The Business of Managing and Marketing in The Age of Turbulence
When the US financial meltdown hit in 2008, we were asked by our clients and friends, “How deep will it be? How long will it last?” The truth is, no one knows.
Globalization and technology are the two main forces that helped to create a new level of interlocking fragility in the world economy. While global interdependence works in everyone’s favor in good times, it rapidly spreads much pain and damage in bad times.
Turbulence, with its consequent chaos, risk, and uncertainty, is now the “new normality” for industries, markets, and companies. We are hopeful that Chaotics will help you lead your company to maneuver, perform, and thrive in this new age we have now entered. And we look forward to discussing these ideas here.
In June 6th’s Financial Times article entitled, “Wal-Mart finds turmoil brings more opportunities than ever”, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke states, “there is a ‘new normal’ in which people want to save money and are getting smarter about saving money.”
Wal-Mart now also recognizes that fundamental behaviors must change (both their own and their consumers) in the “new normality”, which will be with us for many years into the future.
If you haven’t seen it yet, Marshall Goldsmith has a great interview up on his blog with Phillip Kolter on Chaotics.
They discuss what’s wrong with businesses having a “2 playbook” strategy and how to be profitable in a tough environment. The article has some nice specific examples and definitely worth a read!
I was so pleased to read a brief just released by Economist Intelligence Unit http://www.eiu.com/site_info.asp?info_name=orgagility&page=noads&rf=0. The brief mirrors our own Chaotics formula for success stressing organizational flexibility as key to navigating troubled waters. Organisational agility: how business can survive and thrive in turbulent times examines the challenges and rewards of organisational agility, particularly in tough economic times. Their major findings are:
You can download the full report on the EIU website. It is a worthwhile read and reinforces the principles we have outlined in our book.
Based upon the recent news in the US about the US Treasury Dept mandating stress tests for US banks (with at least 50 percent of the banks failing the tests), so should Boards of Directors of ALL companies - publicly traded or private, large and small - apply their own stress tests and compel the executive management of their companies to be responsive, robust and resilient - a type of “Chaotics certification”. This is especially compelling as many markets (including the US and the EU) attach personal liability to directors who fail to act responsibly in their duties as directors.
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© 2009 Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione
All Rights Reserved. Chaotics is a registered trademark.
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