First of all, it is my own thoughts and opinion, similar to my paper assignments during years of my studies. You can say it is a continuance of my apparently never ending learning process. Most of all, out of period of tedium! I can name a few retail businesses around here on top of my head that used to have obscenely long queues; American style burger shops, Bubble Tea, Floss Bread, Glazed Doughnut shops, and the most recent one, Frozen Yogurt (you may go on if you have some more to mention). Many of these businesses entered the growth period so fast, unfortunately only to have a short span of success, as they entered maturity level soon after. The lucky ones gets to keep their business running at stagnancy, the rest choose to close down after the declining revenue. Similar to a behavior and life span of a fungus!
In another area, market demand is always high for food business, one being fresh seafood products. Let’s name a few; sardines, tunas and prawns. But as I read the news morning after morning, certain areas that used to be fishermen’s haven, where harvesting capacity used to reach more than 50 tons of fresh seafood a day, now have to settle for 5 tons a week. Due to the rapid decline in domestic supply, many seafood companies have no other choice but to import raw fish to keep their businesses going and on top of that, the cost is 5 times the normal price. How sad! This fact just gets me thinking, businesses rely too much on exporting our own raw natural resources and less effort of rehabilitation. Current generation now is paying the price.
Similar conditions happened in mineral industry. This country is one of many countries that are blessed with so many varieties of natural resources. We have coal, natural gas, iron ore, gold, silver, oil, cooper and many more, due to the country’s biodiversity existence in various ecosystems. But current circumstances have forced the industry to import all of those products to supply domestic demands. Why? The decline in domestic supply is also the effect of regulation that allows the export products in raw form, allowing companies the flexibility to maximize their profit through export opportunities in shocking volume. There are finally talks about prohibiting the export of raw products. The plan was said to take place in 2014 (the year of the next election, hm… go figure!).
In the midst of the above conditions, the public realized that only giant corporations around here can keep surviving in these moments of ambiguity. However, it doesn’t mean they are running without problems and concerns of their own. Many that are running on a thin ice (though not necessarily) developed partnerships with overseas corporations. Okay, though I would like to continue writing about automotive, telecommunication and technology industries, I better stop it here. After all, how much could I possibly know, right? I’ll leave that discussion to the more knowledgeable ones, who I happened to have lunch with just now.
One example from numbers of international companies and corporations that are able to maintain their strength in the business world is because some of these businesses are running as they embrace a cause. It can be to preserve cultural heritage, organic, saving environment and many more CSR substance, which require a large sum of additional capital to communicate it to the consumers. But it does make sense because nothing builds brand loyalty among today’s more-difficult-to-please consumers (tell me about it!). Their level of toleration increases when dealing with a company that stands for something beyond profits. And above all, these corporations are providing continuity for generations to come by giving back to the community and environment.
Whatever the strategy is, the execution requires consistency that is able to keep being implemented and updated according to the most recent market trends throughout the years. In short, apparently once one is determined to be successful in a business venture, the learning process will never end. There goes my early retirement plan!
