Uncertain Economy Pushes Design Firms To Diversify Their Portfolios

摘要

In uncertain economic times, top design firms are diversifying their portfolios in order to remain stable. Given the current housing slump, credit crunch and recession fears, major firms with a diverse range of practice groups and locations in multiple markets are finding success by shifting resources out of harm's way and toward safer opportunities. "The design environment is a giant block of Swiss cheese-everything is great as long as you can navigate around the holes," says Joe Brown, CEO of the global planning, design and development group for AECOM. "Regional firms in down markets with narrow practices are facing some tough times, but we're busier than ever." For many U.S.-based firms, keeping revenue rolling means going abroad to hot markets such as the Middle East, India and China. AECOM, for example, is part of the master planning team on the $27-billion Saadiyat Island project in Abu Dhabi.