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For Period 10, the top six have been much more stable this year than previously the first four Atkins India's 'Spartans', Atkins China's 'One Atkins' Arup's 'SUPERnOVA', and Atkins India's 'Singularity' have all held the first four places. Atkins India's 'ATRIUM' climbs three places to get back into the top six at fifth. Mott MacDonald's 'Nott MacDonalds' slip one to stay in the top six at sixth place. Dropping out of the top six are Arup's 'Overrated' at seventh.
The movements near the top are not great this round with movement of two or three up or down being the most common. Fluor BV's 'EPIC' climbs five places to 17th and would need to repeat that in the last two rounds and a little more to make the top six. The big mover was Atkins China's 'Umbrella Corporation' up to 24 from 50, do that one more time and they could be leading. Other big movers include CB & I's 'Horton' up fourteen and WYG's 'Only one WYG' up by thirty five, the largest rise this round. Now they've worked out what they are doing who knows where they will end. Amey's 'je t'amey' who looked to be driving upwards have stalled perhaps gathering themselves for the final push
The Sponsors Award, a competition between the sponsors who have entered three or more teams, remains with the leader is Atkins India followed by Arup, Fluor, Akins UK and AURECON.
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. Your finance director needs to watch the turnover: capital ratio if it is low say five 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.
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Five of the top six are still there for Period 9. Atkins India's 'Spartans', Atkins China's 'One Atkins', Arup's 'SUPERnOVA' and Atkins India's 'Singularity' all retain the top four places in the same order. Mott MacDonald's 'Nott MacDonalds' rise one place to fifth and the new comer to the top six is Arup's 'Overated' who come in at sixth rising from eighth and displacing Atkins India's ATRIUM who slip three places.
Amey's 'je t'amey' stay still at tenth place and haven't yet broken into the top six but they are certainly threatening. AECOM's 'AECOM and get some' and the HK Drainage Service Department's 'Cosmos Engineering' are also inching towards the top. A little further back Buro Happold's 'MERITocracy' and AURECON's 'AureCAN' are moving too. Atkin's 'Atkins Brum' seem to be on a roller coaster coming back well from a drop in the last round.
The average improvement is around 10% with a standard deviation of about 7% so the movements are a bit smaller than before. A move of about six places seems to feature quite a bit.
In the Sponsors Award, a competition between the sponsors who have entered three or more teams the leader is Atkins India followed by Arup, Fluor, Akins UK, AURECON.
Last year's winner of the Sponsors Award were Atkins Asia Pacific (styled Atkins China this year) previous winners have been Arup, Mott Macdonald, Aurecon, Calibre Projects, Wessex Engineering and Construction Services and Amey/Mouchel.
Aspects that some teams might like to consider a little more carefully is matching the project manager to the project, a critical factor in efficiency, the number of measurement staff helps recover all you are due, the estimating effort required for accurate estimates and the company's capital. Yes there is a lot of variables and they all interact which is why disciplined decision making is required.
We're at the stage where it is getting interesting as the leading teams will now get twitchy and cautious. A final place in their grasp but a mistake, a silly decision, a reckless decision that goes the wrong way could change all that. This caution and defensiveness will give opportunities for those in the chasing pack to show their flair and take courageous decisions to catch them. The top six are looking over their shoulder the chasers are breathing down their neck.
For all teams, If your strategy hasn't been reviewed this is probably the last opportunity to do so. It is 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. Teams can greatly improve their ranking in these rounds.
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For Period 8, the top six are clinging on, it is unusual for the top six to be as stable. However their positions have changed a little. Atkins India's 'Spartans' and Atkins China's 'One Atkins' stay in first and second. Arup's 'SUPERnOVA' move up two to third, Atkins India's 'Singularity stay fourth and their 'ATRIUM@ move up one to fifth whilst Mott MacDonald's 'Nott MacDonalds' slip three to sixth. Lurking outside the top teams are Atkins' 'Lord of the @tkins', Arup's 'OVArated' and 'Mind OVA Matter' and Amey's 'je t'amey' making the biggest move in this group. Any one or more of these could easily break into the top six but perhaps the momentum is with Amey.
The average improvement in scores was 10% with a standard deviation of 9% which still indicates scope for big movements. Scanning the list, the movers that stand out are Interserve's 'In to serve', Atkins 'Bricks and giggles' and 'The Diet Kings', Fluor BV's 'COGNAC Ltd', Arup's 'Arup Barbados Pina Colada Drinkers 2' who had the biggest move, AURECON's 'AureCAN', Tony Gee's 'Just call me Tony', Mott MacDonald's 'Mottsquitos', Arup's 'Ab-Ove and Beyond' and Atkins China's 'Umbrella Corporation'.
The ratio of turnover to company capital is an important indicator at a level of 9 times the company capital the questions start to be raised as to whether your company have enough assets to support its work load. But it also indicates that the company capital is working hard. If the ratio is much lower say 5 it indicates that the company capital is not working hard and your Finance Director need to consider how to respond. Grow the company's turnover, invest the capital outside the company or reduce the capital. It is not only the construction side of estimating and competing projects that determine a successful company. The financial side is equally important and would put these teams in contention.
With four more rounds it is still all to play for.