Business Transformation in a Saturated World
In a globalised economy , porous learning and eponymous leadership are a normal. The effects include a dedicated discipline to continuous change , fluid capital allocation norms and self branding of individual/organisational strategy to create a halo of invincibility. The future is always better , the world is always changing and organisations / individuals are always helping/supporting their ecosystem .
Conventionally an Enterprise was aligned to deliver value and mine cash in response to meeting consumer demand. Over time , the theories of cash mining have converged onto a same platform of production and efficiencies. Nature has not bestowed any reasons for basic and anticipated human demands to change , eventually production systems are catering to virtually similar requirements but taking alternate routes or gambles to multiply their investments. A majority of these plans are going awry as business strategy innovates methods of taking risks by operating at farthest thresholds of common sense and generally accepted practices. Such situations are giving rise to narratives of comebacks , capital rescue , value re-engineering etc. The sum of all such programs has evolved from Restructuring> Change Management > Pivoting > Business Transformation.
The human population has touched a 6 billion mark with the wealth distribution extremely skewed amidst a minority. The very nature of wealth is to find methods of concentrating and enriching itself rather than dispersing its presence. Wealth commands immediate and timely returns, it occupies a level of stress that does not permit time to allow for plans to take effect. Wealth provokes plans of dominance and the moment wealth feels risks towards multiplying it calls into place actions to cut losses . The connection between growth and risk always play truant to management plans. Most plans involve a deep and heavy post mortem and cathartic surgery of existing vectors to grind out a different output , hoping for it to be better than the current. Why go through this trouble ? What makes the literature of failed expansion plans seem irrelevant to common sense judgement calls ? Why are the odds of a home run always better in judgement than in real life ?
A look at the auto sector gives a good idea of the problem hypothesis at stake . Driven by passion to be a global player , almost all major manufacturers have spread their bets too thin across geographies, product profiles and distribution networks. Resultant rescue programs involved cost cuttings, supplier coalescence , plant shutdowns etc. The question of being geographically and product wise concentrated never occurred to anybody . The plan of looking up from just being an auto manufacturer serving individual units to a mass transport solution provider catering to population clusters. Why is a METRO the scope of a public institution to plan and produce, when the nearest element to the customer's problem of transport are auto companies. Imagine the possibilities when the auto cos had devoted all their capital , technology and effort to innovate on a larger dimension rather than look for larger domination. What prevents a problem definition limited to a linear thought process of producing in a factory and delivering the product close to the consumer rather than being the solution itself.
The bubble of valuations for online businesses have reached mature levels of valuation. Most businesses simplify into an online captive user base that plays a more focussed arbitrage between supply and demand. The play involves a legitimate action to move from predictive demand to prescribed demand , yet the valuations are saturating as the initial capital gains have now concentrated and the underlying regulatory and personal risks of this business are coming to the front. The imagination of this sector never moved to a reformative status of improving the conditions of its consumers. Rather than just a market place , no platform has evolved as integrator of communities , groups or businesses. Is the index of ingenuity or artistic revolution improving ? Why are native arts , sciences and skills going extinct ? The transformation is looking to outlive itself and destroying its natural consumer base. The web founded for freedom of information is now decaying with its ability to spy on its natural consumers.
The leader in search technology is a wonderful example of a business transforming itself. The pioneer of search technology , this company wants to be the next innovator in most fields. They limit themselves to a possibility that nothing is extra ordinary , bringing fantasy to reality with its innovations in democratizing information . Their eco system has catalysed human thinking and they are now pushing frontiers in energy , transport and communication.
The idea of business to be selfish in its growth brings with it the greatest risk of self immolation. The transformation programs are extremely naive to only shed cosmetic frills and expect differentiated results. The arbitrage of wealth , experience and knowledge in this world is startling . A look at leaders in spheres of politics , sport , music , art and business indicate the next wave is coming from a place of impoverishment. The business transformation should look at different dimensions people , pride and practice rather than just an arithmetic re work. The current demand paradigm is saturated , the next wave of evolution should consider spatial demands of an inclusive and relevant world . With a our population striving to exist on a depleting resource , the drive of capital to grow is getting a reality check . The business transformation paradigm needs to evolve into a secular, primal , unifying force that seeks to do good rather than just make good profits.