Historically, the flagship provided critical direction and leadership to a naval fleet. The consequences of losing a flagship are grippingly described in Tsushima (Alexey Novikoff-Priboy, 1936), a record of the 1905 naval battle between Russia and Japan, devastatingly won by the latter.
For engineering companies AND individuals, "flagship projects" are those which are perceived to substantively define focal skills and experience. They are commonly used to "stand out from the crowd" or provide an initial foothold into a subsequent pipeline of projects. As a mentor, I regularly recommended for individuals to identify and develop their own flagship project, as something that provides a direction to their career.
For companies, flagship projects and flagship products typically define the market corner within which they will have less competition, or create base expertise ensuring highly efficient project delivery. Done correctly, this creates a profit-making core for a company. However, developing and maintaining a flagship project requires investment and attention. Also, just like a naval fleet, sinking the flagship is likely to result in big trouble!
A commercial flagship can be established through:
Research, whether academic or commercial
Accumulation of Critical Knowledge, such as geography-specific information, or familiarity with a client's operations.
Development of Systems that provide efficiency
Importing staff or joining companies with specialist skills.
These activities require money. When considering developing a flagship, it is therefore critical to understand the opportunity provided, and realistically consider the potential value of investment.
The cost to develop a flagship should not be underestimated. New knowledge or skills are often harder to develop than they may look at first. If accruing costs reach above projections, there is a tendency to inflate potential future returns or chase initial investment in an effort to avoid "total loss". For this reason it can be important to set progress targets, usually with a focus on developing a base income stream.
Value of the flagship is determined by the market scale the flagship will create, the differential proportion of profit returned by the commercial advantage, and the functional lifetime of the flagship.
Market scale is critically influenced by:
Communication and reputation: it is important to advertise knowledge of specialist capacity across a potential client base. This usually requires pivoting away from an initial client, which can require delicate handling and product repositioning if there is a perception of shared interest and investment.
Pipeline feed and company structure: successful flagship projects generate a large volume of additional work. This may require organisational restructuring or upsizing to take advantage of. For example, if a small company's flagship project generates a glut of work, alternative options may be to rapidly expand the company, develop strategic partnerships, or shift to training/review roles. This can limit functional life of a flagship product, as pipeline expansion will generally disperse knowledge.
Differential profit from a commercial advantage is the amount above and beyond profit achieved from other pieces of work. This may seem an easy piece to control... however, maintaining differential profit is not straightforward. Clients perceive when "easy money" is being made, even when aware of preceding effort, and will tend to push back on pricing. Also, there is a tendency to use price-competitiveness to push into "apples and oranges" markets, where the flagship product is matched against simpler products provided by competitors.
Functional lifetime of a flagship project and its associated products is the most difficult aspect to predict:
Commercial advantages are only available while competitors do not develop equivalent or alternate capacity. This is partly outside direct control. However, patenting, limiting opportunities for reverse-engineering, and maximising retention of knowledgeable staff are all useful practices. In all cases, benefits of the flagship above alternatives need to be shown, sometimes requiring client education.
There is an intrinsic connection between a flagship project and the team who developed it. Staffing changes can therefore affect the perceived capacity to deliver a flagship product. This requires careful management of both succession planning and reputation, to support client demand through evolution of personnel. Losing one staff member, however important, should not cause a flagship to sink.
Commercial frameworks which underlie the delivery of flagship products are subject to change. This may involve people, partnerships, panel arrangements, or project packaging. It is harder to sell the benefits of a flagship product when it is packaged as a small sub-consultancy item within a large project! It is also challenging to sell the benefits of a product if client staff have frequent turnover.
For all aspects, maintenance of professional reputation and client base communications are essential. It pays to advertise.
Not all factors influencing flagship stability are within control of the organisation which developed it. However, recognition of potential pitfalls can guide strategies to keep the flagship afloat.
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