Enhancing financial success among electrical contractors
This paper provides electrical contractors with significant information related to enhancing company financial performance. The methodology involves understanding the determinants of contractor financial success through: (1) an extensive literature review; (2) collection of financial- and management-related data from electrical contractors; and (3) analysis of data to identify management trends that are more prevalent in profitable firms. Ninety-six usable responses were collected from small, medium, and larger electrical contracting companies. General trends reveal that more profitable firms place greater emphasis in the areas of certain management initiatives (higher lines of credit and supporting continuing education), marketing initiatives (involvement in formal alliances and partnering), and technology initiatives related to spending more capital resources on computers and software. Significant differences are revealed with financial ratios as well. A Financial Success Scorecard is created for firms to compare their management inputs to those of successful firms. Findings from this study could provide helpful guidelines for nonelectrical contracting firms. Recommendations for achieving future financial success are also provided.
Marketing in the construction industry: State of knowledge and current trends
Construction enterprises are aware of the importance of involving marketing in their management functions as a way to adapt themselves not only to the continuous changes in the industry, but also to satisfy their clients’ demands, while being competitive and improving their business strategy. This paper shows the results of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the state of the art of marketing in the construction industry. The study was conducted through a literature search, with subsequent processing and analysis of the papers found. Despite the efforts made in the last decade, it is difficult to generalize how to apply marketing in construction companies, due to the special features of this sector. Nevertheless, there is a range of possible strategies that could be used by construction companies, and once they know their clients’ needs they will be able to choose what strategies to apply. Research gaps such as marketing implementation, marketing differentiation according to the type of clients, and application of information technologies are proposed.
The Earth's Angular Momentum Budget on Subseasonal Time Scales
Irregular length of day (LOD) fluctuations on time scales of less than a few years are largely produced by atmospheric torques on the underlying planet. Significant coherence is found between the respective time series of LOD and atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) determinations at periods down to 8 days, with lack of coherence at shorter periods caused by the declining signal-to-measurement noise ratios of both data types. Refinements to the currently accepted model of tidal Earth rotation variations are required, incorporating in particular the nonequilibrium effect of the oceans. The remaining discrepancies between LOD and AAM in the 100- to 10-day period range may be due to either a common error in the AAM data sets from different meteorological centers, or another component of the angular momentum budget.