News
BAM: top position in Dutch reputation survey MT500
2nd July 2019
With a fourth place in the annual reputation survey of the management magazine MT, BAM can count itself among the companies with the best reputation of all major Dutch organisations. Take a look at the entire overview and the subcategories by industry here. Read the (Dutch only) interview with Rob van Wingerden here (English summary below), which appeared in the same issue of MT500: ‘There is still plenty of growth in BAM’. The results for the category Contractors and M&E companies can be found here.
Which company in the Netherlands has the best reputation among its peers? Every year MT asks thousands of entrepreneurs, managers, directors and executives about the reputation of the competition in their markets. The result is the MT500, the list of the 500 companies with the best reputation. The list is led by ASML. Colleagues from the industry praise this high-tech supplier for semiconductors for its product leadership, operational excellence, customer focus and attractiveness as an employer. The top 10 of the reputation survey MT500 includes large organisations such as Shell, Tata Steel, BAM (in fourth position), themepark the Efteling, Ahold Delhaize, NS (Dutch Railways), BMW Netherlands, Booking.com and Google.
Construction company Heijmans is in the list at position 90, ahead of Boskalis (112), VolkerWessels (113), Ballast Nedam (114) and Dura Vermeer (157).
BAM improved its position by fourteen places in the MT500 reputation survey compared to last year. ‘Being a good employer has undoubtedly contributed to that’, according to MT500 (page 23). BAM is also in the picture ‘with the digital transformation in which BAM is investing heavily: it wants to be the driving force behind digitalisation within the construction sector, and that is noticed.’ The position of the organisations in the MT500 partly depends on the scores on customer focus, product leadership, business excellence and employer attractiveness.
‘BAM has still plenty of opportunities for growth’
The largest Dutch contractor, Royal BAM Group, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. Over the past 150 years, the European construction group has completed innumerable projects, many of them appealing to the imagination, but CEO Rob van Wingerden prefers to look ahead. He’s focusing on scale, digitalisation, knowledge sharing, sustainability and especially a better risk and reward balance.
Rob van Wingerden: ‘I find it fascinating how much social impact our projects have. We cover all phases of the construction process. The breadth of our services and our vast knowledge and experience are certainly relevant in the future. Our society can only solve current issues, such as those related to sustainability, with an integrated approach and with a vision for the longer term.’
Risk allocation
BAM has experienced ups and downs. The last economic downturn caused an imbalance of risks associated with the execution of large public contracts in the construction industry. Van Wingerden, who has been with the company since 1988 and its CEO from 2014: ‘Contractors carried too much risk, with all the associated consequences and results. The implementation of the future infrastructure agenda requires a healthy and attractive sector. Innovation should pay off. We have to develop a market where the risks lie with the party that can influence them. Governments also share this wish.’
Win win
Schiphol Airport proves that the relationship between client and contractor can be different, according to Van Wingerden. For large-scale extension and maintenance of buildings, facilities and installations, the airport has entered into long-term relationships with several construction firms, including BAM, where each party’s knowledge is optimally used. ‘It is a form of collaboration in which we no longer think in terms of client-contractor, but in terms of partners, creating a win win situation by helping each other to achieve common goals and to improve and innovate together.’
In addition to focusing on risk management, BAM is fully committed to digitalisation. Van Wingerden: ‘Under the motto ‘We make it (digital), before we make it (physical)’ we are shaping digital transformation. Digitalisation is making it possible to work faster, safer, more economically and with less waste.’ According to Van Wingerden, digitalisation requires a lot of technology, but it also requires a different mindset for those involved.
Green business model
BAM’s CEO sees other drivers for a better future; as an employer, in sustainability and in consolidating knowledge and taking advantage of scale. ‘The construction industry is very fragmented. Everyone is doing his or her own thing optimally, but the total is nevertheless suboptimal. If we make better use of our scale and knowledge at BAM, we will outperform everything and everyone. That is the basis for lifting our results to a higher level and making them more predictable. BAM has still plenty of opportunities for growth. We must combine our digital and sustainability approaches . Instead of a cost item, we see that as a business model. Because in essence by reducing waste and CO2 you are saving costs and you come up with smarter production methods and you start innovating. Moreover, our clients increasingly ask for sustainable solutions. We consider it BAM’s mission to create a sustainable living environment, with which we can offer people a better life. This is also evident from the gesture that we are making to society to mark our 150th anniversary. This year we are planting 150,000 trees.’
