Think local, manage global is the modern way. So where does consultancy and engineering stand on Europe? Nelson Ogunshakin wants to know your views.

As I sat in the middle of ACE’s 2015 International Conference, listening to the leaders of our industry explain their views on the future, I was reminded of John F Kennedy’s comments on risk. He stated “there are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.” This quote seemed to me to sum up the reality of the choice facing the infrastructure engineering community. Embrace the emerging new global market place or else slowly decline.

Globalisation has made our world a little smaller, creating more opportunities for us to work on more projects in more parts of the world than ever before, but it has also overturned old certainties and established western engineering firms can no longer rely on past glories to win future work.

"How are we to interpret the conflicting views that the globe is increasingly integrating with the political currents pushing the UK to the European exit? Political uncertainty and risk seem to have gone up and will not come down again until the results of the referendum are known."

To compete in this new world engineering companies must have a truly global outlook that allows them to recruit talent wherever it can be found and to build partnerships in a wide range of local and regional markets. Some firms will choose to expand and provide a corporate global presence to meet this challenge but this is not the only way to thrive in this new market as alliances with likeminded companies can be equally effective at delivering for clients.

As in all things, knowledge is power. The  secret to success in a global competitive market place  lies in being able to access local knowledge so that risks and opportunities can be effectively assessed and projects completed efficiently. Engineers need certainty due to the long timescales of the projects that they work on and so an understanding of the political and legal environment, cultural framework and business practice of a particular market is vital.

This can only be gained from local practitioners and so companies need to ensure that they have ways of accessing this information before they enter a new market. Certainty lowers risk and thus increases profitability. Think global and manage local seems to be the key strapline for any successful business.

The irony of all of this was that as we all sat listening to this vision unfold the UK had just emerged from the most uncertain election in modern British history. We now know that the phantom fears that gripped us about hung parliaments and vast coalitions were nothing more than mirages as a Conservative majority government was elected. No sooner, however, did one uncertainty fade but another quickly took its place as David Cameron announced that the UK would be holding a referendum on the future of the UK’s membership of the European Union by 2017.

How are we to interpret the conflicting views that the globe is increasingly integrating with the political currents pushing the UK to the European exit? Political uncertainty and risk seem to have gone up and will not come down again until the results of the referendum are known.

Just as in any other market an understanding of the political, legal and cultural landscape will be key to navigating through these troubled waters. Just because the UK is our home country does not mean we should approach our political environment any differently than we would a foreign market. Building alliances of likeminded stakeholders and seeking to influence governmental actors will be vital in the coming years and ACE has begun the process.

I have recently asked ACE members to take part in an EU survey so that we can understand the importance of EU membership to their businesses as the first stage in developing our position on the referendum. The CBI and the IOD have both come out calling for business to be at the heart of the “In Campaign” and we as an industry must decide how we will approach this important issue.

Yes, there may be costs to our actions but we have no choice but to embrace them if we are to continue to be a growing and profitable industry, and avoid the long range risks JFK spoke of through comfortable inaction.    

Nelson Ogunshakin is chief executive of the Association for Consultancy & Engineering