The economic situation is very difficult as we know on everyone and on every business, mainly the local ones. This is why the first measure that every Owner/CEO/MD is taking is reducing cost and expenses: laying off employees, stopping training programs, reducing or canceling consultancy & advertising agreements etc…this is maybe understandable because Companies are in a survival mode trying to rescue what is remaining from their business.
But if we think differently about it for a moment, these measures will fire back because if every company be it small or big, local or regional start doing the same thinking putting their company direct interest first, the result will be affecting more and more the other companies they are dealing with and it will have a ripple effect that will return to hurt them as the whole economy suffers.
We need to acknowledge that all the pieces of an economy are interconnected and when firms cancel a not-so-urgent investment, they are reducing revenues for a number of people who in turn will not be able to purchase the company’s products or services. It is a circular economy that acts like a boomerang.
A good example is what is happening with the banking sector. Everyone knows that if we keep rushing to withdraw cash to be saved in homes, the faster the banks collapse would be. But yet each individual think for himself without admitting that he/she is part of an ecosystem that is threatening to break down on all of us!
What should be done instead is actions driven by a solidarity spirit, trying to support as much as possible each other in this difficult time by avoiding canceling contracts, reducing wages, firing people but instead re-orienting all resources towards what is needed today, changing the priorities; the strategy not the purpose. Exploring and developing innovations & new business models that the new emerging real economy mandates.
By doing that Companies will win on the mid & long-terms as they play a wiser role in reinventing themselves while supporting the smaller providers maintaining the viability of all business sectors ecosystem, vital to sustaining the Lebanese economy .
Cutting cost, although easiest step to make, must not be done without first rethinking what the near future would look like and rather explore smart & fluid reallocation of resources, Strategic Thinking and Scenario Planning should be though off to find the right solutions that may not be obvious at first.
Solidarity is one of those key themes that could become an overarching strategic plan that can keep us all on the boat and avoiding the ship from drowning by self-inflicted holes.
This Solidarity Theme was dominant in the October Revolution on social and human levels and should be dominant as well on Business level for Lebanon’s sake. “One for all and all for one” should be our new motto.
Carole Ayoub
Partner & Senior Consultant at Brandcell