Marketing analysis - industries, trends and competition - Thesis Example

(Charles, 100) Some of the services offered by contractors are professional services that have been traditionally offered by A/E consultants for a long time. A/E consultants, faced with contractors taking away a large slice of the professional service pie, must defend their market shares, and expand their service base. This expansion will require A/H consultants to add new non-traditional services specifically tailored to the front end and back ends of M. Charles. Congress Approves New Design/Build Law.

(Civil Engineering 2006) Pg100. the project cycles. Services in these segments include financing assistance, permitting, regulatory assistance, life cycle cost analysis, operation and maintenance (O&M) and renovation services. Marketing professional and construction services in the new millennium is not a simple task anymore. Architects in the past have relied heavily on their reputation and name recognition to get jobs. Consulting engineers relied on the 80/20 rule (80 percent of business comes from 20 percent of clients), to drum-up business, and general contractors fell back on low bids in competitive bidding.

(Friednian, 173) These techniques have worked in the past. However, recent shift in the project delivery system, and advancement in communication technology, necessitate that corporations look closely at their marketing efforts in the 21st Century. As general contractors move into the professional service arena, they seize market shares from A/E consultants. A/E consultants must react in any of the following three ways. They must reinforce existing market niche (services and clients). Develop marketing plans focused on client's retention (holding to market shares).

Restructure their organizations to offer flexibility in the people and services (new services). The US construction market is a sizable lucrative market, and presents unique opportunities for foreign firms to set up local subsidiaries to actively pursue work. There Friednian, W. Construction Marketing and Strategic Planning. McGraw-Hill, Inc., NY. 2004, Pg172-173. are indications that foreign firms have successfully penetrated the heavy civil and highways public works markets in California, Massachusetts, and Florida.

Forensic Construction Forensic construction involves the utilization of science in making decisions for legal disputes about buildings that have been constructed; chiefly involve the kind and quality of the building material, style and labor job. (Humphreys, 02) The design/build method, at-risk construction management, and the build-operate transfer (BOT) methods, have emerged as innovative alternatives to the competitive bidding method to deliver projects on time and on budget. This has resulted in a major shift in project delivery, challenging the conventional thinking, revolutionizing procurement of projects, and redefining the construction process.

Trends for the 21st century are: Paradigm shift in the project delivery system. Refocus on the front end and back ends of project cycle. The construction market is becoming a service marketplace, rather than a commodity marketplace. Emphasis on life cycle costs (LCC), and total costs of a project. K, Humphreys.K. Jelen's Cost and Optimization Engineering, McCraw Hill, Inc., NY. 2008. Pg 1-2. Emphasis on value of