Monthly Archives: December 2016

Business people must be proud. When operating wisely and ethically, they bring value not only to themselves, their people but also to the society at large.

The call for businesses to do better, to deliver results and to improve stems not only from the self-interest of businessmen but also from the way markets are naturally structured to function to serve the general needs of society and as a result, create value.

As the New Year is approaching, it provides a good opportunity to think anew our businesses: What we deliver and how? Which customers are we addressing? Is our business growing or is it in a stalemate? What are our responsibilities to ourselves and our people? Are we considering responsibilities to other people too?

Responsible business people must think wider and honor the role that society has entrusted business to play in creating mutual long term benefits.

A business, above all, is an instrument of economic performance, but we must not forget that it has in its ranks people and operates in a local/global society, and therefore it is also a part and an organ of society. It is its own goal to grow and expand and become better that, when achieved, also creates value and prospects for society. Thus a businessman’s responsibility for success cannot be confined to himself alone but must extend to society as well.

This societal responsibility of the business becomes clearer and more easily understood during business failures and bankruptcies where the business owners/managers are obligated with none or limited responsibilities while society is asked to foot the bill for the business failure.

So be it good or bad times, a businessman must also see himself as an agent to whom society has entrusted resources [...]

Management is not a thing that by virtue of having it a company can rest assured that it has fulfilled that part of its business obligation. We want to argue that management makes a difference as a force of differentiation and thus it is very necessary for companies to work on their management and improve it as much as they can.

But let’s first examine what drives our businesses? Answer:

(a)    The capital investment we made at the start

(b)   Customer demand for what we have designed to produce

(c)    Our people whom we employed and

(d)   Management

Capital investment is mostly a one-off action over a long period of time. Customer demand for a specific product is again not an everyday affair. And our employees after hiring become rather permanent. Only Management is a constant daily function with a dynamic responsibility to produce out of these resources the maximum possible output. How? By Management assuming responsibilities, among others, to:

Set Objectives
Organise people and work
Motivate workers and managers alike
Design a strategic course
Work for now and the future
Constantly communicate the purpose and aims of the company
Create a harmonious culture of integration and synergy
Improve its people by training and coaching

Daily, Management has to organise, to engage and mobilise, to have and place the right people at the job, to create the right positive environment, to show direction, to align the workforce with the company purpose and vision.

The way things are done and the way people work is an important responsibility of management. And in that lies Management uniqueness and power for in a company its people are its main resource and their best utilisation is a most sought-after driver.

Thus it may be said that Management drives [...]

Internationalization and Globalization are long words with long life-changing consequences for businesses and societies alike. They are without doubt a force of trade and equally so a force of bringing people together, and by creating for them a mutual interest they contribute to world peace and stability.

They stem from a global way of life that the web and travel have catalyzed in many ways.

But they are also primarily the result of the concept of free trade seen in the wider context of a borderless planet. The most able business by quality and costs is a winner and supplies its products/services to all interested customers on earth. And the customers get the benefits that wouldn’t have if confined to buy from locals only.

By their nature, they favor the big, but the small also have their chance to wider markets if they can offer a differentiated product that might be configured with ingenuity on their local advantages.

Surely what propelled globalization some years ago, it may be different today.

The first blow to globalization came some three years ago from the political measures and sanctions on Crimea. Then recently and very noticeably, we saw Brexit, and in the US the election of a president on the promise of closing the borders and moving out of existing international treaties.

The narrow concept of nationalism is a blow to globalization. Nationalistic flames, especially in Europe, have been fanned by an unprecedented refugee movement from the war-torn countries of the Middle East and its nearby regions. There is the danger that the nationalistic flame will burn brighter in other countries too toppling established political order in favor of extreme nationalistic movements.

I am not aware of any calculations as to the economic loss, [...]