Example research essay topic: Lend Lease Civil Engineering - 2,738 words

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Table of contents Introduction II. Main Markets 1. Balfour Beatty's markets a) Building b) Engineering. c) Rail. d) Investments 2. Bovis Lend Lease markets a) Design Management b) Design / engineering c) Construction d) Procurement Management e) Geographical markets II.

Product portfolio analysis using Boston Matrix. 1. Balfour Beatty's model 2. Bovis Lend Lease model III. Companies Approaches 1. Balfour Beatty's approach 2. Bovis Lend Lease approach IV.

Main Competitors. 1. Balfour Beatty's competitors 2. Bovis Lend Lease competitors V. Conclusion Management I. Introduction. Marketing is an integral part of the modern society's activity.

It is connected to all fields of activity and that is why it is necessary to know as much as possible about its laws and specificity. Presently all of us should understand marketing. We need to know, what the market represents who operates at it, how it functions, what its inquiries. It is necessary to understand marketing and both in the role of consumers and in the role of citizens. The knowledge of marketing allows us to behave more reasonably as consumers. In The United States marketing is widespread, the greater number of enterprises and organizations successfully use its main principles in their work.

There are specialized marketing companies providing a wide spectrum of services in the market. Heads of overwhelming majority of the enterprises realize the necessity of marketing approaches to management of the enterprises and production. Unfortunately, marketing activity demands the big monetary outlay, even the large companies are not always able to be independent in deciding all the marketing questions and they have to address to services of the research centers, advertising agencies. Nevertheless, while launching the well-known products, the traditional goods, it is necessary to take care not only of reduction of prices, but also about the improvement of quality and consumer properties of goods. And beforehand it is necessary to know, which properties the consumer excite first of all. Marketing is necessary for this purpose.

In the given work I would like to investigate and compare marketing activity of two enterprises: Bovis lend Lease and Balfour Beatty. Both of the companies are building organization and they have the same goal: to provide the services of engineering and construction to the clients for whom the quality, reliability and effectiveness of the infrastructure are very important. II. Main markets In order to analyze the marketing activity of the company it is essential to identify the main markets of it. 1. The company Balfour Beatty supplies the worldwide markets for rail, road, utility systems, buildings and complex structures.

Major and increasing proportion of the companys profit comes from the extensive communal infrastructure formation and maintenance, and private sphere property improvement and care. The companys activity in key markets provides customers with exclusive assortment of skills. The key markets of the company are building, engineering, rail and investments. a) Building. Balfour Beatty is a worldwide professional organization in the design, construction, fitting out, upholding and care of buildings and their inside environment. In the United Kingdom, the company Balfour Beatty is a market leader in many areas.

These areas of skills embody the design, building and construction management as well as lifelong management and care. In this market the company works mostly for the communal sector. Profits in the building sector fell by 2 % in 2003 at 45 million, the sales were 1, 196 million. The work was stable both in the UK and in US. Income from facilities management grew, but was counterbalanced due to the slow performance in the US markets in the first half of the year. b) Engineering.

Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering offers a broad assortment of services that is based on the following divisional structure: Civil Engineering Division Major Projects Highways Division Major Projects Infrastructure Services Division Civil Engineering Division (CED) serves all the civil engineering market sectors, such as harbor highways, airports, railways, water and sewerage schemes, regeneration schemes, and marine works, substations on-shore petrochemical works. It concludes the contracts for from 200, 000 to over 25 million. Major Projects Highways Division MPHD This division was created in September 2002. It is working in the highways market sector. It has a reputation of a leader in construct and design. It serves the markets of England, Ireland and Wales.

It has a projects which value is more than 25 million. Major Projects Infrastructure Services Division (ISD) includes major civil engineering in all sectors except highways. It works both in the UK and abroad. Having the wide experience, ISD is capable to provide the perfect solutions for major projects, using different contract forms.

c) Rail. Balfour Beatty Rail has a reputation of a leader in rail engineering projects all over the world. Its annual turnover is more than 800 m. Balfour Beatty Rail was quickly recognized in the European and US markets where it has a lot of opportunities to realize its engineering capabilities. d) Investments Balfour Beatty has a goal is to create shareholder value by providing the services of engineering and construction to the clients for whom the quality, reliability and effectiveness of the infrastructure are very important. 2. Bovis Lend Lease offers the services in accordance to customers' requirements in the following areas: - Design Management - Procurement Management - Design/Engineering - Construction Project and Program Management Bovis Lend Lease offers consulting for the project and all-round services including supervising all the planning, procuration, and building activities.

Construction Management Bovis Lend Lease offers the customers all the technological and organizational management services, efficaciously designing and supervising the project from the beginning to the final stage. Owner's Representative/Staff Extension Bovis Lend Lease works as a consultant providing the clients with the necessary information and helping with the defining of the policy and goals for the certain project. Design and Build Bovis Lend Lease makes the processes of planning and building the one process through a one point of responsibility. General Contracting Here Bovis Lend Lease uses traditional methods of design, building and construction. a) Design Management. Bovis Lend Lease has extensive experience in the field of design management uniting the best design management tools and professional staff.

The company is capable to fulfill all the management tasks in the sphere of design for the customers. It can define the requirements, and supervise the process from the beginning to the final stage. Bovis Lend Lease guarantees that the design stage of the project is carefully fulfilled with maximum money and time saving. Its early contribution include worth by setting up the program necessities and defining any possible options by: lining up the clients' business needs and project outcomes Abating risks in building by properly organizing the project documentation attaining maximum value by assessing design alternatives and evading altering in the phase of building providing professional design knowledge on time in the process guaranteeing the best well-versed resolutions examining the whole design together with schemes and equipment, special limitations, code conformity The company makes the detailed review of the project information in order to define the needs, expenses, timetable, budget and phasing. b) Design / engineering Bovis Lend Lease's knowledge and experience in the field of design / engineering are realized mostly in pharmaceutical sector. This experience is typically used as engineering consultancy services.

Bovis Lend Lease application of these skills is aimed at reducing of the risk and early at the stage of development. This works includes: Economic analysis Facilities planning Site master planning and site selection Technology evaluations Analysis of financial options In the phase of planning the company includes additional value by determining and abolishing problems on time in the first stage, providing customers with effective and best results. This process includes: Concept and feasibility studies Process engineering Facilities software modelling (using 3 -D computer generated walkthroughs, process simulations and computational fluid dynamics simulation) Construction and project management c) Construction Bovis Lend Lease provides the customers with the services of project and construction management all over the world. By uniting profitable world resources with good skills the company can offer expedient solutions to in accordance with clients needs. Using the best skills and materials Bovis Lend Lease formed a first-class team that is capable of providing the best assistance of the construction project. The company thoroughly cleaves to the theorem of guaranteeing the quality of the services that corresponds the needs of the certain customer.

d) Procurement Management Bovis Lend Lease has considerable experience in procurement management guarantying the best contracting and supply methods are fulfilled to meet the exact requirements of a the certain projects. The companys methods are adapted to the projects location and peculiarities. Bovis Lend Lease uses its extensive global knowledge base and experience to systematically approach project delivery. The company aligns the correct contract strategy with the client's needs and the attributes of a particular project.

That includes: Purchasing goods in advance Defining the time for learning of the new equipment Work together with local contractors and suppliers Site access restrictions Guarantees and insurances e) Geographical markets The main Geographical markets of Bovis Lend Lease are Australia, Americas, Europe, Asia. The company began to work in the Americas in 1917, now it operates there from purposefully positioned offices and innumerable project sites in the United States of America and Latin America offering deferent construction services. Bovis Lend Lease started working in the Asia Pacific when the company was created in Australia under the name of Civil & Civic in 1951. It is still working their providing various building and construction management services.

Bovis Lend Lease began to work in Europe not very long ago, but it is planning to become a leader in this market. Now the company is opening more and more offices in Europe. II. Product portfolio analysis using Boston Matrix. In this part of my work I would like to make product portfolio analysis according to Boston Matrix model. The models are based on the annuals reports 2004 of both of the companies.

The Boston Matrix is a widely used method of analyzing that was created by the US consulting group and is considered to be one of the best approaches to product portfolio planning. It contains two main aspects: market share and market growth. 1. Balfour Beatty's model: Market Growth high Building, building management and services Rail engineering and services low Civil and specialist engineering and services Investments and developments High market share low 2. Bovis Lend Leases model Market Growth high Project and Construction Management Real estate investments low Integrated property development Non-core Businesses High market share low As Bovis Lend Lease gives the information about the geographical segments, the model can be also built in the following way: Market Growth high Australia and Pacific Asia low America Europe High market share low III. Companies approaches 1. Balfour Beatty has its own approach.

The company specialists created a five stage model through the lifecycle of the project called the Balfour Beatty 3 P 2 R sustainability model. Partnerships the companies Balfour Beatty works with Customers and suppliers Contractors and workforce Community Regulators and government Construction industry Planning how the company designs things Design discussions and pre-qualifying Life Cycle Assessment Selection of partners Methods and materials Construction industry Value calculations for long term cost benefit Resources - what the company buys / uses Responsible sourcing Re-use and recycle Ethical trading and supplier vetting Process - how the company operates Construction methods and working practices Health, safety and quality management Environmental management ISO 14001 Energy and water usage Waste management Biodiversity plans Reporting - how the company communicates results Defining measurement criteria and standards Reporting to all stakeholders Honest and open disclosure Regular performance monitoring against standards 2. Bovis Lend Lease is the customer-oriented company. In the modern world the enterprise may achieve success only if it does not ignore inquiries of consumers. In order to increase the efficiency it is necessary to provide the research and satisfactions of a maximum quantity of the clients requirements. Marketing is engaged in research of consumers behavior which includes their needs and requirements.

Studying of consumers begins with the study of their needs. Revealing of needs is one of the key purposes of marketing research. When marketing executive finds out the needs of the consumer, he may predict his further behavior and the opportunity of the purchase of the given goods. In research of consumers the important role is played by motivators of purchase of the goods, such as: motives of benefit, risk decrease, recognition, convenience, freedom and motive of knowledge. On the basis of the abovementioned the company has the following principles: To define customers goals and in order to be as helpful as possible.

To build and keep steadfast and permanent interrelation with the clients. To provide high quality products and services according to customers requirements and to deliver them in time. To create the plans based on the understanding of the future needs of the customer To make the company customer-oriented IV. Main Competitors. 1. Bovis Lend Lease has two main competitors: Multiplex and Westfield, which act at the same geographical market and market sectors.

Multiplex Group is one of the diversified property businesses on the Australian Stock Exchange, working in the four sectors: property funds management, property development, construction and facilities and infrastructure management. The Westfield Group is the eighth largest entity on the Australian Stock Exchange, working in the area of development, design, construction, funds / asset management, property management, leasing and marketing activities 2. Speaking about Balfour Beatty's competitors, I would like to define Skanska. Skanska is an international construction company that is providing its clients with perfect solutions. Its main goal is to create and maintain perfect business. Skanska is a business with a long history, so it was proved that this goal had been reached in the past and will be reached in future.

The company defines for itself certain responsibilities toward the countries, communities and environments in which it operate, toward their employees and partners and toward the whole society. Conclusion Having made the analysis of the activity of the two international construction companies, I made a conclusion that both of them use successful approaches, but the approach of Balfour Beatty is better. The company created its own model that I think can be used as a model of company market activity in general economic theory. Balfour Beatty is internationally recognized company and Bovis Lend Lease is still trying to become recognized at the European market and as we see it on the model, it does not have much profit in Europe yet. Balfour Beatty is more competitive company, than Bovis Lend Lease. From the article: ...

Property analysts said Lend Lease was under increasing pressure to follow the lead of its competitors, adding that stapling its shares and units would reduce fees and remove a layer of management. Such a move would also give Lend Lease extra capacity to tap into global development projects in the same way as its major competitors, Multiplex and Westfield. A stapling with General Property Trust would give Bovis - Lend Lease's main operating business - more clout in winning development and construction projects on its own rather than through joint ventures... Hear we see that Bovis Lend lease is considered by analysts to be not so capable to work at the international level as Multiplex and Westfield.

The information about Balfour Beauty is different. Tony Juniper, Policy and Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth said: Our move represents a significant step forward in the lengths law-abiding organizations such as FOE are prepared to go to show big business how serious we are in wanting to reform corporations. The resolution to Balfour Beatty is challenging, but constructive. We think a responsible corporation cannot pretend the Commission's report has not happened nor imply that it has nothing to do with them. It's a time big business such as Balfour Beatty put the Planet into its bottom line.

Bibliography 1. Dunphy, D. (ed. ) (2000) Sustainability: The Corporate Challenge of the 21 st Century Allen and Unwin, Sydney 2. Fernandez, F. A. (2001) The Role and Responsibilities of Securities Analysts.

Securities Industry Association Research Reports 3. Gallery, G. , N. Gallery & Hsu, C-M. (2002) The Associations Between Management and Analysts Earnings Forecasts in the Australian Continuous Disclosure Environment, AANZ Conference, Cairns, (2002) 4. Miles, M. (1979) Qualitative Data as an Attractive Nuisance: The Problem of Analysis, Administrative Science Quarterly

Research essay sample on Lend Lease Civil Engineering