Since 2012, we have been helping firms in Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Property grow their businesses internationally.
Our principal services include:
International Business Planning
International Representation & Business Development
Trade & Export Advice
Board Advisor / Non-Executive Director (NED)
Please scroll down to learn more, or contact us using the enquiries form via the Take Action button, above right.
OUR MISSION
To bring clarity to our clients’ international growth ambitions in order to deliver confident, realistic strategies, and ultimately to help them achieve their global expansion objectives.
International Business Planning
It all starts with a plan. We have developed a reputation for conducting thorough research and translating it into actionable, sustainable international business growth strategies for our clients.
As the first crucial step in our “4Ps” methodology (Plan > Position > Pitch > Prosper), our approach to international business planning for AEC firms has been developed over thirty years of practice.
More than 50 global or regional crises have hit world economies in the last decade alone. We advocate a “lean strategy” approach, perfect for such turbulent and uncertain business environments. This enables our clients to “sense and react” quickly to changes in the marketplace, making their plans resilient and sustainable in an ever-changing world.
Visit our Insights page to read some our strategic planning – umm – insights!
“I asked Richard to help our construction group develop a plan for how we will further develop our practice in international construction disputes. Richard led a very thought provoking and constructive workshop which has helped us considerably to develop our plans and ground them in reality.”
International Representation & Business Development
This is the core of our services, in which Abyss’ Managing Director, Richard Nelson, works as an extension of our clients’ teams, engaging on their behalf with end clients in key markets globally to develop relationships, source major opportunities and build sustainable new business pipelines.
We are very focused, partly due to our limited bandwidth, but also to deliver the highest quality results while avoiding conflicts of interest. At any time, we only represent an exclusive group of non-competing large-scale AEC firms – for example one architect, one structural engineer, one project manager, etc. – and we only support their international business growth.
Our role is to leverage our clients’ time by ensuring that important ongoing international relationship management and business development activities are handled professionally, diplomatically and competently to drive reputation-building, work-winning and long-term business growth.
Our track record speaks for itself: Richard has experience in over 80 countries and is instrumental in helping our clients secure contracts worth several billion in construction value each year.
Trade & Export Advice
International market entry, market expansion, M&A and related activities have become increasingly complex in the built environment over the past several decades.
Our clients have a big job just keeping their own professional skills and licensing up to date, leaving little time to become experts in trade and export.
We often help clients with advisory services to deliver specific requirements, such as:
overseas market research
market entry planning
overseas business planning
overseas market expansion
international mergers & acquisitions
international client due diligence
international project sourcing and pitching strategies
and other specialist trade and export topics
Board Advisor / Non-Executive Director (NED)
Our Founder & Managing Director, Richard Nelson, is available to serve select firms in a Board Advisor or Non-Executive Director, leveraging his extensive international strategic planning and business management skills, contact network and experience in the global real estate, construction and infrastructure industries.
Richard is an international business strategist and business development expert focused on global trade and export in the architecture, engineering, construction and property sectors.
He has previously served on the management and operations boards of both large and SME design and consultancy practices, from under £1m to over £120m, privately held and publicly listed companies, as well as several professional associations boards in the USA and UK.
Richard’s experience includes:
corporate governance
ESG strategies
business growth strategies
succession planning
overseas market entry
sales and business development
risk mitigation and management
operations management
partnering and joint ventures
M&A planning
marketing & communications
digital workflow and transformation