If there is a shred of truth in some of the visions of the future that are doing the rounds, only the brave will attempt to take on the new world of business many seem to think is heading our way.
Just this week, attendees of the SA Oracle User Group conference 2005 were told SA would soon face a world of hostile competition. It that is not scary enough, it seems technology is to blame.
According to New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, technology is levelling the playing fields in the sense that it is enabling people in central Europe and Asia to do things that were never before possible.
The result is that as technology advances, huge numbers of new players are entering world markets. This is changing the rules of competition, if we are to believe business strategist Tony Manning`s interpretation.
According to Manning, the competition is going to become incredibly tough because of what technology is enabling these new players to do in combination with work schedules that would be illegal in SA and any other country upholding workers` rights.
So what`s the solution? Should we learn to work harder?
New rules
The challenge is finding a way for organisations to speed up the ability to change and stay in tune with reality.
Warwick Ashford, portals managing editor
Working smarter seems to be the solution offered by many technology vendors and industry experts alike. It may be a hostile new world, but perhaps the key word we should be focusing on is "new" and not "hostile".
If it`s a new game in a new world with new rules and players, surely it is obvious we need a new way of thinking and acting?
Whether it is in the world of RFID or e-billing, the reality seems to be the same: business thinking is not keeping pace with industry, which is not keeping pace with a rapidly changing environment, which is driven along at a dizzying speed by technology.
The challenge is finding a way for organisations to speed up the ability to change and stay in tune with reality.
Fortunately, Manning offers a solution. He says organisations need to get real about the changes in the local and international market, and then get real about what they can and cannot do as a business to help decide what they are going to concentrate on becoming exceptionally good at in order to survive.
Do less
Getting real about the market means realising there has been a shift of wealth locally that has resulted in many new customers in the marketplace, customers are generally smarter and more demanding, and that companies have to tap into global resources to remain competitive.
In other words, local may be "lekker", but it is not necessarily competitive. Service delivery strategies by companies like Dell Computers indicate that organisations that can co-ordinate global supply chains successfully will be the ones who win in the end.
Manning cautions organisations against trying to succeed at too many things. He says South African companies tend to try to do everything to their detriment. Instead, Manning recommends concentrating on doing fewer things exceptionally well and picking those objectives extremely carefully. It makes sense to me.
Ultimately, getting real about the future seems to involve getting to grips with rampant change by deciding on a specialised goal and then heading in that direction, but all the while learning and adapting to change as quickly as possible.
The experts seem to agree that the company that can learn and adapt the quickest will win the race. That`s the new reality.
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