FMI Quarterly

2020 Q4

2021 and Beyond: Why Operational Excellence Matters

2020 has been incredibly difficult due to the pandemic, economic recession and many other COVID-19-related disruptions to everyday life and commerce.

Featured Article: Get Lean and Mean: Preparing for 2021 and Beyond

What does increased competition mean for your business? How will you become more competitive?

Four Ways to Optimize Talent in Uncertain Times

Tips for effectively assessing your current labor pool, making the necessary adjustments and preparing for future success.

Why Focusing on Your Company Vision Still Matters

Watching, waiting and ignoring changes until the COVID-19 pandemic is over isn’t going to work. Here’s why.

2020 Q3

Reset and Respond: Leading Through COVID-19 and the Next Normal

This issue of the FMI Quarterly aims to help leaders and managers understand, contextualize and arm themselves with useful tools and new ways of thinking during this time of extraordinary change.

Featured Article: How to Develop an Effective Strategic Decision-Making Framework

Companies that avoid a nearsighted view and take a holistic view of new market opportunities will be best positioned to succeed in 2021 and beyond.

Agile Leadership: Five Capabilities Needed in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Learn from industry leaders on how you can start building agility today to position your company effectively for future “black swan” events like the global pandemic.

Fleet Management Dynamics in a Post-Pandemic World

Following best practices in fleet management can mitigate key challenges and create a competitive advantage for companies that maintain a high level of fleet performance.

How to Win in an Uncertain Heavy Civil Construction Market

How heavy and highway construction contractors can use good insights, facts and forecasting tools to pave the way to future success (in any market conditions).

Ownership and Succession Planning During and After the Storm

Building momentum for effective ownership transfer and management succession both during and after the crisis.

Playing to Win: How to Drive Growth Through Differentiation

Differentiation is all about value, which represents those things that a customer is willing to pay a bit more for.

Strategies for Strengthening Resilience in a VUCA World

The business environment can change overnight, presenting daunting, unanticipated challenges as well as genuine opportunities for those who have prepared for the unexpected.

2020 Q2

COVID-19 Collection: FMI Insights and Solutions

By now, the operating plan and budget you opened the year with have been scrapped. Unexpected, but appropriate. The top of this business cycle, the longest expansion in U.S. history, vanished over a weekend in early March. Ninety days on, the global economy is in steep decline and dragging the Built Environment down with it.

Building an Agile Organization to Thrive in Uncertain Times

One electrical construction and automation services provider used its agile business strategy to break through the barriers during coronavirus pandemic and prepare for the next disruption.

The Changing Game of Strategy

Why E&C companies need to approach strategy differently in times of heightened uncertainty and volatility.

2020 Q1

Top 10 Hits from the Past Decade

In our first Quarterly edition of 2020, you’ll find our top ten articles of the past decade. Most of these topics are still relevant in today’s E&C business environment and cover a broad range of industry issues. Authors also provide updated introductions to their articles and describe how and why their articles are still relevant for today’s business leaders.

Featured Article: Why Large Contractors Fail – A Fresh Perspective

It’s been nearly 200 years since French educator and writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr uttered the epigram, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”; but those words still hold true today. The question is, is history repeating itself, albeit on a larger scale.

A Blueprint for Risk Management in Construction

Define risk management in construction, and what would your answer be?

Four Cornerstones of an Adaptive Strategy for E&C Companies

In a world and industry where the pace of change is growing exponentially, this article is a timeless reminder of how the management teams of best-in-class companies should be creating and implementing their strategies.

Four Steps to a Winning Divestment Strategy

Consolidation in the construction industry has steadily increased over the past 10 years. In the utility construction segment, we’ve seen the market capitalization of the top 10 public companies grow by 65% over the past decade.

The Continuity Mindset: Managing Succession for Lasting Organizational Success

Transitioning a business to a new generation of leaders, no matter what decade you are in, has always been a multifaceted, emotional and intricate process—one that is easy to put off due to the anxiety it can generate.