In a posting titled Consumer Recalibration, I offered some observations about how people are shifting their purchase (and life) priorities in response to the current economy. Like those consumer shifts—or in response to them—most businesses are recalibrating, too.
Companies in virtually all categories are taking a second (and third) look at almost everything they do, and every dollar they spend. Legacy industries are scouring their practices, hoping to find cost savings. They know heritage companies are often home to things that are done a certain way, “Because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
In a nearly endless sea of business advice, I’ve set aside two different articles which seem to make sense of these corporate self-evaluations. One of those stories appeared in the New York Times, titled “How crisis shapes the corporate model.” The other comes from the Harvard Business Review, and offers “Five rules for retailing in a recession.”
Implications: Whether you’re a corporate strategist or a street-level retailer, you realize that few customers are spending money “The way they’ve always done it.” Thus, smart companies are not satisfied to run their business, “The way they’ve always run it.”
Has your company scrutinized any function that is process-based… and doubled-down on everything that is results-based? Are you cutting costs wisely… or chopping with an ax those expenses which should have been trimmed with a scalpel?
If you’re in a B2B industry, are you doing everything in your power to help clients see your expertise as an important “value added” ingredient? Many organizations are exploring uncharted territory right now. And the more you can do to help show them a viable path, the more likely you are to transcend the role of vendor… and achieve the title of partner.
For corporations, just like consumers… expectations are changing.
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