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.
Trends in Construction Contractor Financial Data
The purpose of this technical note is to describe the results of a study investigating trends in contractor financial data to help predict their likelihood of experiencing a claim. Financial statements of 87 contractors (36 claim and 51 nonclaim) were obtained from four companies underwriting construction contract surety bonds. A claim contractor is defined as one that defaulted on a bond, many times requiring the surety to pay a loss. A nonclaim contractor is defined as one that has not defaulted on a surety bond during the period for which financial data was supplied. The described trends can assist construction industry professionals by providing them with quantitative values of financial variables for both claim and nonclaim contractors.
Movement toward a predominantly electronic journal collection
Purpose – To address the UNLV Libraries movement toward a predominantly electronic journal collection including evaluation of library collection and reevaluation of organizational structure, staff resources and workflow to find the best ways to provide library users with timely and reliable access to electronic resources.Design/methodology/approach – A range of UNLV Libraries initiatives in building and managing electronic resources is described to demonstrate how the library moved from a predominantly print environment to a predominantly electronic environment. The paper consists of sections: development of the electronic resources collection, reengineering acquisitions/periodicals, new responsibilities and new skills, next steps, and conclusion.Findings – Since 1999, the composition of the Libraries journal collection has been dramatically changed. The percentage of print‐only subscriptions decreased from 59 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 2004, while electronic journals jumped from 35 percent to 75 pe...