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July 2009
New Paradigms, New Challenges. South America.
A Case for Change
General Overview
With the world in recession, most countries are working hard to minimize the economic effects on their people, financial institutions and commerce. Today, everything in the world is interconnected and what happens in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, South America or Asia affects everyone. As South American economies turn from prosperous to difficult, standard solutions do not apply. While leaders in these countries understand what is happening, they must develop strategies that minimize the duration and impact of the global crisis. For the first time in decades, these countries are experiencing a decline in GDP and this will impact the stability of governments and businesses in every sector.
On the political side, leaders must clearly communicate with the electorate on what actions are being taken to grow businesses and jobs, improve consumer confidence, stabilize currencies, grow international trade, and stimulate the economy. Intervention by government is required to assure the stability of their markets and economies. Turn-around strategies must be developed that promote employment, production and consumer confidence. Weak and ineffective leaders will lose influence quickly if the strategies that are implemented do not result in initial stabilization and eventual growth.
February 2008
Winning in the Global Recession
So here we are today. This credit-crisis induced recession is far more damaging and far-reaching than a typical economic-cycle recession. The sub-prime induced housing crisis has lead to increased foreclosures and dramatically falling property values. The “wealth effect” of rising home prices has now disappeared and consumers have less confidence in their long term financial future and in fact already have less discretionary income. Purchases that are not necessities have no priority.
The US economy has been built on excessive consumption which is now dramatically slowing. Individual and corporate spending is significantly down and the rate of savings is going up. Very quickly the economy is right-sizing itself. As sales fall and confidence weakens, businesses are scrambling to stay alive and reduce costs. The rate of unemployment is soaring.
December 2008
Foundational Excellence
Assuring Sustainable and Profitable Growth
Over the past twenty years we have been involved with major retail businesses that through bold and entrepreneurial leadership, aggressive strategies and rapid store front expansion experienced dramatic revenue growth. Each business grew to hold top market share positions in their industry.
In each case rapid top line growth did not result in sustainable or profitable outcomes. Just touching more customers did not lead to profitability. Root causes included a lack of quality people throughout the organization, weak “foundational” processes, procedures and systems, and a priority focus on sales growth at the expense of providing a great employee and customer experience and cost reduction.
December 2008
Growing the Sweet Spot
A Balanced Strategy Produces Top Results
Winning with your customers, your employees and your shareholders
Balancing the customer experience, the employee experience and your business results is critical to a successful strategy. Today, more than ever, your goal must be to provide the best affordable customer experience possible, hire, train, and retain customer centric employees, and develop and implement business plans that maximize today and build for the future.
Out of Balance - Results Centric
If you get out of balance by focusing on business results over both the customer and employee experience, you may be successful in the short term but risk alienating customers and employees over the long run. If employee training and communication focuses purely on Business Results there is a high likelihood that the overall customer experience will suffer. Focusing on selling products or high margin skus versus satisfying customer wants and needs will not build loyalty.
October 2008
Business Today = Change
Doing Business in a Difficult Economy
It seems that everything you thought you knew about how to succeed in business just doesn't work. Today everything in the world is interconnected and what happens in Europe, Asia, America or the Middle East affects everyone. Very few business leaders fully understand what is happening, why it is happening and what they need to do to respond as business changes from prosperous to difficult, competition increases and margins shrink. Your customers vote with their dollars and with your business behavior, your budgets, and your strategies you hope that something will work.
Strategies must be developed that address the current situation and how to move your business forward. You must understand your leadership's mindset, employee's behavior and your customer's response. You must also honestly assess your operational foundation. If there are weak operational structures you chose not to address in good times, when business get tough, these operational weaknesses might determine if you make it or not through a downturn.
What was successful yesterday may not work tomorrow. Underlying problems must be understood and addressed. Both large and small businesses must take an honest assessment of their business model, brand position, the current reality and then embrace change.
What is going wrong?
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