The trouble is some people just don't know when they are well off. After just 12 months into his new leisurely lifestyle he was hankering after a new challenge. Strange man.
In June 1998 Causer came back out of retirement and joined Lorne Stewart as director of its International Division, an entirely new arm of the Lorne Stewart empire that he has been instrumental in setting up.
Extensive research into numerous international marketplaces followed and Poland was decided upon for the first new national base due to its strong stable economy and massive growth potential. This, coupled with its entry into the EC in the next four or five years, was seen to make Poland a major player in the European economy.
Next Causer and Lorne Stewart chief executive Richard Reed visited Poland to meet potential clients. Here things get a little strange again. "Don't give us any enquiries," we told them. "We are here to see if we want to work in Poland. If the answer is yes, then we'll let you know when you can offer us work."
Now, a large concern such as Lorne Stewart refusing offers of work doesn't seem entirely logical but Causer has the answers. "We don't want to parachute in, do the work and leave like so many of our competitors. Lorne Stewart has its own international policy because it ceased to be purely a m&e contractor a long time ago.
"The company is far more diverse than that. Our activities in the areas of maintenance, IT, facilities management and healthcare, to name a few of our divisions, make us far more than an electrical contractor. This fuels the need for a different longer-term approach to international policy."
Causer and his International Division has set up Lorne Stewart Polska. The new company is obtaining offices in Warsaw and implementing a training scheme for native engineers who will be the cornerstone of the Polish national base. "We are taking raw Polish talent and inserting our own UK management who will train and develop them.
"You have to remember that this isn't a country that you can go into and say: 'I am the great British engineer'. The Pole will simply turn around and say: 'I am the great Polish engineer, so what?', and they are."
Good relations make good projects and good projects make profit which makes good business sense.
But, however great the Polish engineer is it must be admitted that the country has suffered technologically over the last 40 years when compared to its West-European neighbours. This is what Lorne Stewart will bring to Poland.
"We've got a very strong feeling about this. We want to bring something to the market. Something we believe we deserve and Poland deserves."
Causer reveals his delight in his role, saying: "Sometimes you do something and as you get into it you get a good feeling in the pit of your stomach. I don't think I've had one as good as this in my entire life." The business acumen soon kicks back in though: "Don't get me wrong, we're not doing this for some altruistic reason. We are doing it for good sound commercial reasons.
"We believe that, in the medium and long term, by bringing our technology and the Lorne Stewart thinking to Poland, the people within will respond generously. Good relations make good projects and good projects make profit which makes good business sense."
Lorne Stewart aims to be taking on work from its Warsaw base after March of this year. Causer sees areas including IT, facilities management and maintenance, in the sophisticated form that Lorne Stewart can provide, being in big demand but he is unwilling to make predictions of profits until he starts to see the fruits of his and the International Division's labours.
If all goes to Causer's plan, Poland will become a central European base from which to expand. "I have a few places in mind but I'm not going to tell you where they are," he says. "It all depends if the resources are there. I don't mean financially, that is relatively easy, it's the human resources of the right calibre that you need to develop these ideas.
"The International Division will be a growing concern worldwide but it will be done conservatively and in keeping with the Lorne Stewart international philosophy even if that is not the recognised way of doing international business." When all is said and done Lorne Stewart is a big concern with an extremely experienced and enthusiastic director at the helm of its International Division. So what's to stop it being unconventional?
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
