Looking without …and… Looking within

There are many changes in the business environment today. Have you taken stock of your current position and how you may be affected by these changes .. negatively or …Positively?

You may be a small company or a large one. You may be in the IT sector, or in biotech, in the realty sector, or in retail …or in a totally different area.  It does not matter in which sector you are in; it is possible that you may be directly or indirectly affected by the major turmoil in the global financial sector. Money is what fuels much of business and you may be part of a chain which could be impacted.

Bangwave Technologies, was initially of the view that it would not be impacted by the rumblings in the financial sector. They spoke to Gyan, their business advisor. On his questioning them, they looked more closely at their client list. They realized that one of their important clients, BrightTelco, had recently raised funds from financial institutions. Only a small percentage of these funds had been actually received by BrightTelco. As a result, there was a possibility of the contract with Bangwave, either being reduced or, in the worst case, cancelled. The founders of Bangwave started thinking of ways in which they could reduce the impact of any such actions.

Gyan’s advice to startups and other entrepreneurs: "Take this opportunity to take stock of what you are doing today and how you could be impacted by the downturn and changes. Think through how you could address possible issues. Do not stop at this. Also think through how you could find opportunities in such an environment. During turbulent times, there are also opportunities for new ways of doing business. Review your business model. Look at your financial structure. How are you marketing yourself? How are you differentiating yourself from competition? Study your operations and delivery mechanism. Think through the people issues. The smart companies and survivors look without and within whenever there are such changes and put in place a revised/updated action plan to a) Minimise the impact of such turbulence and b) See if there is some opportunity they can capture. "

So what are your thoughts about your business today? Do you see some opportunity in this churn?

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