Opus International Consultants has come a long way from its parental origins – the Ministry of Works and Development – to become the country’s leading engineering, architecture, planning and property management consultancy, achieving record revenue of $217 million in 2005, of which 20 per cent was derived from exports.
Based in Wellington and with offices in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, Opus provides innovative and specialist services to a wide range of public and private sector clients on a diverse range of projects. These include, for example, asset management of thousands of kilometres of New Zealand’s and Western Australia’s highways and road networks, underwater structural engineering investigation work on major bridges on the River Thames and infrastructure upgrading for the London Underground in the UK.
Dr Kevin Thompson, Chief Executive for Opus, says the skills and capability the company has developed over decades working in New Zealand have been instrumental in building the business internationally. A key strength is its road asset management capability, a niche in which he says New Zealand is regarded as a world leader.
“With a population of just over four million, New Zealand is a relatively small global economy, but its transport infrastructure is relatively large because of its geography,” he says. “We’ve had to get quite smart over the years in the ways we manage transport assets and we’ve developed many innovative techniques which we are now successfully taking offshore.
“We particularly chose the three ‘established’ overseas countries we operate in as they are recognising the benefits of good asset management, compared to the developing world where the key focus is on first constructing new infrastructure,” says Dr Thompson. “Selecting English speaking, culturally attuned countries was made on the basis that we needed to make exporting our services as easy as possible, given we had an expectation that simply building a foreign foot-hold was going to be difficult.”
Some of the high profile international projects Opus is currently involved in are the upgrading of the London Underground Piccadilly Line stations, including the preservation of many heritage sites; specialist water management services in Western Australia, and advice for the Trans-Canada Expressway development and the British Columbia highway privatisation programme.
Opus has increased export revenue from $12 million in 2003 to more than $37 million in 2005, and Dr Thompson says it’s the international business opportunities that will help the company achieve its target of at least doubling its size between 2001 and 2007. Opus is also planning to become a publicly listed company by the end of 2007 and Dr Thompson says this will further accelerate their growth.
Currently Opus is focused on growing its business in existing markets through a strategy of organic growth and more importantly, through a programme of mergers and acquisitions with locally-based businesses, leveraging off their local knowledge, skills and market recognition.
“We see acquisition as an excellent way of expanding, so long as we select the right companies, ensuring that both the business and its values are appropriately aligned with Opus.”
Presently Opus has over 1800 staff in four countries, operating through 58 offices, including 300 staff in 18 offices throughout Australia, Canada and the UK.
“One of our key strengths is our ‘local office’ model,” explains Dr Thompson. “Based on its success in New Zealand, we’re applying this model internationally, operating multiple, small, locally focused offices, where similar competitors have typically only one to two large, impersonal offices.
“Each Opus office has a large degree of delegated authority and clients know and appreciate that they are working with local people at a local office with the ability to “make things happen”. At the same time they know each office is backed by the global network that Opus provides and this gives them an added sense of security.”
Technology is critical to the smooth running of the Opus network and so is personal contact. Senior managers regularly move across international borders and meet with clients.
“Nothing beats this face-to-face contact,” says Dr Thompson. “Without trying to sound clichéd, Opus is very much about its people and we put a lot of effort into that. We’ve got to; our people are our particular strength and our marketing point of difference.”
Dr Thompson’s advice to would-be New Zealand exporters is to focus on a niche where you do really well and find a business model that is transportable and repeatable. Also ensure that there is sufficient support and systems behind it ‘back home’ to make it work, and that you understand the cultural ‘minutiae’ of the country you are targeting.
“That’s what Opus has done,” he says. “While we face ongoing challenges, from acquisitions to fluctuating currencies, there is also a huge potential for us globally.”
Image: Dr Kevin Thompson, CEO, Opus.
Contact:
Richard Silcock,Marketing Services & Corporate Communications ManagerOpus International ConsultingPhone: +64 4 471 7047Email: richard.silcock@opus.co.nzWebsite: www.opus.co.nz
Cheryl DudfieldMarketing & Communications Co-ordinatorOpus International ConsultingPhone: +64 4 471 7067Email: cheryl.dudfield@opus.co.nzWebsite: www.opus.co.nz
The Export Awards are proudly sponsored by DHL
newzealand.govt.nz - connecting you to New Zealand central & local government services
© 2003-2008 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
