Business today, business tomorrow: Every business is a growth business

(The author is a Professor of Management and Economics, formerly at IIBM (RBI) Guwahati. He can be contacted at m.bibhas@gmail.com)

It’s neither the strongest nor most intelligent of the species that survive; it is the one most adaptable to change - Charles Darwin

Are we not now living in a chaotic transition period to a new age defined by global competition, rampant change, faster flow of information and communication, increasing business complexity, and pervasive globalization?.

In fact, in these days all of the business managers remain concerned with the events that are likely to come up tomorrow – profitability, uncertainty, risks and related matters. We remember the words of Professor C K Prahalad and Gary Hamel: ‘in today’s corporate world winning in a business is not about being number one, rather it is about who ‘gets to the future first’. They urged the companies to create their own futures, envision new markets and reinvent themselves. It is the idea of core competency that actually boosted the BPO and allowed companies handover the non-core side related to their business operations to others who are willing and can.

Actually, jet speeded changes in competition, technology, and workforce values are compelling organizations to search for new and more human ways of increasing productivity and competitiveness. The biggest changes have been due to the impact of information and communication technology. The ability to access vast information resources within a matter of minutes and to communicate across huge distances at ever lower costs and improving quality and convenience is transforming the way people and companies interact. Virtually, it is becoming harder to achieve market leadership and to stay on top.

Obvious enough: good business leaders understand that there are competitive and economic values which could result in from talented people. The fact floats that: as organizations strive to do more with few resources, they want to ensure that people are in the right jobs and of course they are determined, dedicated and deliver consistently as individuals, teams as well as groups.

Side by side, the major trouble emerges from the fact that while most of them fail to show how the workforce vis-à-vis skill–levels more positively to these goals and / or adds more value to the institution.

The time has arrived when we note that even the best of professionals need a team of effective information managers for ensuring an optimal productivity, an effective system of internal control skills to provide inputs to quicken the process of decision making. An attitudinal change is a must in such a context as the nature of business has been becoming more and more complex. Today’s business means, clearly, becoming an international player as nothing of such kind could succeed if the same remains restricted to a frog in the well form. It is something like accepting that ‘the ship looks good when parked at the harbour but the same is not meant for remaining so’. Business without risk is virtually preparing omelet without breaking the egg.

Competition to turn more intense tomorrow

Especially, in this age of innovention (innovation plus invention) the structure of trade vis-à-vis competition has been changing at a fast and consistent rate, where one technology is being replaced by the other treating the globe as an extended village. Intense competition has become a way of life simultaneously with the implicit and explicit risk factors. On the one hand, the challenge is there to retain the customer, while on the other the fears of unexpected loss arising out of the complex risk factors loom large. That is why, any scanning of international business environment is crucial on the part of an upcoming business venture.

In fact, it is very difficult to locate an area where there does not exist competition. Rather the reality is just the opposite – intense and rising competition. Especially, in the arena of international business the same is assuming complex character day-by-day. Thanks to fast changing technology.

It is the greater competent institutions that emerge as the victor; while others struggle to keep the heads over water. Undoubtedly, it is the strategic innovation and not calendar-driven-ritual that could remain the main source of advantage in the days to come. And it is creativity, passion and, of course initiatives that help keep one stay afloat. It is a company’s ability and willingness to make fundamental changes that help transform day-to-day functions.

So, complexities galore - business space, technologies, processes, business models as well have turned out to be more complex - new characteristics are added frequently (subtracted infrequently). The dimensions of business space keep increasing, adding complexity, while at the same time furnishing attractive new opportunities for those who can successfully navigate in the new environment. This complexity, in turn, also inhibits greater size and greater value creation.

Side by side, in the emerging era of over communication and hyper-competition, people are overwhelmed by choice – choice of information, ideas, products, and services. Information is becoming readily available around the globe at an unprecedented pace. Customers, competitors, and innovators have instant access to each other. The result - technological change, especially change in information and communication technology, delivered the Information Age and converted it to the Knowledge Age.

You have to formulate today

the plan for tomorrow

Tomorrow is just another day – an unpredictable one – where expectations may or may not exceed results. Facing the reality and risk-conscious approach is the best way to march ahead. An overnight success is a myth than a reality.

The time has arrived when we note that even the best of professionals need a team of effective information managers for ensuring an optimal productivity, an effective system of internal control skills to provide inputs to quicken the process of decision making. An attitudinal change is a must in such a context as the nature of business has been becoming more and more complex.

Today’s business means, clearly, becoming an international player as nothing of such kind could succeed if the same remains restricted to a frog in the well form. It is something like accepting that ‘the ship looks good when parked at the harbour but the same is not meant for remaining so. Business without risk is virtually preparing omelet without breaking the egg.

It is, thus, better to concentrate on the core competency areas where the performance could be bettered - temporally, functionally, hierarchically and sectorally in the broader sense.

Boosting of service quality, keeping in view the very nature of effective demand, is the crying need. The challenge is not only to acquire the customer, but also to retain him in the business for furthering the process of improved customer value.

So, let the ideas, technologies, and capital to satisfy new needs flow freely, emerging economies, industrializing, everyone joining the digital revolution of boundless information and seamless electronic commerce, expectations rise everywhere and human creativity flowering in every field - as rightly and nicely described by Ram Charan and Noel. M. Tichy (Every Business is a Growth Business).