Gully Howard is a limited liability company that exists within the construction and housing industry where its

primary expertise is with detection and management of Asbestos. Business is conducted by offering primary services in: property surveys, sampling and laboratory analysis of materials for detection of Asbestos and performing Air-tests. Due to the technical and knowledgeable expertise in the industry, a secondary service of offering training relating to all elements of occupational hygiene and health and safety within the work place has developed. Though the presence of Asbestos is still large; due to the multiple ways and of vast quantities it was used as a material in construction, and the negative health effects it causes/contributes to (largest occupational carcinogen) is still of significant levels, the potential for growth and longevity of associated works is in question. The use and import of Asbestos has been banned since 1999. Thus, the life of asbestos services as an enterprising venture is limited. That, coupled with the fact that it is a highly competitive market, filled with companies trying to cash in the money to be made through detection/management and removal of the substance, due to the vast legislation requiring companies to manage these minerals. In the six years of the companys existence, gully Howard has grown from 4 employees to the current level of 35. Gully Howard has taken certain steps to maintain and grow its competitive advantage within the industry as well as take a long term view to not only maintain its sustainability but continue to grow as a company by looking for diversification into other services as the current services begin to mature and before they go into decline. This challenge has been increased by the recession and the cost cutting and shrinking of budgets that Gully Howards clients use to conduct surveys and perform building works. As all large organizations have been looking to become more effective and efficient to reduce cost yet still increase productivity, Gully Howard has developed a strategy to achieve these objectives for its clients while also positioning itself in a sustainable business model for the future. With that in mind, three primary strategies have emerged from the pursuit of quality and company values of : 1. Do what you know 2. Do it well 3. Do it right 4. Be able to prove it 5. Look to do it better And combined with how they have positioned themselves at being technically/technologically superior in practice compared to its competitors. 1) Through experience of setting up electronic systems, data bases, networks etc. Gully Howard has focused on their skills and rolled it in with its values to

create a long term strategy of seeking out business with clients through the form of completing stock condition surveys and housing/ managing the databases and information for clients in relation to their properties, and organizing surveys and works needed for their clients stocks in avenues of maintenance and improvement. Allowing Gully Howard to continue its current works but also to achieve revenue from service charges, commissions from organizing work, processing bids for future work and management charges for the database. 2) Through expertise in asbestos and occupational hygiene, and with the increase of awareness of impacts on health and the cost implications being absorbed in eastern Europe, the middle east and east Asia. Gully Howard has branched out into the international market by offering training in these subjects with the strategic objective of being able to draw in new clients by establishing new business relationships to conduct asbestos surveys and bulk analysis and/or consultation to companies conducting these businesses. 3) The third strategy incorporates elements of the first two strategies, by using there technical expertise in developing software and electronic systems to conduct surveys, air tests etc. more effectively/efficiently that can generate usable information for the client that can be stored on a database and licensing it out to other companies globally.

Since all these strategies rely on the foundation of expertise, Gully Howard has been working to distinguish its self from its competitors and gain credibility and establish legitimacy, both domestically and internationally by gaining international accreditations, such as ISO 1720, 1725, 9001 and 14001. Which relate to the asbestos industry as well as environmental and quality systems. This has been effective in establishing a competitive advantage due to the fact that many asbestos related companies are known as cowboys in the industry by taking the approach of not investing heavily in infrastructure and accreditations so that in the event of costly liability, the company can quickly fold and then re-establish under a new name. Through Gully Howards commitment to quality and legitimacy, they have been able to bid for larger contracts with larger organizations and place themselves within the opportunity to achieve the objectives of their long term strategy. This approach seems to utilize fundamentals of Kenichi Ohmaes definition of strategy by bringing out conditions most favourable for success (gaining accreditations) , understanding critical issues (such as the product life cycle and services bridging on maturity) altering the strengths of the organization relative to its competitors (development and investment in technology and research and development) and a stronger matching of corporate strengths to customer needs than is provided by competitors (development of training division/database). Gully Howard also seems to use the three pillars of the discipline of market leaders (Treacy & Wiersman) of product leadership, operational excellence and

customer intimacy. They do this by understanding the requirements of their customers and design services to achieve the clients needs (full survey of all the companies stocks, creation of registers, storage of information and access to it). They also implement operational excellence (development of electronic system and software) by making works effective and efficient by continually reviewing and developing systems by virtue of audits used to implement quality systems in line with ISO 9001. Lastly, the pillar of customer intimacy is evident by integrating all the customers needs (collecting information and storing it in a shared database) and relying on the intimate relationship approach in sustaining clients as well as growing them through using the training division as a marketing tool and source of creating contacts and future clients.