Conquering Turbulent times

In the face of turbulent times, companies must keep a close eye on business innovation, the willingness to shift gears in times where it is most needed can often be a little too late and destructive within the organization. In the last couple of decades, we have seen the rise of the internet of things, the paradigm of consumer products evolving into smarter inventions, and the utmost importance of staying connected to one another digitally as part of everyday life. We also saw one of the world’s largest bankruptcy filings cases, the all to the well-known collapse of Lehman Brothers, a pre-filing of $639 billion USD in assets, making it the largest in history, yes larger than Enron and not to mention that it contributed to the erosion of $10 trillion dollars within the global equity markets.

The cause of this demise is more than one factor and very evidently pioneering innovation wasn’t on the books, the 4th largest investment bank couldn’t stay ahead of its heels during the financial crisis, and unfolded an array of destructive patterns during proliferating performances, culture is a key area to look upon, “A company must become entirely free of denial” - Gary Hamel, speaks words of wisdom in his Quest to resilience and analyses why companies need to be rigorous in re-adapting to stay in shape. “The ability to create a plethora of new options, as compelling alternatives to dying strategies”, is my favourite statement, let’s take a step back and think upon this for a minute, compelling alternatives, if you’re thinking quick folds within mergers and acquisitions, it may lead to further misses rather than hits, as often it can be seen as institutional decay rather than the answer that’s going to give you the edge required to stay ahead, another popular choice amongst executives, is working on strategic partnerships, that can open doors to unchartered territories, resulting in serving its purpose on the ultimate land grab, the first market entry, blue ocean strategy, yadda.. yadda. but staying immortal, now that’s something that every startup aspiring to become.

The value of today’s very clear and identifiable business landscape is; consumer loyalty, low customer acquisition costs, lower operating expenses, preferential distribution channels, hiring the right talent even diversification in parent-to-company portfolio products, but is this enough?

Perhaps, perhaps not, I’m still searching for the answers however, success has never been so fragile year on year. I see shifts in consumer spending and taste abruptly change from day to the second, especially online and I wake up every morning reading through Tech crunch’s newsfeed and the epitome and rise of non-traditional competitors and the pitfalls, the sinkers within the economy and of startups freshly spun. It is our practices and the way we have learned to do things, that is changing, and is it innovation that may be the core answer to continuing business momentum, but not disorderly, cluttered, fragmented innovation, innovation practiced requires discipline, a regiment and a firm hand in execution and the question to ask are you willing to stretch far enough in re-inventing your core business before it’s too late?

Remember “that a company that fails to adjust to its changing environment soon loses its relevance, its customers, and its support from stakeholders”, so stop the denial, the arrogance is conscious of what’s changing and considers how will these changes affect your current success.

By Sarah Huang, Consultant