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The first of the MERIT 2016 prizes has been decided, so it is congratulations to Atkins India, the winner of the Sponsors Award. This is the first time the Sponsors Award has gone to India, and it will be presented by Mick Guy of CITB at the Final Dinner on 12th May.
The finalists have also been decided as the top six teams repelled all assaults, and held onto their respective positions from the last round:
Atkins India's 'Spartans' go into the final in first place followed by Atkins China's 'One Atkins', Arup's 'SUPERnOVA', Mott MacDonald's 'Nott MacDonalds' and Atkins'India's 'Singularity' and 'ATRIUM'
The final places were closely contested, as narrowly missing out on the Final by only 115 points are Arup's 'Overated' and by 129 points Arup's 'Mind over Matter'.
With three teams from India and two from Hong Kong, only one team is from the UK in this year's final, which makes it the most international ever.
The most we've had previously is two teams from the same company but this year Atkins India have raised that to three and if you add Atkins China coming from the same group then this has the look of being Atkins year.
Atkins India has featured in the Finals for the last few years but have yet to claim the top prize. This year winning the Sponsors award is the first replacing Atkins China who won it last year. Neither Atkins India nor Atkins China have produced a MERIT Champion… yet!
Atkins China was runner up last year, and Atkins UK has had one Champion in 2007 with three Sponsors Awards in 2002, 2003 and 2009.
Mott MacDonald won last year and have been Champions three times as have Arup, so there is some winning experience in the final.
Sir John Armitt, President of the ICE and Alan Crane Past President of CIOB will attend the final to present certificates to the finalists, the Silver Salver and cash prizes to the winners and runners up.
The record shows that, more often than not, the team in first place at the end of the Early Years fails to become champion, although last year the leading team did go onto win. We have also experienced the winner coming through from sixth place.
Given the points score of the finalists and another eight rounds of an even more competitive competition under severe time pressure any team can win. With only 17% between top and bottom we look forward to the tension and excitement of the battle to come. All we can promise is the final will be competitive with the high motivation of all six finalists.
Many teams put in fine performances and we trust all the teams who didn't make the final enjoyed the MERIT 2016 competition and the training experience in company, business and financial management, together with the experience of the need for team work and leadership to deliver disciplined decision making. MERIT has a record of raising aspirations and influencing future training and development as individuals think about what role in the industry they aspire too. The advice in taking part was to think like a director, act like a director. If you liked the role then set out to train to be a director. The industry needs leaders.
The jockeying for position went on till the end displayed a commitment from all teams. Every team member who's team completed the Early Years of MERIT 2016 will receive their certificate and the MERIT experience qualifies for CPD.
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Period 11 brings no new comers to the top six. Atkins India's 'Spartans', Atkins China's 'One Atkins' Arup's 'SUPERnOVA' all retain the top three places. Mott MacDonald's 'Nott MacDonalds' climb two to fourth place and Atkins India's 'Singularity' and 'ATRIUM' slip one each to fifth and sixth.
The overall movement this round has been surprisingly low with an average improvement of around 7%, larger movement coming from the teams nearer the top of the ranking. There are a cluster of teams just outside the top six who can still threaten but the top six are digging in.
Past data suggests that teams in the top twenty at this stage could well disturb the rankings. With one round to go there is some tension in both the top teams defending their position and the chasers still chasing. The positions may well change but it's impossible to predict. Experience suggests that the chasers will take the biggest risks in their pursuit for top place. The top six will probably check everything many times to ensure that they don't make a last minute silly mistake. Lower down it seems everyone is still trying to improve their final position.
Watch out for those surprise attacks!
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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.