E-Archive

From Editor's Desk

in Vol. 12 - November Issue - Year 2011
Companies Operate In An Era Of Risk And Instability
Andrzej Wojtas

Andrzej Wojtas

The 2009 recession brutally hit all of us; but while we were expecting another cycle of growth, Summer 2011 brought loads of bad news, amongst them the much feared "double dip" virtual recession happening in North America and Europe. The Global Economy is at work: no mercy for the weakest, even States including the most powerful ones! The Global Economy, as we can observe is complex and volatile, seductive but dangerous.

Globalization works as a price grinder for customers and margin attrition for suppliers, a sheer fertilizer for competition, a thick fog for many managers and a nightmare for some shareholders.
In the XX century one could simply designate the predators and preys. In the XXI century many strong players suddenly find themselves being the prey of mavericks bursting out of the blue with more effective business models. The list of casualties in our very surface preparation industry since 2009 looks like a war monument and this will continue.
Many sound old methods of management and corporate resources, careful planning, well-mastered business models and entrenched positions are no longer guarantees of success. This unnerves managers who scramble to cut costs, undertake more tasks, reach distant markets, fend off aggressions, and at the same time, must report steady progress to their boards.
Companies need indeed a good captain and a skilled crew to navigate such rough seas. But sailing to growing markets and profitable segments, detecting the typhoons and the adverse currents, avoiding the reefs and dodging the pirates require more than a compass and a beautiful navigational chart; new generations of navigating instruments are a mandate.
Amongst the business equivalent of GPS & radars: the finely focused market information and data, the sharp competitive intelligence, the global surveys covering all facets of a business and providing a multi-angle; all rank first.

I can hear your objection: "We also live in an information saturated age." Precisely!

Gathering the facts from the right sources, screening and selecting the relevant ones, sorting them out according to their significance is a considerable gain of time and efficiency and backs up the decision making process. Furthermore, the unique insights, analysis and scenarios are critical tools in business model benchmarking, segment targeting, and resource allocating.
For less than the cost of a business class plane ticket or the wage of a graduate intern for a couple of months, you can anticipate the moves of the market, speed up your development, gain or keep an edge over your competition, protect and increase your profit, while strengthening your company, its brand and its value.
To keep afloat and thrive in the volatile and dangerous Global Economy, we all need to find and use the right tools, providing sharp information and practical intelligence, pointing to the direction where success is at reach.

Best Regards
Andrzej Wojtas (Ph.D.), Chief Editor of MFN, E-mail: andrzej@mfn.li

Author: Andrzej Wojtas