it's because you're not competitive, your margins may be too ambitions but these need to be added to a sound estimate. If the estimate isn't sound it may be too high and uncompetitive, it may be too low and unrealistic, so you need adequate estimating effort. Also watch the relationship between turnover and capital. If your turnover is low your capital isn't working hard enough. There may be better things you can do with your capital.

Who'll end up in the top six? It's anyone's guess as it's still wide open.