Winner: Beca
Beca, an employee-owned multidisciplinary engineering consultancy that has almost doubled its annual international revenue to $118 million since 2006, has won the Judges’ Supreme Award for International Business in the New Zealand International Business Awards 2009. Beca also won the award for the Best Business Operating Internationally over $50 million.
Founded over 90 years ago, Beca has grown from a small three person practice to a company successfully competing for business globally, with more than 2,500 employees in 20 offices across the world.
The company operates from three main hubs in New Zealand, Australia and Asia, designing and supervising engineering projects worth billions of dollars annually. It works in four key markets – industrial, infrastructure, buildings and management services, with its staff of dedicated planners, engineers, architects, project and cost managers able to work as an integrated team on projects around the world. Clients range from government departments and public bodies to commerce, industry and private individuals.
Richard Aitken, Chair and formerChief Executive, says Beca ventured into international markets in the late 1960s mainly because of a need to diversify the business and help offset the cyclical nature of the New Zealand economy. Today international revenues account for about 40 percent of annual turnover and have fuelled the rapid growth of the business over the past three years as it capitalised on buoyant times for engineering globally.
“That environment has changed in recent times with the global financial crisis,” says Mr Aitken, “but with most nations around the world saying they are going to spend their way out of this recession through infrastructure spending, there are still new and exciting project opportunities for Beca to pursue. We recently secured a part on the consortium that will build Melbourne’s A$3.5 billion desalination plant – that’s a great project for us.”
Establishing partnerships and joint venture companies with multinational organisations is an important business strategy for Beca, one that Chief Executive Keith Reynolds says extends the breadth and reach of its expertise.
He says Beca is not ‘deal driven’, instead it seeks long term relationships with clients and partners and has relationships dating back decades.
These include a relationship with New Zealand Steel, now Bluescope Steel, who has been a Beca client for 30 years. Similarly, it has worked for Lion Nathan even longer in a relationship that allowed Beca to gain a foothold in China when Lion expanded into that country. Long term clients in Singapore include property development and investment companies with whom Beca now works across Asia.
“In the current situation we have to be extra vigilant with strengthening our client relationships,” explains Mr Reynolds. “It is imperative that we are nimble, have a clear focus and make sure not to drop the ball while times are tougher. Clients globally are even more focused on the value proposition and we have to be able to clearly illustrate that.”
Mr Reynolds says Beca staff often do “pretty smart things” as part of their day job, and promoting and nurturing the innovation that exists within the business is a priority. He says a key differentiator is that Beca is wholly employee owned, which promotes a culture of excellence and accountability.
“Above everything else, Beca is a people business. Our successful track record can be attributed to our pool of talented and committed people who are passionate about making a difference around the world.
“We want to be known as innovative and reliable and able to bring creative solutions to the table that clients perceive as valuable. We are fortunate that we can bring some of the best New Zealand talent and brains to challenges and enrich that with our extensive international experience. We are talking international best practice in what we offer.”
For further information
Jane Findlay, Communications Advisor, Beca, 09 300 9118, jane.findlay@beca.com, www.beca.com
Ann Clifford, Corporate Communications Manager, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, 04 816 8321, 027 283 3858, ann.clifford@nzte.govt.nz
