Friday 2 December 2011

On Tough Times and Desperate Measures

About tough times and desperate measures: People often forget that when they bear themselves poorly in a time of crisis, they are remembered for it when things are good again.

The business environment the world over has gone into "ethical flexibility" mode and the full array of dirty tricks is out there. 10 out of 10 corporations are trying to manufacture "just in time" in a ludicrous attempt to cut stocking costs. 10 out of 10 of them have cut jobs and replaced experienced personnel with cheap newbies and generated great internal insecurity and numerous operational errors. 10 out of 10 corporate customers create lame excuses to delay payments sometimes as long as 90 or 120 days. 10 out of 10 large corporations are crying "wolf" and pressuring their suppliers for price-cuts and short delivery lead-times.

It seems that short sightedness still prevails in a world that strives to deal with the repercussions of short-term profits and other unsustainable devices to create "easy money". When will business managers understand that there is no magic wand in business? There's no Harry Potter in the supply chain that will shorten a lead-time of 8 weeks into one of 5 days. If you can't plan ahead, close shop. Industry is not for you.

A deal is only good insofar people get paid a just ammount for what they do and what they offer. Business is only sustainable when there is some level of order and trust. Without honour and a good dose of common sense, everything collapses.

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