Competition, Challenge and Change. Attaining a Sustainable Competitive Advantage to Develop a Market Presence within the Middle East Power Generation Service and Maintenance Market.

A main strategic initiative of Brush Electrical Machines Limited, (Brush), is to continue with the development and growth of the Aftermarket section of their business. This will require the company to build upon their existing customer base and develop new relationships with customers, by delivering value to the customer’s operation as a result of meeting and exceeding their needs. The Middle East was chosen as the focus of this study as it remains an important market for Brush and represents an opportunity for significant growth. The work carried out in this region along with the new strategies that are derived would then be capable of being adapted and transferred to other areas of the world where Brush is seeking to expand its business operation. The objective of the study was to gather insight into what resources and skills are required in order to attain and maintain a position of competitive advantage. This involved acquiring a greater insight into the customer expectations to ascertain the required infrastructure needed to be put in place to enable those needs to be met. The main elements and foundation of the study were the researching of the literature that was available supplemented with semi-structured interviews that were conducted with customers and key personnel within the business. The research provided a wealth of information that was insightful and which identified the strategic changes that are required to develop the business. Key research findings were the requirement for a “customer centric” philosophy to prevail throughout the business, the importance of maintaining the reputation of the brand, the requirement to establish an enhanced presence in the region and the necessity to develop the capabilities to work on third party equipment