Interesting article - Rallying Cry

Just read the following and found it very interesting.

Business Matters: Business improvement
Business Matters: Business improvement

Jim Brown, partner at BDO, issues a rallying cry for South West companies that now is the time to improve.

Now is the time for Business Improvement

Like many of you, I continue to listen to the news and read the paper in the morning in anticipation of not necessarily good news on the economic front but at least some clarity – uncertainty in business, just as in life, is the hardest thing to deal with.

Sadly, however, there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel and the economic picture continues to be massively mixed:-

• recent huge falls in global equity markets;

• risk of default by the US government; and

• structural economic issues across many Western economies.

But against this, I work with and meet a growing number of businesses that are doing OK, indeed in many cases, better than OK. The two seem irreconcilable but show the impacts of perception or confidence on our national and local economy.

When we completed our survey of business across the South West earlier this year we got this same mixed and uncertain picture, with businesses in many cases nervous about the future despite their own strong performance. We concluded our survey with the quote from Jack Welch Jr, former Chairman and CEO of GE: “Take control of your own destiny or someone else will.”

Unquestionably there are challenges but now is the time for action and we all need to be doing things to improve our businesses regardless of business sector and of whether it is currently prospering or struggling.

The only certainty is that inaction will turn our worst fears about the future into reality.

Improving a business requires changes to both the tangible and intangible aspects of business and as such its measurement bridges the gap between underlying economic reality and business sentiment – i.e. a true measure of how things are and if they are improving or not.

BDO will be working with a broad range of businesses across the South West covering the full spectrum of industry sectors and ownership structures to measure the condition and direction of travel of South West business with our Business Improvement Index.

This will not only measure the health of our local economy but will also help to shape the things that we all need to be doing to build on the progress or halt the declines depending on where we are.

We will be running a range of workshops, seminars and other sessions to help drive business improvements across the region with all businesses taking part in our analysis as well as producing regular thought pieces based on our research findings.

The South West is a diverse economy and we welcome other businesses that would like to help in our research and get involved in the events around it. If you would like to get involved please contact me (jim.brown@bdo.co.uk).

Recessions ultimately shape stronger better businesses – make sure you are one of them.