The current relationships among the profit pools of the electrical contracting industry (ECI)—architect, general contractor, electrical contractor, supplier, manufacturer—have an antagonistic nature. Like every other industry that has benefited from a reduction in win-lose relationships, electrical contracting can improve overall profitability by a reduction in non-value-added friction among its stakeholders. The  relationships that are essentially self-serving in nature start with architects and include general contractors, electrical contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and subcontractors, resulting in a higher cost for the customer and lower profits for everyone. There is strong mistrust among the stakeholders of these profit pools. This win-lose situation is costly and counterproductive. Currently, there are no forums that can improve the situation and turn these into win-win relationships.

The purpose of this project was to examine the current state of the ECI and suggest improvements. This project studied the role that ELECTRI International (EI) can play in developing a new operational model for the industry. It concentrated on:

– Identifying the root cause of current relationships (local optima operational model).

– Looking for existing collaborative models in other industries.

– Helping to identify ELECTRI’s role in developing a new industry model.

The role the Foundation can play in the improvement of NECA members’ increased market-share is to create a strategic plan to improve the productivity of the field labor and office employees. This could be accomplished by:

1. Total Procurement Strategy (TPS)

2. Project Management

3. Organizational Structure

4. Technology and Trends

The outcome of this research can be summed up in one statement, which verifies the survey results and the results of research conducted by this researcher in the year 2000 for ELECTRI. That one statement is: IT’S THE PRODUCTIVITY, STUPID.