After the Easter break teams are back refreshed and that has sparked some changes as there has clearly been some new thinking and analysis.
Glasgow Caledonian's 'Cali Construction' hold their top place but now in second is Loughborough's 'Team Poseidon' who rocket up from 13th to 2nd. Hong Kong's Poly U's team 'BRE Team 4' rise from 7th to 3rd. Deakins 'AGBA' rise four places to 4th. Oxford Brookes stay in the top six but slip to 5th place and Bond's team 'Bond Agents' rise six places to enter the top six at sixth.
So we have four new teams in the top six, with those dropping out of the top six being: Glasgow Caledonian's 'RMHS'; Greenwich's 'Continuous Flight'; Loughborough's 'Team athena'; and Cape Town's 'Prestige Worldwide'.
Well it doesn't get much more turbulent than that and shows that it is still very competitive. Look at the points gap between the top six and the chasers, it really couldn't be much closer, with the only team with a reasonable gap being 'Cali Construction'. If in the top 6, I wouldn't start scheduling an appearance at the final just yet there, as there will be more changes to come.
It looks like many teams have reviewed their original strategy. If you haven't you really are nearing the point when it might be too late. 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, including 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. Your finance director needs to watch the turnover: capital ratio if it is low then your capital isn't working hard enough. Might be time to offload capital by investing elsewhere, a shame that an external investment can earn more than your own company but it is a course of action. Your procurement director needs to watch the forward workload, this is measured in your performance but it is no good having a forward turnover with very low or even negative margins the forward margin on your workload is a key factor. So you need to in profitable work.
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.
Period 8 results
Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a negative % have requested late submission or have been asked to resubmit)
Top 10