ENS5543 Engineering Management: Business Plan Analysis and Comparison

This report provides an in-depth analysis of two business plans: Laing O'Rourke and ADCO Construction. It begins with an introduction to business plans and then presents detailed profiles of both companies, including their vision, mission, and goals. The report examines their market research, operational strategies, products and services, marketing plans, and financial strategies. It identifies the strongest and weakest components of each plan and offers a comparative analysis. Finally, the report provides recommendations for improvement, discusses competencies demonstrated, challenges faced, and lessons learned, concluding with a summary of the key findings and references.

Running head: ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Engineering Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note
Course ID

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Business Profile:.........................................................................................................................2
Vision Mission and Goals:.........................................................................................................3
Market Research:.......................................................................................................................4
Operational Strategy:.................................................................................................................4
Products and Services:...............................................................................................................5
Marketing Plan:..........................................................................................................................7
Financial Strategy:.....................................................................................................................8
Three Strongest Component of Each business plan:..................................................................9
Three weakest components of each plan:.................................................................................10
Comparison and contrast between the two business plans:.....................................................11
Recommendations for improvement........................................................................................12
Competencies Demonstrated:...................................................................................................12
Challenges Faced:....................................................................................................................13
Lessons learnt:..........................................................................................................................13
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................14
References:...............................................................................................................................15

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Introduction:
A business plan is viewed as planned instrument for businesspersons. A decent
business plan not only allows the businesspersons to emphasize on the particular phases that
are essential to make their business ideas successful but it also enables them to attain both
their short-term and long-term objects (Johnson, 2016). This report will be highlighting two
business namely the ADCO construction and Laing O’Rourke. The report will be focussing
on the strength and weakness of the business on the basis of their connected fields. Besides
this the two business plans will be compared and a recommendation will be offered to
improve the areas where the business is falling behind.
Business Profile:
Laing O’Rourke
Laing O’Rourke is a privately held business and was started in the year 1978. This
corporation is a global enterprise of engineering with its processes in Australia, Middle East
and Europe as well. Over the last ten years, the business has operated successfully in
Australia, UK and Middle East by working both on the small and large construction, repairs
and modification projects emphasizing on the housing contracting (Laing O'Rourke, 2020).
With prosperous business that is taking place in the local area and the aspiration of improving
the profitability, the business is looking forward to shift from housing clients to large
commercial clients. Laing O’Rourke started in 1978 and the company has successfully bid for
large scale projects.
ADCO Construction
ADCO Construction on the other hand, is a privately held corporation which was
established in the year 1972. The company is responsible for employing greater than five
hundred people and concentrates over building construction (ADCO, 2020). To attain the

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business goals, ADCO Construction is making investment in several manners which will pay
off in competitive advantage to its consumers. The all-purpose plan of the company is
constantly improving the procedure of setting the goals, evaluating the outcomes and offering
feedback to initiate additional future development and growth.
Vision Mission and Goals:
Laing O’Rourke
Laing O’Rourke mission is to provide its customers with premium quality design, site
preparation, cost estimation, construction, repair and modification as per the needs of clients
for construction services of large scale, whether it is an office building, warehouses, large
residential complexes etc. The vision of Laing O’Rourke is to expand its commercial and
office building contractual market by improving the profitability and enlarging the market
share (Kirzner, 2015). The main goal of the company is to secure the large scale marketable
agreements in the span of three years and increasing its consumer base in other geographical
areas to obtain adequate level of profits.
ADCO Construction
ADCO Construction has the mission of offering quality service at the competitive
rate. The vision of the business is to quickly expand the market alliance with the industry
leaders and look forward to new sales service for residential and commercial builders. The
main goal of ADCO Construction is to make use of direct sales force, relationship selling and
subcontractors to extend its marketplaces (Venkataraman, 2019). The goal of the company is
to take advantage of on the concrete construction projects associations by securing city, state,
country and contracts of central government.

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Market Research:
Laing O’Rourke
The housing market of Australia is booming presently. Over last ten years the overall
growth of business has been around around 9.5% and it is anticipated to carry on for a
minimum of next five years. As a result, this is an good-looking market for Laing O’Rourke.
The company after conducting marketing research has decided to emphasize on the customers
that would offer highest margin and would target those customers that have the desire for
office building construction (Burns, 2016). This is viewed as fastest rising segments for all
the commercial clients that needs the service of Laing O’Rourke. The other categories would
comprise of restaurant and special facilities segments, together with segments that have
probable commercial customers.
ADCO Construction
In the last decade the housing industry has attained at a faster rate. A record was set in
2018 where 886,000 newly constructed single family houses were sold. This constitute a gain
of 10% in sales of 804,000 homes that were sold in 2017. An overall 8.1% increase from the
earlier record of 819,000 units were sold in 2016. The construction of single family houses
stood $48 million of the overall $125 million revenue that was produced from the industry
(Burns & Dewhurst, 2016). This constitute an outstanding opening to enlarge the ADCO
Construction business processes and obtain a noteworthy market share in its targeted primary
market.
Operational Strategy:
Laing O’Rourke:
The operational philosophy of Laing O’Rourke is entirely based on responsibility and
mutual respect. Laing O’Rourke would place its emphasis on coordinating all its project

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management and would focus on cost control, daily project supervision, suppliers and labour
relations. The business employs an office manager that will be responsible for management
of customer satisfaction, billing and accounting record keeping (Kuratko, 2016). The
company also employs superintendents that is be accountable for direct supervision of all its
work at the construction site, planning subcontractors and material distributions. The
operational plan of the business includes verifying and making sure that all the work is done
in agreement with the plans.
ADCO Construction:
ADCO Construction would upholds an operational environment and structure which
promotes the production and respect its consumers as well as its fellow employees. The
operational strategy includes the responsibility towards its employees, men and women that
work with the company across the state. The operational strategy includes adherence with
regulatory compliance and contributing towards higher safety standards (Barringer, 2015).
Monitoring of workplaces, encouraging safety working practices and communicating the
safety performance of the company among the employees and other stakeholders. The
management of ADCO Construction would also include assistants and part-time accountants.
At ADCO Construction employees is encouraged to have the greater sense of safety and pride
in their works (Daspit et al., 2017). The employees would also be free to make suggestion
and complaints. An equal prospect for development, employment and advancement of the
qualified employees.
Products and Services:
Laing O’Rourke:
Laing O’Rourke provides its customers with comprehensive package of service that is
intended to enable the clients to work with one of its managers and build a project which the

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company can take forward towards completion (Heizer et al., 2017). A certain number of the
countless services offered by Laing O’Rourke are as follows;
a. Design work
b. Permitting
c. Carpentry
d. Site preparation
e. Remodelling and modifications
f. Cement foundations
g. Asset management
h. Subcontractor assessment and evaluation
i. Plumbing and utilities installation
j. Painting
ADCO Construction:
The ADCO Construction system can be adapted in any construction condition that
wants forming. The skilled workforce of the corporation possess the capability of designing
and manufacturing any tradition constituent or decoration that might be needed to complete
the formwork package. The proprietors, building managers, designers, general servicers and
concrete subcontractors have recognized substantial amount of savings in labour and material
cost by making use of structural contours construction procedures, systems and equipment
(Read et al., 2016). The application comprises of commercial and housing structures,
educational projects, civil projects, recreational projects, tunnels, utility projects and virtually
all other form of concrete construction.
The ADCO Construction business framework will offer its customers with major
advances, broad adaptableness and high strength to weigh ratio at the cost effective prices.

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Assembly would be quick and easy (Reid & Sanders, 2019). ADCO Construction would
recommend its customers with a safety precautionary measures, occasional examination for
bolts and nuts that might have untied from treatment.
Marketing Plan:
Laing O’Rourke:
Laing O’Rourke looks forward to market itself with the help of wide range of
procedures. At first the company would make use of referral system with the local businesses.
The company would also air radio spots and publish the advertisement in wide variety of
commercial construction trade magazines (Cooper, 2017). In addition to this, Laing
O’Rourke would also leverage its pre-existing contacts with local real estate companies.
Finally, as the associate of local construction the company would update on the new project
that is let out for bidding purpose.
The sales strategy of Laing O’Rourke involves project preparation, supply schedules,
subcontractors, presentation and other factors that is considered important in contracts for
Laing O’Rourke in winning the agreements. The company is be planning a standardized
methodology for executing all its agreements with greater emphasis will be paid in quality,
properness and lower cost of outbidding its competitors.
ADCO Construction:
The marketing strategy of ADCO Construction is to take advantage of on the
Concrete Installation alliances by safeguarding the city, country and federal contracts. ADCO
Construction looks forward to make use of direct sales force, subcontractors and association
selling to reach its market (Haksever & Render, 2017). These networks are considered
suitable due to the time of market, lower capital requirements and quicker access to set up a

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distribution channels. The overall marketing plan of ADCO Construction is based on the
following;
a. The segment of markets planned by the company to reach
b. The channel of distribution that ADCO Construction has planned to use to reach the
market segment involves radio, television, sales associates and mail order.
c. Press releases will be sent to chief radio stations, newspapers and magazines.
d. Radio advertisement on the secondary stations.
Financial Strategy:
Laing O’Rourke:
The company’s financial projection is based on the next three years. The company
looks forward to make a significant increase in the profit and also requires time to penetrate
into the new market (Morden, 2016). The breakeven analysis is mainly based on the average
monthly fixed costs that is mainly based on the historical figures in relation to the average
price of the product. The average variable cost for Laing O’Rourke is simply based on the
industry standards. The projections in the profit and loss provides the best estimation of
future revenues and costs that is based on the present market trends, past performances and
perceived revenue of its new target market (Lipset, 2018). The readers would notice that the
overall profit of the company is very low for the forecasted three-year period and the
company estimates that it will be paying higher costs to its labour. The business anticipates
that by itself with the adequate cash reserves, it estimates a noteworthy rise in profitability
inside the span of five years.
ADCO Construction:
The initial projections of ADCO Construction have been made on the basis of
accounts which is believed largely to drive the income statement. The projection of cash flow

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statement, profit and loss account is made by the company. The breakeven analysis takes into
the account the fixed cost and variable costs involved in the project. The company anticipates
to be profitable in the first year of its operations (Hitt & Duane Ireland, 2017). Even though
the initial outlays in cash promotes sales, the cash account of the business is anticipated to
remain healthy. The business anticipates to generate the sales revenue of 1.5 million dollars
by the third year of its operation.
Three Strongest Component of Each business plan:
Laing O’Rourke:
a. The strongest component of Laing O’Rourke is its brand image that will be formed
among the customers (Steiss, 2019). As the brand image of the company is great it
aims to deliver its product at a given point of time
b. The company has a well-established system of distribution with the help of its direct
market. It has the effective promotional strategy that is done by the dedicated team of
marketing (Cooper & Folta, 2017). With well-established system of distribution there
is a likelihood of increased lean construction to be implemented successfully.
c. The company has adopted computerised machines for security purpose. The
allocation of work force is technically carried out by skilled superiors. The large
volume of construction that is undertaken each year has enabled the company to get a
better understanding of the technology and construction management in a meaningful
manner.
ADCO Construction:
a. The strength of the company is vested in its lower cost of goods which offers value of
money (Meyer et al., 2017). With lower cost it has abundant and cheap manpower
that are very hardworking.

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b. Availability of cheaper and large amount of construction materials with strong
support from government allows the company expand in the booming residential
market. The strength additionally coincides with the widespread practices in the
construction market since contract are usually awarded to lower price bidders
(Lasserre, 2017).
c. The business has the database of qualified suppliers, vendors and subcontractors.
Their total number of working partners are increasing. There is also a prevalent
availability of sourcing strategy that makes sure the company has sufficient amount of
material supply and equipment even after one supplier fails to satisfy the requirements
(Siegel & Wright, 2015). This allows the other suppliers to be quickly counted as
back up.
Three weakest components of each plan:
Laing O’Rourke:
a. The weakest component of the business is changes in the price of raw material. The
changes in the price of raw material makes it completely difficult for the company to
place emphasis on the pricing strategy (Heath, 2018). As a result of this, there is also
an added difficulty in fixing price with the vendors.
b. Complex registration procedure is yet another weakest component of the company.
Presently, the complex procedure of registration takes more amount of time which
may result in added delay in process (Rothaermel, 2017). The business has a weaker
sourcing activities as well.
c. The weakness of Laing O’Rourke is its relatively lower management capacity. The
company presently suffers from the lack of experience to handle the sophisticated
project procurement. It has lower ability of creating financial solutions for its clients
and relatively suffers from lower ability of managing its sophisticated projects.

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ADCO Construction:
a. In spite of the business strength ADCO Construction suffers from some notable
weaknesses. The company suffers from the short-term orientation of firm culture. The
company might take the lowest price to offer from the present available suppliers
without taking into the account whether to set up a long-term relationship with them
(Ansoff et al., 2018).
b. Another weakness that is suffered by the business is its hierarchical structure
(Johnson, 2016). The ADCO Construction hierarchical organizational structure results
in discourage empowerment.
c. The business suffers from the lower awareness of lean construction concept amid the
practitioners which is yet another problem not only amid the construction companies
but also amid the suppliers, subcontractors and clients. The main reason for this is that
they might not be aware regarding the concept and related lean tools however in
reality they are really practicing certain underlying principles.
Comparison and contrast between the two business plans:
Comparison:
a. As evident from the above analysis it is understood that both the companies have
undertaken the help of media to advertise its products and service among the
customers which reflects a better understanding of marketing (Hill, 2017).
b. The financial strategy of the both the construction company is simply based on
increasing the profitability through increase in sales by bidding contracts at lower
value.
Contrast:

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a. As apparent from the marketing strategy of Laing O’Rourke it has highly emphasized
to channel its product through wide means of marketing in the radio and television.
While ADCO Construction focuses on word to mouth advertisement and has placed
its emphasis on marketing plans with limited strategies.
b. The business plan of Laing O’Rourke is very specific and organized in a proper
manner which demonstrates the outcome of its assumptions. While ADCO
Construction business plan tends to miss out on certain aspects namely the
responsibilities of the management as this can have a strong influence on the business
and portrays insufficient research.
Recommendations for improvement
Laing O’Rourke
a. If the business clearly understands and is able to identify the strength, weakness,
opportunities and threats then it can automatically enhance its growth in the market
and have better reputation among the minds of customer
b. If the business is successful in increasing its resources and managing its time
properly, then it will be successful in increasing the productivity level.
ADCO Construction
a. The business should make a qualitative and quantitative goals with strong service
policies.
b. The business should improve the safety measures for the employees that are working
under the production site. It should also improve the latest technologies and software
to make the work easy.
Competencies Demonstrated:
While completing the assignment I have demonstrated the below stated competencies

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a. Understanding of business scope, principles and responsibilities:
I am able to express this competency with the of my understanding in engineering
business management, adequate planning and sustainable resource management.
b. Understanding of contextual factors affecting engineering discipline
I have successfully demonstrated the competency by evaluating the business plans of
both the companies that offer products and services in engineering field and the manner in
which their product would affect the customers.
c. Oral and written communication
I have successfully demonstrated this competency by using my own ideas regarding
the business plans and management with the help of this report in the engineering and
construction industry.
Challenges Faced:
The challenges faced by me was understanding the financial projections of both the
business as it involved balance sheet, cash flow, break-even analysis and profit and loss
account. As an engineering student it was difficult for me to obtain much knowledge in
finance.
Lessons learnt:
The following lesson that I have learned from this assessment;
a. Business plans has greater importance in attracting the investors.
b. A good business plan should evaluate the threat apart from evaluating the market
conditions.
c. A good business plan must have a realistic and achievable goals.

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d. A good business should have strong marketing components for making customer
aware about its products.
e. A good business should have robust managerial skills for long term growth of the
business.
Conclusion:
Conclusively, the most important fundamental laws of business are having a strategic
focus and setting priorities. A business plan must be formal and must have achievable targets.
A business plan carried out in a correct way helps in obtaining a better picture as a whole and
helps in developing accountability as well as strategic alignment.

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