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One round to go, the tension is rising
The top five all held their places, Mott MacDonald' 'Strike while the iron is Mott' is still in first followed by Atkins India's 'Singularity', Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing', Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' and Interserve's 'Beagle 2'. The change in the top six is that Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' come in at sixth replacing Hyder's 'Alpha Engineers' who slip to ninth. This is the first time since the seventh round that an Arup team have been in the top six. Then it was 'Arup infrastructure London Group II' who are now in tenth place.
Examining the percentage improvements we see 12% around the top level with 2% around the bottom. The difference gives the range of relative movement that we see. This would suggest that the top three are reasonably safe. Of course they could do something daft and reduce their points score and let others overtake them. The rest are more easily catchable so the final six aren't yet settled.
AECOM's '3038 Construction' have risen four places to seventh, Aurecon's 'Go Big' have risen seven places to eighth, Aurecon's 'CONSTRUCTIONS' up five to eleventh and AECOM's 'AECOM and get some' up nine places to fifteenth. These movements represent momentum and similar gains in the next round (the final round of the Early Years) would see them in the top six.
You can feel the tension in both the top teams defending their position and the chasers still chasing. The positions are likely to change but it's impossible to predict. Experience suggests that the chasers will take the biggest risks in their pursuit of a top place.
Preliminary results, subject to change.
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Time for inspirational decisions
The top five remain in the top five but Mott MacDonald's 'Strike while the iron is Mott' jump over Atkins India's 'Singularity' to claim top spot. 'Singularity' take second place. Mott Mac have been MERIT Champions twice before and seem to be making a push to add to that. Atkins India are highly motivated looking for their first Championship having been in the final several times.
Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing', Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' and Interserve's 'Beagle 2' all retain positions 3,4 and 5. As I type this I just remembered that Beagle 2 was the Mars probe that crash landed, hopefully history won't repeat itself!
The newcomer to the top six is Hyder Consulting's 'Alpha Engineers' rising four places from tenth. From memory Hyder haven't been in recent finals so a new face might be appearing. Atkins India's 'Endeavour' have dropped out of the top six into 8th place. They join a very competitive group just outside the top six lead by Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' with teams from AECOM, Mott Mac, Cavendish Nuclear, EM Highways, Aurecon and CB &I all well within striking distance in the next two rounds. We do expect some movement. There always is.
Further down a big mover that caught the eye was Fluor's 'Fantastic Fluor' who moved up 21 places.
In the Sponsor Award league table the top three are now Atkins India, Atkins Asia Pacific and AECOM with Mott MacDonald now fourth followed by Arup, EM Highway Services, Aurecon, Interserve, Jacobs, Donaldson Associates, Fluor, Atkins UK and Bechtel. The Sponsors Award league table tends to be more stable as it is aggregating the performance of several teams.
One thing to keep an eye on is the market conditions. If the spend on marketing in the right sectors isn't adequate it will result in fewer jobs to bid for. If the market is tightening this could be significant. This is just one factor all the others need controlling as well head office staffing, estimating effort, bids, project manager selection, project staffing, company capital, borrowings, investments, dividends, retained profits. They all matter, no one said a director's job was easy. Enjoy the challenge.
Two rounds to go at this stage some successful decisions get described as heroic and inspirational other less successful ones as simply foolhardy. Good luck.
Preliminary results, subject to change.
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Atkins India and Atkins Asia Pacific tighten their grip
Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing' and Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' have swapped places in positions 3 and 4, but the others in the top 5 places remain where they were, with Atkins India's 'Singularity' holding onto to first pace, Mott MacDonald's 'Strike while the iron is Mott' remaining in second place and Interserve's 'Beagle 2' remaining fifth. 'AECOMplete shambles' slip three places from 6th to 9th to be replaced in 6th place by Atkins India's 'Endeavour' up one place. Amazingly this gives us three Atkins India and one Atkins Asia Pacific in the top six. Confirming the strength of the Atkins presence is the Sponsors Award league table which has in first place Atkins India and in second place Atkins Asia Pacific.
On the move are Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' up from 12th to 7th and only 45 points outside the top six. Should they make the final it will be the first time for a team from the USA. Also Arup's 'COMAP(Cardiff Office Multidisciplinary Arup People)' are up from 15th to 8th and only 97 points off the top six (No prizes for a snappy team name.) It looks like Arup are making a serious push to defend the success they've enjoyed in recent years. Arup lie third in the Sponsors league table a prize they have won twice before.
With the average movement this period being 12.5% and the top half of the table still tightly bunched it is too early to say who will be in the final. There were big movements from Mott MacDonald's 'Team Loco, Tracking success, Signalling failure EST. 2K15' (another snappy team name!) as well as Atkins India's 'The Hexaguns' and AURECON's 'CONSTRUCTICONS'. AURECON have featured in two finals in the recent past and with a final push may well do so again.
Over thirty teams had gains in excess of 15% so the top six are not yet home and clear. The psychology is interesting the leading teams tend to get a) twitchy and b) cautious this gives opportunities for those in the chasing pack with flair and courage to catch them.
If the team's strategy hasn't been reviewed this is probably the last opportunity to do so. It's time for a serious review of the strategy you've been following to determine what changes in the next three rounds will yield the biggest gains. It's time to take some decisions that earlier you might have considered as risky. This is when leadership and disciplined decision making should show its value.
The Sponsors Award league table is a tight affair the top three Atkins India, Atkins Asia Pacific and Arup are closely followed by Mott MacDonald, AECOM, AURECON, EM Highway Services and Interserve all above 3,000 points. It is important for all teams no matter where they are ranked in the main league table to improve their position as this will contribute to the ranking in the Sponsors Award.
This competition is reaching the exciting stage.
Preliminary results, subject to change.