New Approaches Are Vital for Survival in Business
In these difficult economic times, life has been incredibly brutal to approximately 10 percent of the
workforce by telling them, directly or indirectly, that there currently is not a need for their particular
skills or service. Ouch! Almost every business has also felt the sting of the recession, some significantly like
Circuit City and Linens ‘N Things. Many companies are facing an even greater challenge: surviving the recession
while keeping up with their tech-savvy competitors.
One of these companies is Blockbuster who has historically
been late to the game, specifically in comparison to their competitor, Netflix. NetFlix, a latecomer to the
movie rental industry compared to Blockbuster, has a good grasp on how to use technology to suit the needs of a
fast changing market and always seems to be one step ahead of Blockbuster. Last month, Blockbuster announced
they are closing up to 960 stores and will be moving the business concept to a kiosk which will put them in
direct competition with Redbox, a five-year-old movie rental company already operating nearly 12,900 kiosks. If
each Blockbuster store has 15 employees, that will be an additional 9,000 people looking to realign their skill
sets in a highly competitive and rapidly changing marketplace.
This world is changing and it is changing fast. Some industries such as the United States Postal Service,
White and Yellow Page phone books, and daily newspapers are what we would call “dinosaurs” and are literally
dying or are in significant decline as we write. The decline of these companies proves that it is crucial for
business leaders and employees to embrace new technology and to stay informed on changing industries so that
their businesses and skills stay one step ahead of the competition.
Just as Alvin Toffler said, learning and unlearning is important. This learning that he speaks of does
not only involve incorporating new technology, but changing your ways of operating. The economy is not what it
was even two years ago and this warrants implementing completely new approaches. These changes could (and
should) include altering budgets, creating new marketing campaigns, acquiring new skills, and learning to get by
with less – anything to help bring your company, and your position, safely through to the other side of this
recession.
In working with many clients in multiple industries, we are seeing just about everyone learning to do a
lot more with significantly fewer employees. Employers have had to learn what is really important, and how to do
the important things a lot more efficiently. It is our belief that strong profitability is going to return to
the balance sheets long before we see full employment once again. This recession, for some a depression, has
changed everyone for a lifetime.
While it may be difficult right now, we all know the economy will improve. It always does. What we don’t
know is if employers will hire the same people back into the same jobs, and at the same employment levels we
experienced in the boom times. Employees: Click here to read 10 tips for
increasing your chances of long-term success.
Need
help? Peter Barron Stark Companies has been
building organizations where employees love to
come to work and customers love to do
business for more than twenty years.
Our Services Include:
Please visit our website,
www.peterstark.com, contact us via email,
peter@pbsconsulting.com or call us toll free,
877.727.6468.
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