All we hear lately is that we have to be bigger to survive. But is it true?

It seems that not a week goes by without a headline proclaiming that one of our established independent companies has been  taken over, primarily by the big American engineers. How are those that remain going to get a piece of the action, what with their competitors becoming part of 50,000 strong world conquerors?

In a conversation last week, I was given the example by one British CEO of the case where a major world client asked for 2000 people on the ground the following week in order to win a major project. He cited this as the reason we all needed to get bigger. Whilst his example might have some truth in it, it is a bit like the analogy that because one dog bites, all dogs bite.  Not true.

It takes all sorts to make a world, especially in construction, and I believe that SME’s sit nicely into the mix. We are big enough to do the biggish jobs of say up to £200m, which any of the big boys would be happy to win, and small enough to give the personal touch.

With privately owned SME’s clients have the reassurance that someone who owns and runs the company is personally responsible for it. I know our clients like this. I know I would if I was a client, especially on a frameworks and where I was trying to build up relationships. I know SME’s are competitive too. There is not a great big lumbering machine to feed with all the overheads needed to run properly. SME’s are typically flexible and efficient and can be innovative and creative. I know we are.

So is bigger better, maybe in some instances on a world scale but when you get down to the human level, I don’t think so. Time will tell. As we all know , it’s not how big it is but what you do with it that counts!