Complacency put businesses at risk, says report
NEARLY 90% of fims wish they’d done thing differently at the start of the credit crunch, a new report reveals.
A study by advisory firm Lane4, which was co-founded by Olympic Gold medallist swimer Adrian Moorhouse, showed that 36% of companies would also be in a stronger position if they’d reacted sooner.
The majority of respondents (89%) said that they would manage the challenges faced over the last 12 months differently if they had the time again.
Senior managers, chief executives, directors and partners from global organisations large and small revealed that their top three challenges were revenue growth (56%), cost control (53%) and managing change (53%).
The report also found that 29% of organisations were focused on cost-cutting, redundancies and cash flow while 23% were prioritising business development, marketing and strategic alliances.
More than 15% said they were emphasising leadership development, performance management and internal communication. Only 14% said they were pursuing operational efficiency through restructuring, detailed planning and maximising productivity.
Surprisingly, only 12% of firms said innovation was important with a focus on new products, diversification and identifying new routes to market.
However, although 11% said they would not have done anything differently, 36% said they wished they’d reacted quicker.
Mr Moorhouse said: “Complacency is a dynamic of humanity and perhaps it’s inevitable to the extent that life is cyclical. It’s very hard to be disciplined all the time.
” In sport, when I was away from competition I might go for a couple of beers at the weekend. It’s good to take a sigh of relief – the question is how long is your sigh?”
