Offering visionary guidance to help run a successful business re-quires the ability to see opportunity in every scenario along with an element of foresight.
When experiencing challenging times and accelerated changes in a competitive environment, businesses are forced to brace themselves and endure the pressure, taking corrective measures to mitigate the impact and ensure they stay within the pack. This is sometimes likely to bring along a wait-and-see approach with a perfectly understandable and legitimate tendency to under-invest, if not an outright dwindling appetite to invest at all.
But many also need to recognise that apart from a reactive or passive response, it may very be timely for businesses to undertake a reality check on their state of affairs.
The need to gauge and maintain a clear perspective of one’s corporate set-up, both financial and operational, remains essential. More so in highly charged times when boardroom discussions start to sound more like military manoeuvring in a war room. Here, the risks of becoming overly impulsive and fragmented in approach run high.
Undoubtedly, it is in moments of difficulty, when businesses experience sharp declines in turnover and profitability along with mounting pressure on liquidity, or possibly even when bankruptcy looms and business sustainability becomes a real and tangible concern, that you know there is a dire need for a deeper review of one’s business set-up and prospects. This entails a holistic approach that is strategic in thought and tactful in action to effectively address and hopefully overcome the challenges.
The risk of critical challenges clouding one’s vision is certainly there, but it is in moments like this that one needs to sit back, take a deep look at things and synchronise boardroom thinking prior to taking the necessary decisions. This is necessary to ensure that a well calculated and concerted effort is reached in a coordinated direction.
Seeing this as an opportunity knocking at one’s door may seem understandably difficult to comprehend, yet, there is merit in seeing the opportunistic side of circumstances forcing more meaningful strategic considerations.
Let us all recognise where and when opportunity could be knocking at our door
These considerations could lead to businesses restructuring and re-dimensioning their business models from the grassroots right to the top to ensure it is better designed to build one’s competitive advantage, also with a view to rejuvenating, reviving and renovating one’s business.
One must consider not only the changes in established traditional sectors and the surrounding competitive environment, but also in evolving sectors where, due to digitalisation, a growing number of businesses pursue new economic activities in virtual online markets.
Clearly, it’s the strategic talk that really matters here. Being reactive is sometimes certainly necessary, but anticipation and preparation remain powerful tools to retain that strategic focus. One needs to take the pulse on where the business stands and where it is heading, ensuring that it is aligned with the corporate sentiment and direction, whether this being bullish or bearish, along with the reflected timelines, be they short, medium or long term.
Mapping out one’s market position within the surrounding competitive scenario should give better insight into the current state of play along with the potential outlook. This would certainly be relevant within the context of any targeted market positioning, with considerations ranging from business consolidation to extension, from diversification to even divestment on one hand, to considerations of potential mergers, acquisitions or various forms of strategic alliances on the other.
Beyond the strategic side of things, there are also structural and operational considerations, such as that of transforming one’s business in such a way that would enable it to perform with a lower breakeven point, hence being better structured to handle seasonal and/or market supply/demand fluctuations.
One may also need to cultivate a stronger business culture and work ethic built on management by objectives, and driven by rewarding performance on attainment of targeted results.
So yes, let us all recognise where and when opportunity could be knocking at our door, more so during times when we least expect it or just do not see it.
Opportunity not only to become more cost efficient but also to think of new markets and new ways of doing business. Opportunity to challenge and stop defending the status quo. Opportunity to align one’s thoughts to think differently and accelerate change, wherever needed, to ultimately ensure more and more businesses are not only built on more competitive business models but also based on more sustainable corporate strategies.
Norman Aquilina is Group Chief Executive, Simonds Farsons Cisk