Strategic Analysis of UK Construction Industry & Company Report Assignment Sample

Introduction of CPD and Strategic Management Assignment

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This report contains details about the strategic management and the CPD model of the industry. Industries that are UK-based are needed to describe in this report work. Strategic management is mainly a process that is about setting goals for the company, setting objectives and procedures for the company to make the company more competitive in the market. Strategic management observes over an effective deploying staff and the resources to finish the goal of the company. CPD is the development process that stands for "Continuing Professional Development" which refers to the procedure of recording and tracking of experience, knowledge, and skills that can be gained formally.

2. Choose an industry

Each and every organization needs strategic management and CPD for the growth of the organization. Some organisation such as the construction industry need to modularise their sector more and more efficiently so that the work or project they are working on should complete fast. In this report work one of the best construction industries has been chosen that is Balfour Beatty plc. It is an important company for the UK industry that chose to intend for work. In the UK construction industries are growing faster than general, which helps to increase in a continuous rate increment in the economy of the country (Watts et al. 2021). This sector helps to develop not only the economy but the value of the UK in the world market. Balfour Beatty plc company has helped to gain in the growth of the country's GDP a lot because it secured the first rank among the UK construction based companies. Approximately 3.1 million people in the UK are working with the construction company so it is one of the largest sectors. It is dependent on the "labor-intensive business model" which is unsustainable because of the demographic change.

3. Research the industry

The full name of the construction company of the UK is “Balfour Beatty Plc”. Balfour Beatty is a company that is infrastructure-based including finance, maintaining, building, operating, and developing the critical and complex infrastructure which helps to directly support the economies of the country. This company generally operates with the help of three segments: those are segments of the construction services, which are committed to the physical construction of any asset. The second one is the segment of the support services, which are committed to the support of any existing assets and functions, like assets refurbishment and maintenance (Oyenuga et al. 2020). Third one is the segment of the infrastructure investments, which is committed to the disposal of any infrastructure assistance and acquisition operation, it can be hospitals, roads, military housing, student accommodation, the network for offshore transmission, biomass or waste, and so on.

Table 1: STP table

PESTEL Model

(Source: Villalba-Diez et al. 2018)

Table 2: PESTEL Analysis and factors

(Source: Self Developed)

All the parts of the PESTEL analysis have factors that are stated in table 3.1

• Political factors include the policies, change, and leadership of the Government. Tax policies, all the regulation trends are also included. Construction industry will grow only when the Government policies are followed strictly. With the help of policies and leadership and also following the tax policies, the sector will be strong. In the time of Brexit as an impact, there were many political issues that arose that internal political trends stopped and issues increased more (Policy, 2020). Foreign trade was forcibly stopped.
• Economics factors included the labours costs, globalization impacts, and disposable incomes off business and consumers helps in the projected and current economic growth. Construction industry in the UK has a maximum portion that helps in the economic growth of the country. It also helps in the inflation rates of the country. During Brexit, it was nearly the worst rate of inflation and interest. Job unemployment rate was largely increased so there was no growth in the economy (Ma et al. 2019).
• Social factors represent mainly demographic characteristics, also the customs, values, and norms of the country's population in between which the organization has to operate. This factor includes the most important growth rate, income distribution, age distribution, safety emphasis, lifestyle altitude, cultural barriers, and carrier altitudes. Those factors help to target the customers for the construction company.
• Technological factors involve innovation which affects the operation of any industry. It included the level of automation, innovation, development of new products, and research. Technological changes include the new ways to produce services and goods, to distribute services and goods, and to target marketing by communicating with the suppliers and buyers.
• Environmental factors have been at the forefront recently. It has some importance because of the lack of raw materials, targeting carbon footprint, and pollution targets that have been set by the government. Some environmental and ecological aspects such as climate change and environmental offsets affect the construction industry by increasing the setting time of cement, which increases the time to complete projects (Qader, 2020).
• Legal factors include more specific enforced laws such as antitrust laws, discrimination laws, consumer protection laws, patent and copyright laws, safety and health laws, employment laws. Companies need to know the legal formats and not legal formats for trade globally and nationally. Each country sustains its own regulations which help in trade securely. It helps to be aware of the changes in the legislation and it also creates impacts on the business.

Porter’s five forces

A model which implies the rivalry rates of the company that calculate the rates of the risk in the market. It is constant across industries and firms. However, there are some factors that help to indicate the rates of the rival in the competitive market for the company. Those factors that help to calculate the rates are in number five and those are together called Porter's five forces. Those are supplier power, the threat of the substitutes, rivalry degree, power of buyer, and the threat from the new entrants (BAIDOO et al. 2018). Rivalry drives from the competitors that create problems for the organization in the international market.

 Porter 5 forces

(Source: self developed)

 Supplier power is high, it is defined as that supplier mainly concentrates on the volume importance of the company. Companies like Balfour Beatty have a high supplier power which makes the company one of the biggest in the UK market.

Threat of the substitutes is medium, this company does not possess a high threat from the substitutes because of the good price-performance in the market.

Riverly's degree is high because of its high industrial growth and brand identity. This company has a fixed valuation depending on the size of the project.

Power of the buyer is low because this company does not have any bargaining leverage, and less buyer volume (Chiwawa et al. 2021).

Threat from the new entrants is high because of its high brand identity which creates problems for the newcomers in the market. Create barriers in the market by the scale of economy and switching costs.

The main strategies of firms operating in the sector

Main strategy of Balfour Beatty is a very sustainable and responsible company that embodies the ambition to reduce the environmental footprint and have a sustainable and positive impact on every place of work. Sustainability provides a framework for a better future to achieve the goals. Zero waste generation is one of the most important strategies that have been followed by Balfour Beatty because waste has taken the shape of a threat to our environment which needs to be minimised as much as possible.

4. Research the organization

SWOT analysis

Table 3: SWOT Analysis

Source: Self Developed

Strength of the company is the available and high-quality workforce and this company provides a long-term tradition of projects. Balfour Beatty has regular client services which are strength to the company. Weakness is the trained personnel needed in this company. There is weak infrastructure and the investment cost is too high. There are high job opportunities in this company and the project valuation is high, as is the work productivity. Marketing threats for the company are too high, the market environment is not stable in this case means it is sometimes high sometimes down not in a particular state (Bozak et al. 2018). It is a big threat for the respective company. One more threat is the contract is short-term with the suppliers which are not a good sign.

Portfolio Analysis

Portfolio analysis is basically the written evidence that mentions the basic portfolio reports such as the strengths, productions, measurements of the performance of that particular company, risks, risk management strategies, attributes. The construction company of Balfour Beatty Plc is one of the biggest construction companies in the United Kingdom. In order to get access to the core performance measurement of the company, some key factors have been discussed.

Strength

As this is one of the biggest construction companies in the United Kingdom, therefore they have to manage a lot of things such as their employee efficiency, production flow, cash management, investment and many more. In this context, it can be said that their management system is their strength to manage their whole construction system and cash flow. Their next important strength is their knowledge of their subcontractors (Bozak et al. 2018). This knowledge provides them a brief idea about what to expect from them; what are their weaknesses and what are the strengths of them. This knowledge makes the process easier to guide them while working.

Risks and risk management strategies

Among all the risks in this construction company, the main important risk is managing the time. Delay in completion is the most prominent risk that the company is facing most of the time due to various reasons. In order to mitigate this risk, the company decides to focus on the factors that influence the delay such as transport issues, sudden deficiency in workers, legal issues and much more (Probohudono et al. 2020). Another important and regular issue that the company has to face is the sudden arrival of legal issues. As construction companies always work with plots, governmental or nongovernmental, these types of issues are very common in these fields.

Performance measurement

While measuring the performances of any construction company the first important point that has to be counted on is the efficiency of the workers. The Balfour Beatty Plc has high potential hiring criteria, so the efficiency and eligibility of the workers are also highly rated. This will rate the company toward a great performance rate. Another important factor that influences the performance rate of the company is the factor of cash flow or investment (Watts and Watts 2021). As, in this company the cash flow is fluent, so this factor also helps the company to improve their performance rate.

Impact of operational strategy to gain competitive advantage

In recent times there is a lot of competition in the market among the field of construction companies. Though there is a huge demand in the market for construction companies, in this highly competitive market it is quite difficult for any company to get success. In order to achieve a higher amount of success, they should follow several strategies. As per the view of BAIDOO and BOATENG (2018), this Balfour Beatty Plc company also follows some specific set of strategies to get and maintain their position in this competitive market.

Being picky about the types of projects

As this field is full of demand as well as competition, they need to be picky while choosing the project or tasks. While choosing or finalising a project the company always keeps the factors of consumers, markets and provided material, in their mind. This will help them to save themselves from future losses.

Hiring policy

In this company, Balfour Beatty Plc, one has to go through a difficult process to get employment. The success rate of any company depends on the products or labour, that have been provided by any company and this factor subsequently depends on the employees and their eligibility. Therefore, this tough hiring policy helps the company to get a better and more efficient set of employees.

Valuing the opinions of Employees

Another chief strategy this company follows is giving importance to the opinions and views of their subordinate employees. The workers are the ones who mainly deal with the working process directly, so they are the ones who can handle and provide better opinions about them. This strategy also helps them gain success and maintain their position in the market (SAENGWANG, and Chenaksara, 2021).

5. Consolidate your personal strategy

The above-mentioned analysis shows the strength, weaknesses, risks and performances of this Balfour Beatty Plc construction company. This report also identifies and indicates their used policies, strategies and important ideas that they have been used in order to gain success. Their useful strategies like carefully choosing the project, valuing workers' opinion and innovative policy like hiring policy, safety policy and such more helps them to maintain their position in the market (Qader, 2020).

SPEAR model

SPEAR Model

(Source: cpduk.co.uk, 2022)

By conducting this whole report, some factors have been identified which cultivation in oneself is helpful to get employment in this construction company. Some important behaviour need to be cultivated. As the factor of team handling is being noticed very important in this company so the good leadership quality is to be cultivated. There, in this company, most of the important tasks have been done by the IT team. Therefore, one should be an expert in the IT field to get employment in this construction company of Balfour Beatty Plc. In my opinion, in order to do so, one should focus on self-assessment. Having proper guidance is important in this context (cpduk.co.uk, 2022).

6. Conclusion

This report has been created in order to show the marketing strategy of a construction company that has implemented so many important strategies and techniques. All the strategies and methods that have been implemented, improved the overall business of the industry. Based on internal and external environment analysis, the company Balfour Beatty Plc is able to take steps and suitable decisions in many situations. Based on the strengths this industry is focusing on the opportunities in the global market of the construction industry. PESTEL analysis helps this industry to understand all the external environmental factors that are creating an impact in this industry. After analysing all the internal and external factors this industry has implemented a SPEAR model to control and manage many situations and conditions. All these discussions of this report are very helpful for improving the strategic management of Balfour Beatty Plc.

References

Book

Watts, G. and Watts, N., 2021. CPD in the Built Environment. Routledge.

Journal

Oyenuga, G., Law, M., Parbat, M. and Tofade, T., 2020. Implementing an Online Longitudinal Leadership Development Program Using a Leadership-Specific Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Tool. Pharmacy, 8(2), p.79.

Policy, I.I., 2020. INTERIM POLICY AND PROCEDURES FOR DEVELOPMENT AND APPROVAL OF THE COUNTRY PROGRAMME DOCUMENT (CPD). Policy.

Villalba-Diez, J., Ordieres-Mere, J., Molina, M., Rossner, M. and Lay, M., 2018. Lean dendrochronology: Complexity reduction by representation of kpi dynamics looking at strategic organizational design. Management and Production Engineering Review.

Ma, L., Kennedy, H., McCarthy, J., McGuckian, C., McInerney, A.M., Wyatt, E. and Hornung, E., 2019. Report on CPD (Continuing Professional Development) needs of librarians and information professionals in Ireland.

Qader, M.A., 2020. A TEACHERS’PERCEPTION OF CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT “CPD” EFFECTIVENESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN KURDISTAN. IJER-INDONESIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL REVIEW, 7(1), pp.28-38.

Qader, M.A., 2019. The Teachers’ perception of Continuous Professional Development “CPD” effectiveness in Higher Education in Kurdistan. IJER (Indonesian Journal of Educational Research), 4(1), pp.6-13.

BAIDOO, D.K. and BOATENG, M.S., 2018. NEW SKILLS REQUIRED BY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: A CASE STUDY OF THE CARNEGIE CPD PROGRAMME. CONSORTIUM OF ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES IN GHANA (CARLIGH), p.130.

Chiwawa, N., Wissink, H. and Fox, W., 2021. Strategic management practices in organisations with specific reference to the public sector. Africa’s Public Service Delivery & Performance Review, 9(1), p.9.

Bozak, A., Karadag, M. and Bolat, Y., 2018. The Efficiency of Administrative CPD Courses towards School Managers. International Journal of Higher Education, 7(2), pp.234-246.

Probohudono, A.N., Ahmad, R.A.R., Pambudi, I.K. and Chayati, N., 2020. Corporate Philanthropy Disclosure of State-Owned Enterprises in Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Sustainability Accounting and Management, 4(2), pp.214-226.

El Najm, M., 2020. Strategies to enhance Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program for registered nurses in United Arab Emirates (UAE): a mixed method study (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria).

Mwila, K., Namuchana, M., Lufungulo, E.S. and Chinemerem, O.G., 2022. TEACHERS’CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC): A REVIEW OF POLICIES, APPROACHES AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES IN ENHANCING TEACHER COMPETENCES. Continuing Professional Development (CPD), 5(01).

Jackson, C. and Manley, K., 2022. Contemporary Challenges of Nursing CPD: Time to change the model to meet citizens’ needs. Nursing Open, 9(2), pp.880-891.

DeBoskey, D.G. and Luo, Y., 2018. Recent trends in corporate political disclosure for a sample of S&P 500 firms: a new and emerging corporate disclosure area. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 15(3), pp.176-184.

SAENGWANG, C. and Chenaksara, N., 2021. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOWARDS LEARNING ORGANIZATION IN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE (Doctoral dissertation, Silpakorn University).

Website

hl.co.uk, 2022 Company Information - Balfour Beatty plc (BBY) - Hargreaves ... available at https://www.hl.co.uk [accessed on 20^th March, 2022]

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk, 2022 BALFOUR BEATTY PLC overview - Find and update company available at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk [accessed on 20^th March, 2022]