EIC report reveals best practices to prosper during the energy industry downturn

The Energy Industries Council (EIC), the trade association for UK companies that supply goods and services to the energy industries worldwide, has launched its special Survive and Thrive Insight Report, which identifies the strategies and best practices that 26 EIC member companies of all sizes and covering all energy sectors have used to grow and prosper during the downturn.

The savings and new orders won by the 26 companies through their survive and thrive strategies, normally from just one or two customers each, came to well over £550m. Aberdeen and Scottish companies that were visited and whose strategies and case studies are covered in the report include Aiken, Amec Foster Wheeler, Booth Welsh, ENGIE Fabricom, Petrofac and Weir Engineering Services.

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EIC member companies which participated in the report include Amec Foster Wheeler, Costain, Nov Gateshead and Petrofac.

The report includes 22 key lessons for the industry, 8 recommendations for the government on how to support the UK energy supply chain, as well as case studies for each of the participating companies, detailing the strategies and solutions they’ve put in place to overcome the tough markets the energy industries are currently facing.

These strategies fell into six areas: collaboration, diversification, export, innovation, optimisation and technology with the organisations often combining one or more strategy to succeed.

Innovation was the most commonly used strategy, with 73% of the companies applying significantly enhanced products, services and solutions to meet the changing needs of their clients.

At the other end of the spectrum, export was the least employed strategy, with only 8% of the organisations exporting their way out of the crisis.

While the companies have not stopped exported, they have not invested in ‘new exports’ as a way out of the downturn.

The underemployment of this strategy is even more significant when considering the extremely positive returns for those companies that did choose to make use of it, with one company reporting that export opportunities now account for 70% of its revenues.

A surprising finding from the report was that none of the companies mentioned Brexit as a reason for them to develop a new type of strategy, with the main reason given for change being the drop in oil prices.

Commenting on the findings of the report, EIC CEO Stuart Broadley said, ‘The strategies for success identified in this report are proven, current, inspiring and important. The savings and new orders won by these 26 companies alone, through their survive and thrive strategies, and normally calculated from only one customer case study, exceeded £550m per year – imagine if this could be scaled up, at home and abroad?’

The EIC Survive and Thrive Insight Report, which has been issued to the Department for International Trade and UK Export Finance is available free of charge to EIC member companies and for £99+VAT for non-members. Full details of the report can be found via: www.the-eic.com/Publications/MarketIntelligenceReports.aspx

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