Just to Survive?
As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only thing constant is change.” In today’s economy it is easy to see how the changing environment is shaping the business landscape. The credit crisis has rocked once sound institutions, and given us much to reflect on. The precarious balance between promoting a financially healthy society and turning a short term, more self-motivated profit has been tipped. It is no surprise that over the past few years we have seen corporations rewrite their mission statements to adapt to the demands of consumers, while struggling to stay alive.
The changing environment brought today’s business advanced technology. Today, the business environments are changing into a new type—e-business. That is, technology has increased the capabilities of communications, which has ultimately taken globalization to another level.
How Can Business Environment Be Affected?
It is known that the cultural, technological, economic, and political landscapes are the factors affecting business environment and all of them are dynamic. These factors will continue to evolve, and shape the lens through which we view business and the ways we allow them to operate within our society. Good businesses must be adaptive to their environment and bring strong principles to help them deal with inconsistencies that exist across the globe.
After All the Changes, What Do We Have?
Sustaining a healthy business in the dynamic environment is not an easy thing to do. Ensuring society’s health is a great method for ensuring that there is a long-term market, and long-term demand for one’s product or service. Good corporate citizenship can often be criticized as being a tool for marketers or as an easy means for a tax-break.
To maintain the principles and promote a responsive role in the dynamic environment must link communications with the overall vision. Clear communication channels must exist from the field to the home office, and across functional areas. This allows for vital information at the lowest levels to be recognized at the highest, and ensure that the operations of one unit are not conflicting with another. In short, it is the communication channels and communication technologies that exist within a company that allow for a company to operate at a higher level of precision and adapt to changes.
Examples and Personal Experiences...
One example of poor communication is the Pier 1 Imports Company. Pier 1 became the nation’s largest supplier of imported home furnishings, and pretty much stagnated when they reached the top. The money that was coming in was not invested to improve the supply chain effectively throughout the organization, and the management took a centralized approach to roll out initiatives. The top-down strategy left little room for input to be communicated up the hierarchy.
Another example of good business citizenships is that how we are all seeing businesses changing by more stores offering reusable shopping bags. Many grocery stores are now offering bags for consumers to purchase and reuse as a way to cut back on using plastic bags that may not get recycled.
One personal experience from my work life is that I assisted in running a business which served as a preferred dealer for DirecTV in China. Each year DirecTV holds a conference for its dealers to announce new products and services. Last year they enhanced the service of recording shows for their customers. With the new changes a customer can set up their online account and manage their TV recordings from anywhere they have access to the Internet. In a world where more millennial customers are tech savvy and on the go, this feature meets the consumers needs by offering access at their own convenience.
References:
http://www-07.ibm.com/innovation/includes/pdf/ngdotcoms.pdf
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/375850/adaptability_and_change_in_business_pg2.html?cat=31
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10232001-152437/unrestricted/03chapter3.pdf
Related links:
Online article discussing how computer company HP is reducing the packaging for its products.
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/02/hp-reduces-laptop-packaging
Online article about the millennial generation and how they are changing the business environment.
http://c-psolutions.com/2008/08/80-million-millennials-change-the-business-environment/
A video about the millennial generation presented by 60 minutes.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/08/60minutes/main3475200.shtml
I agree with you that there have existed a lot of changes recently in global business environment. However, it is difficult for businesses to adapt to such changes and even some managers still resist to changes. Managing changes is always a challenging task for any organization. This requires the mutual trust and respect among all parties involved. It also needs a commitment from those who add value to the organization to achieve common goals. Additionally, it requires leadership with respect to the ability of showing vision, a willingness to change, learn, understand, and patience.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the stores offering reusable shopping bags. I recently heard that there is discussions to ban regular shopping bags (paper and plastic) and forcing everyone to use the reusable ones. Some people are protesting this. Its a commitment some are not willing to make. There are still many people who are resistant to change.
ReplyDeleteDealing with change is never easy for business, especially this period of time. Most companies cannot predict what will happen in the future. Companies dealing with much change needs to focus their attention on continuous improvement. They must try to strengthen the internal aspect of the company, which will then be able to adapt to change easier. Companies have focus way to much on short term profits, and limited continuous improvement
ReplyDeleteIt's tough for business to stay in the positive eye of the media/public. After that first slip up of any kind in a negative fashion that business will have to work really hard for really long to get back into the good side of the media. Media can be a very annoying part of business. Media has the ability to ruin the reputation of a good business within a small amount of time.
ReplyDelete