Mace’s Operate division is one of the four Engines (business units) of the British based multinational, Mace Group. Mace Operate (hereafter Mace) carries out Facility Management activities and was set up in 2002. Mace delivers management-led facility management solutions to its international clients. Key to Mace’s international growth has been the long-term partnership with their client Invesco in which the scope of work expanded from the United Kingdom towards Europe, into North America and to Asia Pacific. Today Mace competes on a global scale and operates in over 45 countries. In Mace’s words: ‘We are small enough to care, but big enough to deliver’.
Mace’s organisational strategy
Mace has the ambition to become a ‘purpose-driven business’, by delivering its Facility Management operations in a sustainable, innovative and safe way. As a part of this strategy, Mace seeks close collaboration with client organisations to find effective ways to deliver the services they need. That means adopting suitable technologies and approaches that focus on creating fitting end-user experiences in a sustainable and effective way. Equally, Mace aims to become the most inclusive employer of choice in the industry.
By working closely together with Mace’s wider Engines (i.e. Mace’s other divisions), Mace focusses on expanding their presence in established markets (i.e. UK, Middle East and North America) and targeting sustainable growth in target markets, such as Asia-Pacific.
Distinguishing from the competition
Mace provides a delivery model that differentiates them from their competitors, by carrying out a management-led approach. In this model, Mace delivers its services through a mixture of self-performed activities (e.g. management, helpdesk, reception) and, to a larger extend, subcontracted activities of individual service lines (e.g. maintenance, cleaning, security). These services are being delivered by Mace’s specialist service partners (subject-matter experts in their own fields of expertise). Mace can work with any supplier, including client nominated suppliers, under either a managing agent or a principle contractor agreement.
Major developments in the international landscape
Mace observes that many clients focus on workplace change programmes to ensure a productive and attractive work environment. Those environments help them to remain an employer of choice and to retain the best talent in the industry. Also, clients are looking for consistency and flexibility across their international portfolios. Mace acts on these developments by providing an agile and flexible delivery model: an independent management organisation that integrates the most suitable specialist service partners into the service provision.
Servicing international clients
Mace’s portfolios are structured vertically, indicating that operations are not organized on a country/regional level, but on account level. Teams working for client organisations report back to a central Account Leader who leads the whole account. This method ensures that teams in different countries do not report to a separate country manager. Typically, operations across borders will have teams reporting jointly to a local country manager and to the relevant Account Manager.
