PROJECT Management Group has received The Irish Times/PA Consulting management award for 2000, the 24th year of the competition which recognises excellence in the application of modern management thinking and techniques.
Presenting the award in the National Gallery in Dublin last night, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, described Project Management Group as an outstanding, pioneering and enterprising company.
"Project Management is a company which has expanded as the economy has expanded, and has earned a reputation for excellence and quality service both at home and overseas," the Taoiseach said.
"I know you are 75 per cent owned by your own management, you have developed recently into Poland and are gearing up the IT aspects of your business as you look to the future. This is a great example which many Irish companies would do well to take note of."
Project Management Group received the award for exhibiting sustained business performance and growth in a highly competitive sector.
Accepting the award, Mr Pat McGrath, chief executive of Project Management Group said: "It's a recognition that you can be successful as both a bricks and clicks business. Project Management provides engineering design and project management, while we use state-of-the-art software to deliver it."
Mr McGrath paid tribute to the company's staff and to its past and present management, and added that the company sought to instill good management practices and strong corporate governance since its inception. The managing director of The Irish Times, Mr Nick Chapman said: "Good management is hard and demanding work but can be immensely rewarding, not just in financial terms, but in seeing people throughout the organisation grow, develop and flourish."
The country head of PA Consulting Group, Dr Ray Nulty, told the attendance that Irish business should not take the current economic performance for granted or underestimate the potential for things to go badly wrong.
One area that stood out for immediate attention was the provision of effective infrastructure, he said.
"As the traffic gets slower, the Government needs to move faster like it did with improving the country's broadband Internet connectivity," Dr Nulty said. The growing wave of industrial disputes not only threatened a general round of wage inflation, but was also very damaging to the State's reputation, he added.
Dr Nulty said the Government should continue its policy of pursuing and facilitating greater competition right across the economy.
"This is the critical antidote to the current inflationary pressures," he said.
He also warned that the overall lack of adequate commercial and strategic preparedness for the single currency by most Irish businesses and the public sector was a major problem.
"The fact is that the single currency has, and will, continue to herald major changes and challenges right across the eurozone," he said. "It will fundamentally change the way business is done. It has already resulted in competitive threats, greater price transparency, a wave of acquisitions and mergers, and further erosion of national economic boundaries. For those ready and poised, it has, and will, continue to bring new opportunities."
The arrival of the world of ebusiness was an opportunity many had yet effectively to exploit, Dr Nulty said.
"One thing is for sure, we will certainly not conduct business in the future as we have done in the past," he said.
The integration and alignment of all elements of sales and service, together with manufacturing and supply chain, were crucial to the development of a customer-driven organisation, he said.
"Ensuring that you have the correct strategy across the business is the key to success," said Dr Nulty.
Launched in 1977, the Irish Times/PA Management award gives public recognition to organisations that achieve outstanding results through excellence of management practice. The competition is open to organisations throughout Ireland, with the objective of rewarding outstanding performers in industry, commerce and public administration. The award is made to an enterprise that has generated outstanding results through a strategic, driven and innovative style of management.
The winner receives a bronze of an Artic tern, sculpted by Oisin Kelly and cast each year for the presentation ceremony.
The judges for this year's awards were: Mr David Went, group chief executive, Irish Life & Permanent; Mr Eoin O'Driscoll, managing director for Ireland and vice-president of international operations at Lucent Technologies; Mr Jim Flavin, chief executive and deputy chairman of DCC; and Senator Edward Haughey, chairman of Norbrook Laboratories.
Previous recipients include Musgrave SuperValu-Centra, Jefferson Smurfit Group, Waterford Crystal, Aer Rianta, Waterford Stanley, Bank of Ireland and IAWS.
The other companies shortlisted for this year's awards were Datalex, Friends First, Iona Technologies, Memorex Telex and Parthus Tehnologies
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