Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Professional Services Exports in Barbados

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Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Professional
Services Exports in Barbados Engineering and
Construction-related Services

• Sunil Sinha
• Technical Director
• Emerging Market Economics
• December 2006

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Overview

• Strong international demand
• World market for construction-related,
  knowledge-based services (engineering,
  architecture) worth about US600 billion
• About 300 billion is contestable by specialist
  firms
• Market can be divided into engineering and
  architectural services

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International Trends

• Engineering Services
• Most services supplied domestically due to
  qualification requirements
• But, international trade increasing due to
• Cost differentials, increased specialisation
• Large projects requiring expertise, experience,
  scale
• Engineer shortage in some countries, cheap
  engineers in others
• Offshoring to cheaper in-house locations and
  outsourcing to low-cost destinations
• Outsourcing typically through local
  sub-contracting and farming out of low-value
  added services
• Architectural Services
• Lower trade volumes due to more stringent
  registration requirements
• Outsourcing will remain limited to
  labour-intensive activities like draughtsmanship

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Local Capability

• 180 corporate members of Barbados Association of
  Professional Engineers
• Estimated 40 chartered engineers
• About 24 architecture firms, 64 members of
  Barbados Institute of Architects, 10-12
  professionals constitutes a large firm

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Target Markets

• CSME for engineering and architecture
• UK for engineering shortage of professionals
• EPAs likely to remove restrictions on practicing
  in EU countries, could open up architecture
  market

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Market Positioning

• High quality professionals, long-established
  large firms provide basis for providing
  high-quality services for large projects in CSME
• Particular skills in environmental management,
  disaster mitigation, other area?
• Labour cost advantage over US, Western Europe?

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Marketing Activities Brand Awareness

• Objective Increase profile of sector
  internationally
• Website Promote Barbados as source of quality
  construction-related services avoids
  restrictions engineers, architects face in
  marketing themselves

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Marketing Activities Direct Marketing

• Objective Create export opportunities
• Marketing Trips Larger, export-ready firms to
  meet with UK firms to offer outsourcing services
• Partnerships Larger local firms sub-contract
  work to smaller domestic providers smaller
  providers associate with each other to increase
  scale and improve ability to win international
  work
• Marketing Support/Intelligence Provide training
  to small providers in preparing competitive
  tenders, monitor project profiles

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Enabling Environment

• Objective Address local factors constraining
  growth
• Accreditation EPA should allow temporary work in
  Europe without qualification, should also work
  towards mutual recognition of qualifications
• Free Movement CSME should alleviate requirements
  for local accreditation, ensure local content is
  reduced.
• Skills increase supply of draughtsman
• Incentives improve access to export incentives
  and finance for SMEs
• Alliances forge private-private and
  private-public partnerships

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Thank you