A look at the factors driving Britain’s Construction Companies to innovate
Businesses who innovate and develop new products, services and processes – generally put themselves ahead of competitors and are in a better position to adapt to any changes in the needs/expectations of their customers.
Those companies that fail to innovate, will undoubtedly suffer from poor operational and financial performance. At the same time, lack sustainability for long-term survival and success.
The notion of taking a pro-active approach towards innovation should ring especially true for start-ups. Especially, when only 15% of new companies go on to become profitable, according to statistics from the ‘Sussex Innovation Centre’.
Interested in strategy and development, TheKnowledgeAcademy.com analysed the latest findings from ‘The Federation of Small Businesses’, who surveyed UK’s small construction companies to better understand their varying motivations for innovating.
Focusing on construction, small enterprises within the industry, mainly engage in innovation because of the added range of goods and/or services (33%) they can offer from doing so. Thereafter, construction firms are encouraged to innovate, as they believe it can increase their turnover and accelerate growth prospects (29%). Likewise, for 29% of construction companies in their infancy, their primary driver to innovate is fuelled by a desire to achieve efficiency and productivity gains.
Contrastingly, construction firms are least likely to innovate for the purpose of developing business rights and/or technology (6%). Equally, just 6% want to pursue innovation initiatives due to the potential collaboration opportunities it may lead to. Interestingly, 11% feel obliged to innovate, purely to meet regularly requirements.
Furthermore, 59% of construction start-ups claim to be ‘very or slightly aware’ of their competitors innovation efforts. Additionally, 57% state they are willing to experiment and take risks when trying to refresh their products/services/processes/strategies with new ideas/concepts.
Joseph Scott, a spokesperson from the TheKnowledgeAcademy.com commented: “Every business, regardless of the sector they are in – faces a ton of challenges and pressures. Consequently, to stay ahead of the curve, firms need to make a consistent effort to assess and improve various aspects of their operations. One of the fundamental pillars behind this should be innovation. Businesses that take innovation seriously, can experience significant benefits.
“After all, innovation enables careful problem solving and generates effective solutions as to how companies can establish a distinctive competitive advantage. Similarly, provide more thought-out and flexible approaches towards meeting defined objectives over set periods of time – whether that be expanding products/services portfolio or generating greater profit margins”.
