After a period of intensive trialling the Portsmouth University Enginuity 2022 Competition is underway, with a competitive field of teams all battling for supremacy against their peers. And so to the early action, and just like the mythical bird, "Phoenix" rose to the top of the first leaderboard with 1,433 pts. However, all the teams made impressive starts, and the chasing pack are very close behind led by "Titanium Tenacity" and "The Boom Company". It is early days, and there are sure to be plenty of twists ahead as the journey through the Early Years unfolds.

The early signs are that the competition will be very competitive, with all the teams improving their overall position in period 5. However, this was not unexpected. After being formed at the beginning of period 1, overhead costs were incurred whilst the companies were being established, without any profits being generated. The companies were now in a position to generate profits against a more stable overhead base, and this was reflected in improved operating profits. Of course, growth will be impossible without an effective strategy, and all the management teams have had time to think about this carefully, and come up with a set of objectives to deliver business success for their stakeholders.

After COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the UK economy in 2020 there was renewed optimism during most of 2021 thanks to the UK-EU trade deal post Brexit, and the successful role out of a COVID-19 vaccine, resulting in GDP growth of around 6.5%. However, towards the end of 2021 dark clouds began to gather with the new Omicron variant causing concern, inflation at 5.1% in November hitting a fresh decade high, and continued global shortages of goods and fuel raising concerns of an inflationary cycle that forced the Bank Of England to increase interest rates by 0.25% in December for the first time in three years. This led to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to lower its UK’s 2022 GDP growth forecast to 4.7%.

Further afield the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a global economic shock of enormous magnitude during 2020 leading to steep recessions in many countries. However, during 2021 the global economy recovered rapidly from the pandemic shock compared to past recessions with global growth of just over 5%, although this is expected to reduce slightly in 2022. Beyond 2022, slower trend growth is expected with many challenges to be faced including the potential of higher financing costs, heightened financial market volatility, inflation risks driven by rebounding growth and supply-chain bottlenecks, ongoing labour shortages and intensifying climate risks.

League table at the end of period 5

After the impressive growth figures posted in period 5, not unexpectedly period 6 proved to be a much tougher quarter, with just over half of the teams posting positive growth figures. This was largely driven by the companies being unable to win as much work as they had previously, with the corresponding reduction in forward workload and margin KPIs.

However, amongst the successes one was hightly significant as "Phoenix" posted 4% growth, modest but enough to see them extend their lead over the rest of the field at the top with 1,492 pts. Behind them good planning enabled "Team Tactics" to move up 6 places to second, and their 8% improvement was also the joint best in the round along with "PT Construction" who made an even more impressive 9-place gain to 4th. "AMOA" moved up to 3rd, and it is incredibly tight at the top still with just 5 points separating the 3 teams behind the leaders. The best positional gain came from "The Visionaries", who surged 11 places to joint 5th.

At the wrong end of table it t was a worrying quarter for the management team of "Born Leaders", who are struggling to justify their team name, and their 10% decline was down largely to securing no new work, not helped by their poor choice of consultant designer to a key bid with the HS Rail Connection Group, and their shareholders will be hoping that they can learn quickly and not repeat their mistakes again, or they may be facing an emergency shareholder meeting.

With KPI points hard earned it will become increasingly important that the management teams look very carefully at every aspect of their business for potential improvements, and those that are most successful in doing so should prosper the most. Two areas that the teams need particular attention are Marketing strategy and Procurement (rival bidders), which are discussed in more detail below.

Marketing is possibly the area of the business that requires the most thought, as there are numerous strategies that could be adopted. The market trend can only be gauged for one year ahead, and not always accurately, and as marketing departments are expanded, the choices of where to direct the marketing effort are wide ranging, by sector, country and job size. The task is not an easy one, but has a major impact upon procurement options, and the future work undertaken, and ultimately on the long term prosperity of the company.

Another important consideration is that rival bidders do not necessarily stick with the same bidding strategy, and as time goes by they can change their strategy according to market conditions. This makes it imperative that teams keep a close eye on the margins rival bidders are applying, and how they may be changing. Evaluating these strategies could make the key difference between success in securing work, or not. To complicate matters even further there may be UNKNOWN rival bidders, and the only clues to these may be in the ENGINUITY NEWS NETWORK (ENN) for the period.

League table at the end of period 6
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 6

The halfway point of the Competition, Period 7, saw one of the most dramatic turnrounds in recent Enginuity History as "Kwean", previously flirting with the wrong end of the table, posted a stunning 22% improvement, easily the best results in the period, to climb 14 places and up to second place. They are now within touching distance of the name in consistency, "Phoenix", whose 5% growth saw them maintain their 20 point lead at the top with 1,568 pts, and the leaders for the 3rd consecutive period will take some prising off the top in the remaining 2 rounds.

"PT Construction" continued their upward trend as they climbed one palce to 3rd, and a bit further back "Graphite" showed they are made of stern stuff as they surged 8 places up the table after 11% growth. There is a line from a famous Billy Ocean song that states 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going', and this was played out to perfection in period 7 as "Born Leaders" posted 5% growth to lift them away from the foot of the table, and up 3 places, and they will be hoping to maintain their rise in the next period.

IEWP = SUCCESS

A leading industry think tank have come up with a simple formula for running a successful construction business.

1. IDENTIFY new work
2. EXPAND the infrastructure (capital base) of the company to take on more work
3. WIN new work through competitive bidding
4. PROFITABLY PROGRESS of the jobs won

Another essential part of running a successful business is being able to form an effective Risk Management Strategy to keep the business as profitable as possible. This can take a number of forms, firstly by building sensible risk contingencies into the original bids based upon the likelihood and cost of the risks occurring. Secondly, and just as importantly is mitigating the affects of any risks that strike through targeted investment into risk management companies, using a BIM model if available, and employing the most suitable project managers to jobs in progress. However, even when these mitigating actions are taken, risk can still be costly to job and company profits, and during period 7 problems with structural defects affected the construction of a new health spa for the client, Orlando Adventure World, in the United States, with an estimated risk cost of around 280k before mitigation.

League table at the end of period 7
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 7

Period 8, the penultimate round of the Competition, proved to be a turbulent and dramatic one in the league table with all but two teams not moving. At the top of the table "Kwean" completed their meteoric rise from period 7 to lead the field going into the final round with 1,628 pts. The leaders since period 5 "Phoenix" slipped back to 3rd behind the strategists "Team Tactics" who climbed one place to second, with "The Boom Company" and "The Visionaries" in 4th and 5th respectively. With only around 70 points separating the top 5 it is going to be a tense climax to see who will emerge victorious as the 2022 Champions, and all bets are off as to who it might be as it is too close to call.

Further back the best performance in the round came from "Team Diversity" with impressive 9% growth bearing in mind their position in the table, and it lifted them up 3 places, and "PAMEA" made the biggest positional gain with a 6-place rise to 6th, and their highest position to date.

League table at the end of period 8
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 8

There is an old saying that timing is everything, and so it proved in the final round as "Team Tactics", who had always been in the leading positions, finally made it to top spot to be crowned the Portsmouth University Enginuity 2022 Champions with an impressive finishing score after 5 rounds of 1,708 pts, and in the end a decisive margin of victory of over 50 points.

The previous leaders for 3 of the rounds "Phoenix" did indeed rise from the ashes as they climbed one place to finish the deserved Runners Up, but only by one point from "The Visionaries" in 3rd, and "Kwean" were not quite able to keep up the momentum they had gained in periods 7 and 8 as they slipped back to a creditable 4th. The best finishing performance came from "PT Construction" with a whopping 20% improvement, and 7-place rise up the table, and they would have hoped to see if they could have maintained their growth in the future.

In the final analysis nearly all of the teams finished with stronger, more sustainable companies than when they took over in period 5, a testament to the skill and application shown by the management teams in what was a roller coaster of a journey through 5 simulated quarters of management.

League table at the end of period 12
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 12