8 Key lessons we have learnt from launching our own podcast

We launched Whiteark - The Chiefs Podcast in October 2020.  We have loved every minute of it.

What makes leaders tick? The Chiefs gives you insight into what makes our great leaders so great. With organisation’s top chiefs in the hot seat each week, we chat about the highs – and lows – and lessons along the way; tackling the biggest issues people are facing today. We know that leading can be a lonely role and we believe that learning from other great people is one of the best resources we have. So join us on our journey, and enjoy the stories behind some of the greats…

At the end of May here are the key statistics for our podcast:

• Number of Episodes: 32

• Key Topics covered (maybe some groupings) – People and Leadership, Impacts of Covid, Post Covid Recovery, Data, Transformation, Innovation, Sales and Service.

We have interviewed a range of leaders; young, older, CEO, Executive, owning and running their own business.  Each leaders provided so many great tips and lessons around their leadership journey.  It’s very inspiring.  In 30 mins it’s amazing what you can learn about someone. 

We feel privileged to have some amazing leaders that have shared their stories with us and our leaders and we are also privileged to have so many loyal followers. 

When I reflect at the end of the week; on my highlight it’s likely that that the podcast will be my highlight – I’ve met someone new, I’ve learnt something new and it’s given me some inspiration / perspective.  I feel very honoured and privileged to be able to take their precious time to share their journey and wisdom with our Whiteark family.

There are 8 key lessons we have learnt from interviewing 35+ leaders on The Chiefs Podcast:

1.   Everyone has a story – regardless of age/role etc everyone has a story to tell.  Tell your story so your business understands how you got here and what this role means to you.  People want to know your story.

2.   People learn most from their mistakes – failure is ok -it’s how you respond that is important. Everyone makes mistakes, yep it’s true but it’s how you respond that separates people.  Learn from your mistakes and move forward.

3.   Your job is to make hard decisions.  It’s not all about consensus, you need to make the right decision for the organisation.  Listen, understand and make a decision – your people will respect you for it.

4.   Sometimes your job is lonely so finding like-minded professionals for connection is important.  For me business chicks business club has been a God send but find your mentor, your support network.

5.   Trusting your employees and giving them he environment to flourish is critical.  Trust is easy to say but actions speak louder than words. 

6.   Being able to navigate ambiguity is critical – make decisions, pivot and dealing with ambiguity and moving forward will be critical.

7.   Being a leader requires you to be at your best – look after yourself – put your oxygen mask on first and ensure you look after yourself so you can come back tomorrow for another day.

8.   Be authentic – authentic leadership – be yourself and your people will respect you and follow you.  While it’s talked about a lot really being true to you and being your own leader is critical.

While there are other lessons that we have learnt these would be have been the top 8. 

We continue every week to bring you leaders that inspire, challenge and give you a different perspective. For an investment of 30 mins of your time – please tune into The Chiefs each week on Wednesday to ensure you don’t miss a beat.

If you would love to be on our podcast – please click the button below and we will be in contact.

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Want to talk about building your business? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

The challenge has been laid to develop a Supply Chain Strategy that supports Australia’s renewed obsession with lifestyle

Article written by Matthew Webber

The way that we buy, move and sell Is shifting in seismic proportions. We have had all the indicators within our radar for some  – the uptake of ecommerce as a legitimate and safe platform for retail shopping, geo political trade wars playing out between large, industrialised nations and emerging nations along with increase consumer insistence on visibility and ethical sourcing practices. In amongst that we have had significant environmental impacts such as fires that have wiped out communities along with floods that have isolated regions.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

Australian Supply Chains continue to be impacted by global events – necessitating a rethink of the sovereignty of our Supply Chains

Only in the last week have we seen how truly volatile our global supply chain networks are with the blocking of the Suez Canal by the Evergreen Cargo Ship ‘MV Ever Given’ in an unfortunate accident as the result of a sandstorm -  potentially blocking up to 15% of global trade as goods need to pass between Asia and Europe. The question my Australian reading audience may ask, what would the Asia- Europe trade lane between have to do with Australian trade – and the answer is a lot. For a start, ports will become congested – the same ports that need to unload Australian export cargo, capacity will be stripped from the shipping market driving prices up, supply will be interrupted for manufacturing and oil prices will be driven up. That is just the start. This is one ship that has interrupted a global economy and it impacts your business, your people and your customers

Then of course we have had COVID-19. I reluctantly bring up the pandemic – because it is not the only issue of our times – yet it is so big – we cannot ignore to comment and acknowledge the shift that it will have in our psychology as a nation. Not to dissimilar to a war period – we are seeing fundamental shifts in our attitudes and behaviours – not just as a market, but as a people.  The pandemic has been an ongoing issue for the global economy for well over a year now. The reactions, repositioning and rethinking of supply chains has been considerable

These are obvious impacts that have been impacting and shaping our supply chain strategies. For some organisations this has provided significant opportunity as they have created new business models or adapted exiting ones to suit. For other businesses, they have been slow to respond, and as a result have been lagging behind – and sadly for some the slow response has resulted in their demise. For those that have been fast to react – there is a chance that the successes may be short lived unless we start unpacking what is actually happening to the psychology, behaviour and ambitions of our nation.  

“What does a Post Pandemic Australia look like?

On Wednesday 24th March 2021, I had the wonderful fortune of attending a Whiteark event where Bernard Salt, leading Demographer and commentator, presented a fascinating and insightful talk on the ‘Post Pandemic Australia: What we can expect’ .”

Bernard’s discussion of course was validating many of the impacts that global disruption has had on supply chains, and Bernard himself has publicly spoken about the opportunity to rethink our global supply chains and consider carefully the need to make our Supply Chains more sovereign. Put simply – the global environment is too volatile not to protect the key manufacturing capability and product availability of key necessities for the welfare of our nation –from a healthcare, security or economic perspective. This philosophy cascades to an organisational level where our organisations need to rethink the sovereignty of their supply chain and have key and strategic lines available and protected from global disruption – like we have seen in the pandemic, the Suez canal incident or more broadly many of the global economic disruptions from moving from an industrialised era to a digitised one.

Of course, though, Bernard Salt challenged my thinking further on the topic of Supply Chain strategy – beyond the obvious. Bernard’s discussion was focussed deeply on the psychology and aspirations of everyday Australian’s. And the theme, and label, that kept recurring was that of Lifestyle. As Australian’s we are obsessed with lifestyle – and the centre of gravity for our lifestyle rests in our home. This obsession has only renewed.

Supply chains need to be geared towards a lifestyle obsessed Australia

What all of these disruptions have done, particularly the major disruption of the pandemic, has reinforced how important lifestyle is to everyday Australians. The pandemic – for all of its pain – has brought with it an opportunity for us to reconnect with our neighbours friends and families. It has allowed us to spend more time in our homes. It has for many cut the daily commute by hours – time that can be spent connecting and enjoying the lifestyle and balance we so desire. Our attitudes to the way that we work have fundamentally been tipped upside down, as we revert to our natural desire of seeking a better lifestyle for our families.

What does this mean – what does it mean for our cities, for our suburbs, for our regional centres. Simply – our suburbs and our regional centres will be activated. The way that we work, the way that we engage, the way that we shop – will fundamentally shift. Not only do we now have some ‘more mature’ age consumers adopting ecommerce, but we also have whole generations behind us (such as the ‘Millenials’ that will up the imperative on placing value on experience and lifestyle even further. Our homes have, and will continue to become, bigger – and who would have thought that now a home office – or ‘zoom’ room would be a required feature of any home.

You may be rightfully asking, what does this have to do with my Supply Chain? The answer is a great deal. If we understand the psychology, behaviours and what ordinary Australian’s value, we can design and build our supply chains to support.

The way that we buy, move and sell will fundamentally shift as Australians adopt to their reinvigorated obsession with lifestyle. Our supply chains will need to be established to support the reactivation of suburbia and provincial Australia. If your supply chain does not directly serve these Australians – it will most certainly need to be supporting the businesses that do.

Our commuting, social, work and leisure activities have fundamentally returned us to be being closer to home – in close proximity to the things that matter to us most – our families, friend and our homes.

You supply chain needs to adapt to the reinvigorated obsession of Australians to their love of lifestyle. Your supply chain will need to be fast, accessible, sovereign and support the new behaviours and attitudes of everyday Australians – the everyday Australians that will be spending their leisure and work time at home or very near to home – and not at shopping centres, high streets, city offices or stuck in traffic on the daily commute.

How is your Supply Chain supporting Australia’s renewed obsession with lifestyle and connection?

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LOOKING TO rethink your Supply Chain? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Supply Chain Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our supply chain transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

M&A Trends and Insights

The economic impact of COVID-19 has led to a material decline in M&A activity globally including Australia. As a result, we have seen fewer transactions and according to Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters), worldwide M&A activity totaled US$1.2 trillion during H1 of 2020, a drop of 41% compared to a year ago and the slowest opening six-month period since 2013. M&A activity abroad appears to have rebounded to some degree since the end of June 2020, presumably as economies have started to reopen. The Financial Times reported that since the end of June, 8 deals each worth more than US$10 billion have been announced.

Australian Private Equity History

Compared to the US and UK private equity (PE) markets, the Australian PE market is relatively immature.  The first venture capital fund was established in the mid-1980s by Bill Ferris, and the fund performed well but it was not until the Australian Government set up an Innovation Fund in the mid-1990s offering A$2 funding for every A$1 raised that the venture capital industry accelerated.

Between 2000 and 2010, deal sizes and fund sizes grew exponentially in Australia and many global private equity players such as KKR, Carlyle, TPG and Blackstone opened offices in Australia with a view to acquiring large businesses beyond the reach of the smaller newly formed local funds.

Australian Private Equity Landscape

Fundraising in Australia has become global with Australian institutions seeking global exposure and Australian PE managers having to raise funds abroad in competition with fund managers across the globe. Consequently, only the best performing funds have raised new and larger funds in Australia, while only a small number of Australian fund managers from the early 2000s are still active.

A decade ago, the vast majority of PE deals in Australia were by Australian managers investing Australian institutional money.  By 2019,  between 60-70 % of PE investment in Australia came from offshore funds with many adopting the “fly in fly out” model investing from their home base or from regional APAC offices in Hong Kong or Singapore. This trend for increased investment by offshore PE in Australia is set to continue for a number of reasons including:

• Higher levels of local competition and high prices in their home markets of US and Europe, some growth capital funds, and buyout funds, have abroad for investments;

• Australia has a stable political environment, first rate governance and rule of law, a strong economy and a reputation for technology and innovation;

• Australia has reduced competition from local funds due to consolidation and the relative weakness of the Australian dollar to the US dollar, it is easy to see why Australian deal values have been attractive to US investors.

Australian M&A Market

In Australia, M&A activity for the first half was subdued. Announced deals in Australia and New Zealand dropped 51% in value terms with the largest public company transactions being:

• Iberdrola’s bid for Infigen at $1.5 billion (topping an earlier bid by UAC Energy, a joint venture between AC Energy and UPC Renewables);

• Uniti Group’s proposed merger with OptiComm, valued at $540m;

• Shandong Gold Mining’s bid for Cardinal Resources, valued at $335m.

All other deals announced in that period had a lower value, though this excludes a number of significant transactions including:

• Bain Capital’s acquisition of Virgin Australia (in administration), agreed in June, but not strictly a public company transaction, given the nature of the transaction;

• TPG’s $15 billion merger with Vodafone which completed in July, as that was announced in 2018;

• BGH’s $542m recommended bid for Village Roadshow as it was agreed in August.

… download the full guide to read more.

“CONTENTS

> Introduction
> Australian PE History
> Australian Private Equity Landscape
> Australian M&A Market
> Recent Market Developments- Revised Foreign Investment Rules
> Impact of COVID on Asset Valuations- Digital and Technology assets
> Variable Consideration as part of Asset Valuation
> Renegotiation and Reneging on Agreed Transactions
Key insights from the 2H of 2020
> Deal makers widen assessment of value creation to non-traditional sources
> The impact of a hot IPO market on M&A
> Looking ahead: Resilience and innovation”

Need support with your M&A? Reach out to the Whiteark team.

We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous.

Fuelled by passion, we revel in working with Private Equity; the pace, targeted focus on business optimisation and limited timeframes spark unforeseen transformation opportunities, which we’re excited to deliver on. Our approach is rooted in data, ensuring the right decisions are made – based on accurate information. Hands-on, we get into the trenches with you, working directly with the management team to realise outcomes expected by shareholders. We offer a range of transformation services which can be tailored to suit standard private equity options; always accompanied by a laser focus on profit optimisation of the business.

Digital Transformation Playbook

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and while technology is changing, companies will continue to be forced to change. New technologies can disrupt established businesses, but more importantly they stimulate opportunities for innovation. In today’s environment, business owners are more concerned about missing opportunities to grow, than become obsolete.

Technology prompts companies to rethink how they do business.

Technologies including big data, the cloud, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence are helping entrepreneurs to develop new business models and disrupt the established way of running operations.

Digital technologies are:

• Enabling businesses to operate in new ways to deliver more value to customers and generate more productivity and cost efficiencies

• Altering competitive landscapes

• Changing the economics of markets

“CONTENTS

> Technology
> What is digital transformation?
> Guiding your digital transformation strategy
> A digital transformation approach
> Tips for successful digital transformation
> Benefits of digital transformation”

Guiding your digital transformation strategy

Digital Strategy

A clear strategy determines your organisation's ability to reimagine and transform your business for the digital world. A multi-year digital strategy focused on driving customer experience, operational efficiency, and new revenue.

The digital strategy is the foundation for operating the business and delivering on business targets. New revenue streams, customer experience, and operational efficiency will all be viewed from a digital lens.

Technology modernisation is critical to your ability to meet changing market demands.

12 benefits of digital transformation

Need support with your digital transformation? Reach out to the Whiteark team.

We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous. Contact us to book in an obligation free conversation today.

Supply Chain Transformation Leadership in Action

Article written by Matthew Webber

One of the key attributes for any prosperous supply chain of the modern era is to have the ability to adapt and respond. We can design our supply chains structurally, and technically, to deliver on this outcome, however we do have to move our supply chains from where they are today, to where they need to be in the future.  We need to do that through leading our people, our partners and our communities in which we operate.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

We are in effect leading our supply chains to be change ready. Being change ready is a question of culture, and culture needs to be led.

Change is difficult at the best of times, but when you are trying to change a global supply chain with multiple interested parties, suppliers and communities the need to  be omnipresent and lead through action is telling.

The key actions required by a supply chain leader when navigating transformative challenges are to:

• Lead the vision

• Build confidence

• Empower people

• Communicate effectively

• Build the right team

Now let’s take a closer look at how to go about this.

Lead the vision

Leaders will be very good at finding the common thread that connects people to a mission or a cause.

Great supply chain leaders will be able to share a vision across the entire supply chain. They will also respect different cultures (geographical, industry, organisational) and needs within their supply chain community and embrace the differences as an advantage.

Given that the vision will cross so many organisation and cultural boundaries, it needs to be stated in a way that provides both brevity and clarity, and something that is able to be understood at all levels, in all organisations, in all geographies.

The vision must state where it is that you are going, why you are going there and importantly what are the key steps that need to be undertaken in getting there.

The collective vision will be a powerful foundation for all parties in your supply chain to engage with and provide as a beacon when making difficult decisions or provide guidance when confronted with difficult challenges.

If your vision is not a collective vision and does not value the contribution that all your stakeholders make to your supply chain, it will be very difficult to harmonise towards a common goal.

Build confidence

We can almost become fatigued by the disruption that impacts our supply chains – bushfires, pandemics, new systems, new ways of working, change in governments and policy – the list, as you are aware, goes on. We need to build confidence, and resilience,  for our people to be able to face into each challenge as they arise. Being challenge ready and having the tools and support available to address the challenges is part of the solution.

People need to believe that the change is realistic and will create value. How many times has something been promised but not delivered? Where is the plan? How is it going to be resourced? Where does it start? How long will it take? What does it mean for me? Have they considered my situation? These are just some of the conscious and subconscious thoughts that could be going through people’s (as well as suppliers, service providers and communities) minds.

People gain confidence from wins, but those wins must not be rhetoric – they must be real wins that can be measured and are meaningful. Supply Chains can be big moving beasts, so being able to break it down into meaningful parts to create many small wins that support a broader, strategic intent is important.

And of course, believing that change and value creation can be sustained will provide confidence. You need to demonstrate that a new process, business model, distribution or manufacturing technique can survive past the initial implementation phase. You must measure, and be able to communicate, your ability to sustain an initiative.

Empower your people

Empowerment in your supply chain is about making sure the people, the communities, your partners are equipped and enabled to deliver their part of the value. We need to show support, provide the tools and training and create the space for this empowerment to occur. They need the capacity, competence and confidence in what they are being asked to deliver.

We also have to think about how teams in different environments and cultures learn and operate. For instance, a development program in one organisation, in one country may not be the most appropriate as in another organisation or another country.

It is important that everybody in the supply chain is empowered and equipped with the right tools, methods and mindsets to be able to cope with the change that is upon us. We not only need this capability, but we also need resilience so that when times are tough or we are under pressure, we actually have the capacity and capability to deal with the challenge without sacrificing our commitment to value creation.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

There is a lot of communication noise out there. Think of all the news services, all the work emails, all the social media – we are completely saturated by information and it is very difficult just to absorb everything, let alone understand it. So now let’s think about that in a Global Supply Chain context – with all the various parties and stakeholders, and all the moving parts, it can be overwhelming to say the least, and communications are in danger of becoming just a lot of meaningless noise.

You have to be able to cut through that noise so that your messages can be received and understood. This is why it is absolutely critical to have a consistent, systematic and deliberate routine for communicating valuable and meaningful information.

The words used, how they are said, and the tone used are very important in a global setting. You really need to ensure that you adjust your communications to suit the local situation – and you should do this with the support of the local teams. You also need to have systems in place that ensure that communications are received and understood and are in fact interpreted correctly.

Build the right team

For any business, the only real competitive advantage is people. While process, the way a business is organised, how resources are used, or how goods and services are marketed are all contributors to competitive advantage, they actually arise because of the people.

We can see that if we have people that are not culturally, or perhaps philosophically, aligned that it will slow down the transformation effort. 

This must be a collective effort, and you must take necessary efforts and steps to ensure that the people operating in this setting are safe and have the right support and structure around them to help them be a success. 

Your team extends beyond just your organisation – it reaches into the collective team of your partners and the communities you operate in.

We need to be able to link the supply chain through people and engagement – after all it is the people that will make our supply chains operate effectively and deliver value.

A common mistake that is made in the transformative efforts of supply chains is that they focus solely on the structural, or technical, elements of the supply chain. The biggest transformative failure comes when we do not consider the change readiness or capability of our people, partners and communities. Transformation in our supply chains must be led, and it must be led through action.

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LOOKING TO rethink your Supply Chain? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Supply Chain Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our supply chain transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

Competitive advantage is now shifting to the Supply Chain

Article written by Matthew Webber

We are living in very uncertain times, driven by the various disruptions that are playing out in front of our very eyes. The level of disruption is often overwhelming, and the certainty, safety and security of our supply chains are under threat. It will be those organisations that can bring a level of consistency and reliability in their supply chains that will most certainly be well positioned for competitive advantage.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

Disruption has also created a level of complexity in our Supply Chains that is confusing our decision making, impacting our opportunity to service or even to manage costs in an orderly and sensible manner. The complexities often have impacts that reach far greater than the organisation itself, and often are impacting communities and environments that are not in close proximity at all. Organisations that develop Supply Chains that can address this complexity, and make it on surface seem simple, are placing themselves in a strong competitive position.

We are moving from a world of industrialisation to digitisation. The impacts of this is in itself uncertain and complex – but it will most certainly have an impact on the way we work, the way we manufacture, the labour we use, the skills we acquire, and most certainly the geographies we operate in.

How organisations design and execute their supply chains will be the fundamental source of competitive advantage going forward. Supply Chains that are value and demand driven will certainly place themselves at an advantage over slow and reactive supply chains.

Let’s look at some strategic levers you can consider as you lead your organisations supply chain transformation strategy for competitive advantage.

Make data and digital your friend

Big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (including tagging, sensors and geolocation technologies) and blockchain are all means by which organisations are transforming their supply chains. Of course, on their own, these means are worth little, the value comes in the way that the information can be captured, disseminated, visualised, shared and acted upon.

What needs to be appreciated is the amount of information that flows across the entire Supply Chain and the awareness of how the ability to access this data in a meaningful way can add to the value proposition.

The manual collation of data and information is an inefficient way of doing business which exacerbates risks in the supply chain by delaying information flow and visibility.

Organisations are innovating to be able to operate with decisive speed, ensure that they are meeting and exceeding standards and providing customers, partners and other important stakeholders on demand information that meets compliance standards or reinforces messages on promises made.

With the amount of data and information being used, shared, and published – security is also becoming of paramount importance. Not only is there an expectation that the information is trustworthy, and able to be relied up so there needs to be integrity in the information (which can be potentially met with block chain technology), organisations also need to guard themselves from misuse of the information, ensuring that the information is used in the right context for the right permissible purposes. They also need to guard against cyber-attacks.

There are a number of ways that you can start making data and digital your friend;

1. Build an information strategy that provides for the on demand access to information and insights across the entire Supply Chain - create opportunities to share and collaborate on data and information sources to aid the operational planning and execution, network configuration and control of the Supply Chain;

2. Develop data capturing methods, activities and devices to be able to capture useful data, automating the collation and production of key insights and reporting;

3. Identify the areas of key risk and opportunities in your Supply Chain – ethical, operational, commercial and develop predictive modelling to leverage insight capability and to sense supply chain disruptions ; and

4. Establish safeguards to ensure the security of data and information.

Start Automating

There are many reasons why Supply Chains are transforming towards Automated and Robotics solutions. Access to reliable labour sources are becoming a challenge particularly for countries where there is an aging population, competing demand on labour, the lack of skill generation (or potentially the reverse where labour resources are upskilling to less labour orientated vocations), there is safety reasons, and cost imperatives that are also driving the push towards automation. On top of this is the exponential growth in ecommerce and the need for fast, reliable, consistent and accurate operational performance.

It would be difficult to envisage operations that are completely automated. By definition to automate something, you need to be able to provide the instruction on what the activity is that needs to be completed, how to complete the activity, when to complete the activity and so on. This requires human intervention and input at some level. Toyota have a principle of ‘autonomation’ which is basically automation with some human touch. This would involve approximately 80 to 90 % automation of process with the allowance of human engagement for improvement to the system.

 Whilst there may be significant impacts to employees, and potentially economies relying in the use of manual labour to provide these services that can now be automated – the counter argument of improvements in productivity, reduction in safety issues, job creation in the innovation and delivery of automated solution, and the reinvestment of capital into more meaningful (and often more impactful) ways.

There are a number of ways that value can be created through Automation;

1. Building an automation strategy that provides for reduction in manual tasks that may create safety, reliability, accuracy, efficiency and service bottlenecks;

2. Redeploy resource into value adding activity which has customer focus;

3. Partner with automation design experts; and

4. If you want to be successful at automation, you must place people at the centre of automation – that may seem counter intuitive, however it is people that make automation successful, not robots

Design your Supply Chain with adaptability in mind

A one size fits all strategy for a modern Supply Chain will simply not work. Customers are becoming increasingly demanding upon what their requirements are, and how they want their expectations fulfilled.  

This resonates on so many fronts for the supply chain strategy. How products are made, where you source from (and from who you source from), what geographies you operate from, how you manufacture and how you manage logistics, the depth of your relationships and the integrations of your systems will all have a significant bearing on how you can customise your offer to your customer, and how you diversify your supply chain accordingly to meet this requirement.

Supply chains need to be configured around the channels, clusters and customer experience expectations. Essentially customers need a supply chain menu, where micro segments are offered to meet the customer experience requirements of the customer and the efficiency requirements of the organisation.  This could mean many things to many organisations – but as a start you could be thinking about different supply chains based on product characteristics, channel (such as physical or online) or even the velocity and predictability of the demand.

Technology in manufacturing and production needs to be leveraged to be able to deal with complex, unique and customised designs. Additive manufacturing (commonly referred to as 3D printing)  and rapid prototyping techniques are enabling a “fail fast” mentality, more complex design, smaller parts and less waste.  This will have significant bearing on size, scope and location of manufacturing facilities and where and how products are sourced, milled and configured.

With the vast amount of data available, and the ability to link this data, and collaborate with this data – the opportunity to build more demand driven supply chains is realistic. Whilst the concept of demand driven supply chains is not new, it has in many circumstances been unachievable because it has relied on historical data sets. With embedded sensor activity, remote engagement and instruction, predictive analytic models and the ability to scrape social media data and collect data from open sources the ability to predict demand, recognise patterns and anticipate changes is greater than ever before providing for the ability to customise solutions.

There are a number of ways that this value can be created through designing an adaptable Supply Chain;

1. Building a diversification strategy supply chain strategy that provides for the ability to respond, build, distribute and satisfy customisation needs;

2. Establish a multi geared, multi clustered supply chain that is linked to the customer experience anticipated;

3. Establish data collection capability from multiple sources that can be collected, curated and  managed; and

4. Realign manufacturing and production footprint, methods and location to create the ability to customise based on customer preference and volatility in demand requirements

Together is better than alone so collaborate

The benefits of collaboration have long been recorded in the world of global supply chains. Collaboration provides the opportunity to share the weight of common problems, develop more insightful solutions, leverage the various perspectives and intellect from across the supply chain, to share the investment and resource allocation and of course to build value and share in the spoils in very fair and reasonable manner.  

Collaboration is a hot topic for the current environments, and for reasons no more important than the fact collaboration is the core ingredient to innovation and developing solutions to fast, complex and spread problems that have infiltrated the supply chain. For many of the new and emerging technologies to function they need a higher degree of collaborative effort.

Like the Apple iPhone requires the collaboration with app builders to make the iPhone an attractive value proposition (without the apps they are just another phone), supply chains require the collaboration of key elements to make a fast, agile and responsive supply chain work. It is near on impossible to run every aspect of the supply chain on your own, the sheer scale makes this unachievable. You need systems, service providers, suppliers, finance and so much more to connect the supply chain and bring value to life in the global supply chain. 

Cost driven, transactional style relationships with partners and providers is a significantly outdated and inappropriate course for a supply chain strategy dealing with disruption and realignment. You need meaningful relationships, insights, technologies and operational capabilities to actually be able to create value. Toxic relationships, and ones with no trust, are not only exhausting, distracting, expensive and unreliable – they are a threat to your brand and ability to drive social impact and to do the right thing.

Digital and data capabilities will of course make the collaboration effort easier, and more powerful with the aggregation of information that on its own is nothing special but combined becomes a source of insight and considerable strategic advantage. The magic happens when there is alignment with supplier performance and consumer behaviour. 

There are a number of ways that this value can be created through collaboration;

1. Building a collaboration strategy that provides for the ability to innovate and create shared insight and value;

2. Consolidate your partner base to provide the opportunity for deep relationships that enable collaboration practices to evolve and thrive;

3. Develop data, insight and best practice sharing capability – including the opportunity for teams from both organisations to work in each others environments; and

4. Identify and prioritise problems that can be solved collaboratively

Don’t forget your values

There is no doubt that there is a greater emphasis of all organisation to provide a greater focus on ethical and sustainability issues. There are also greater opportunities for organisations to create competitive advantage specifically through what they value and how they go about doing business.

There are very pragmatic reasons why organisations focus on values and socially focussed initiatives. For a start putting aside competitive advantages that can be created through value alignment, organisations focus on these areas to mitigate reputational damage risks and also focus on these areas for regulatory compliance reasons.

Being Values driven and socially focussed is not an afterthought, it must be an application of intent and desire.

What it requires is an exerted effort, strong focus, consistency in behaviour and messaging and a very authentic will – otherwise it will be seen as a dressed up marketing ploy. Long consistent repetition of positive actions and behaviours are the order of the day.

There are a number of ways that this Value can be created through values;

1. Building a values and social impact strategy that provides the source and foundation to create value, and competitive advantage;

2. Create a business case that considers a holistic value concept view of value and moves beyond short-term financial effects;

3. Leadership support, communication and behaviour that is consistent with the values and social impact; and

4. A long term view of consistent, repetitive reinforcement of the values and commitment to social impact that earns the trust of the supply chain and customer community

One thing is for sure, our Supply Chains will look very different in terms of the way the operate, and how they are positioned.

The organisations that can transition effectively stand to gain significant advantage over the long term – in fact it is almost certainly becoming a race, and a race that we have no choice but to join.

The race of business will be won and lost by how organisations organise their Factory to Customer Supply chain and adapt to the new environments that are upon us and can satisfy the growing demands of the modern customer and the experience that they expect. 

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LOOKING TO rethink your Supply Chain? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Supply Chain Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our supply chain transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

Retail Transformation in Disruptive Times

Article written by Matthew Webber

It is both confronting and somewhat depressing to turn the pages (physically or digitally) of a newspaper to see yet another retailer fall victim to the economic climate. There is nothing nice about an empty shop front, the loss of jobs or the withdrawal of an important community institution.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

It is though happening at such a rate that we are almost becoming immune to the headline story and this creates an additional challenge for us all.

These fallen retailers are often iconic brands that people have relationships with,  sometimes these brands have become national treasures, and they are employers of thousands (sometimes tens of thousands) people.   

They are in fact serving an all important role in society whether that be supplying little Mary’s bike for Christmas, putting food on the tables for everyday people, or providing clothes for everyday wear or of course for a memorable event.

Retail is indeed an institution, it is iconic, it is for many an emotional experience. It is little wonder we don’t want to see it change. The problem is though it is changing, and the ball of momentum is rolling down the hill and picking up pace.

Like any change process – whether that be for the retailers themselves, or for the customers that hold them dear we need to understand Why it needs to change in order for us to change. It is then important for us to look forward and see what the future holds, and then importantly how do we get from here to there.

Why Change?

Survival

Sometimes in life we have to make the message simple so not to dilute or cloud the message. In this instance there is no greater reason to change than for survival. It is that simple and clear.

This is, for all purposes a likened to being in a paddock being chased by a ferocious Lion – with the good fortune that you can find safety (and opportunity) though only available if you run towards it. If you stand still, your future is bleak, if you run in a direction other than the one that presents the opportunity you will also meet the same fate – albeit a little more puffed out!

Survival can mean so many things and have different meaning to different people – whether that be the ability to remain in business to fulfil a dream, having the opportunity to provide jobs, or even the in the pursuit of retail excellence to provide a great service to your customer.

What though is clear, is you must be first  concerned with basic needs, in this case survival to then meet our psychological and self-fulfilment needs as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs would suggest.

There can be no greater reason for change than survival.

What does the future look like?

The good news is that the future is up to you. You can create the future in any way that you like, and one in which fulfils your objectives. There are some guiding principles that you will need to consider though as you create the future. 

1.     Customer centricity

Having a healthy obsession with your customer is key. This is about understanding their needs, being empathetic to their problems and having the ability to design solutions that will create an experience that they can emotionally connect with.

2.     Option creator

Customers need choice to meet their changing needs. They need options that they can have their needs met.  Creating a rigid business model will almost certainly fail in a world where the consumer is craving personalised attention in a very busy world

3.     Fast (and furious)

With the onset of technological advancement, and an economic environment where the power balance has well and truly shifted to the customer – there is a need for speed. This relates to the entire experience – how they interact with you (in person or digitally), the fulfilment of orders or the creation of solutions. Your supply chain (physical, information and financial supply chains) will need to support this. Your customer needs what they want yesterday – it is the world we live in.

4.     Digital

Digital must dominate your business model – whether that be providing your customer with the ability to buy online, the way you structure your supply chain or the way that you collect insights and learnings about your customer, industry, market and opportunities. Your customer is digital, so must you.

5.     Trusted

Your customer needs to Trust that you will deliver in your promise, trust that you have their interests at heart, trust that you understand their problems and how to solve them and have trust in the information, data, and emotional insights that they share with you. The move to a faster, more digital world comes with a greater onus on the Retailer to deliver on Trust. Remember people are at the centre of Trust.

Steps you can take

Now we have a flavour for the reasons why Retailers must change and a view into the attributes that are required to establish the future vision, it is important we consider how to get from the current environment to the new world.

1.     Listen to your customer

As simple as this sounds, it is the most important thing that you can do. The trick is to listen in a way that seeks to understand (just as Stephen R Covey would suggest in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). It is easy to listen in a way that just validates your views, but if you listen in a way that can identify their real problems and how they would like you to solve for them – value will be created.

You will need to immerse yourself in their world, understand the data (including from social media) and look to their behaviours and actions. Customers, particularly retail customers,  speak with their feet (or fingers in a digital world) so listening to your customers behaviours is one of the most powerful tools you can use.  

2.     Define the problems and Create the opportunities

Work with your customer on solutions, and trial and test concepts as quickly as you can. Set up an innovation hub, a centre of learning so that you can collaborate, learn and develop.

Scan the globe for clues in how other retailers have solved for the same problem, or in fact how other industries have solved for like type products. By all means be original but do not invent the wheel. A great deal of energy can be expended trying to be too clever. Keep it simple and relevant.

It all starts with identifying and defining the problem well. This will help you move with speed when you test and trial solutions with your customers. Having your customer provide the insight and engagement in the problem definition will almost certainly ensure that they are engaged with you on the solution

3.     Design an adaptable, and commercial,  Business Model

Design a business model that supports the future and delivers on the value proposition and build in a way that allows the business model to adapt to changes in the environment. It is also critical that you create a business model that is commercial.

Many great retailers have fallen foul of moving their business into the digital world only to realise that the cost to service and fulfil orders in e-commerce can be expensive and slow. It is important to design your business model that  is customer centric and which can actually fulfil the promises you make to your customers and people.

4.     Effect the change

You need to be able to effect the change. To effect change you need to be able to lead the vision, build confidence, empower your people, communicate effectively and build really solid teams.

This will be your internal ability to adapt, transform and execute to deliver sustained business performance. Ideas are only ideas until they are executed. Even the best laid plans amount to nothing unless they are done. For ideas to be done you need people to engage with and embrace change as opposed to fighting it. You will need to be change ready.

Being change ready will enable your organisation  to act with speed and agility. It means you can do more with less and importantly ensure that you are not only a retail leader, but a profitable one

5.     Do the right thing

We highlighted that Trust is an important attribute for the design of future retail models, and with good reason. As you transform you need to ensure that you transform in a way that makes customer and commercial sense, but also in a way that ensures you do the right thing by the people and communities that you operate in from Source to Customer. 

This could be how you (or your manufacturers)  treat the workers in a factory in Bangladesh, through to creating safe work environments for the people fulfilling your orders or transitioning your labour force from bricks and mortar retail to a digital one. It may even be how you use and safely store data.

There are short cuts that can be taken in any transformation, quite often at the expense of people that are most vulnerable. 

Your customers in the new world expect you to do the right thing from source to customer. You as a retail leader should expect nothing less. 

There are significant opportunities for Retailers to reinvent themselves, build relevance and create significant advantage by following some very basic principles. The future is able to be created and reimagined.

The cost of inaction is just too high.

It just requires a rethink.

LOOKING TO rethink retail? Adjust your approach and G2M strategy? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Retail Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your Retail business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our retail transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

A Comprehensive Covid Report

A closer look at how industries have been affected by the pandemic that swept the world.

Source: IbisWorld. Note: This is based on Stage 4 Restrictions.

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Recently, we asked our followers what they wanted. What would be truly helpful to them in these unprecedented times, and the answer? Industry specific breakdowns.

We all know that every sector has been affected in one way or another, there's heaps of generalised statements floating around that provide helpful overviews. But what people were after was a more specific breakdown of exactly what the impact would be to their area of operations and ideas around how they could pivot, adapt and thrive as we move forward into the new world normal.

So, here it is. A comprehensive deep dive into 18 different industries - we hope you enjoy the read.

What's in the report?

Setting the Scene
Impact: How exposed is your industry?
Impact Analysis: Exposure Definitions

Industry Deep Dives
Accommodation & Food Services
Arts & Recreation Services
Education & Training
Manufacturing
Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
Retail Trade
Mining
Construction
Health Care & Social Assistance
Transport Postal & Warehousing
Administrative & Support Services
Public Administration & Safety
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Wholesale Trade
Electricity, Gas, Water & Waste Services
Finance
Information Media & Telecommunications
Rental, Hiring & Real Estate Services
Bonus Article: The Importance Of Innovation

Managing Uncertainty: Three Key Strategies

A recent survey by Whiteark found that people in business were more concerned about uncertainty than any other issue.  This is understandable given the shocks of the past year, including extensive, tragic bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic recession, and electoral mayhem in our most important ally, USA.

When business executives are confronted by increased uncertainty, many seek to cut costs – both operational and marketing – which is usually not an optimum strategy.

We seem to experience major shocks about once a decade and there are smaller unexpected disruptions more frequently.  I have listed the major such events that I can remember in Appendix 1.  As in 2019-20 there are times when we have to cope with more than one disruptive factor.  Other potential catastrophes and their impacts are listed in Appendix 2.

Can we predict shocks such as these, and so prepare?  If not, how can we survive such shocks?  Why do some companies get stronger during a period of uncertainty?  Before addressing these questions, it important to consider the types of uncertainty that we may encounter.

Types of uncertainty

Reports that say there's -- that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things that we know that we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.

Donald Rumsfeld (then US Defense Secretary) in February 2002, speaking about the lack of evidence linking the government of Iraq with the supply of weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

— Mark Twain

It is a shame that Donald Rumsfeld was not more familiar with Mark Twain’s writing as he may have realised that there are two types of known knowns.  One is true known knowns and the other is fallacious known knowns.  The latter often stems from a false assumption or theory that has become a strong belief (had he known about the latter category, perhaps Rumsfeld may have referred to it as unknown knowns).

Economist Frank Knight, in 1921, defined risk as a quantity which can be measured while uncertainty is not measurable.  That is, we can compute the likelihood of a risk event occurring in a given year (perhaps on the basis of past frequency of occurrence) but uncertainty does not have a known probability distribution.

There may be some factors or events which are impossible to imagine and so these are completely uncertain.  This is most likely because they have never happened before.  They are the “Black Swans” of Nassim Nicholas Taleb or the unknown unknowns of Donald Rumsfeld.   Taleb, in his books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan, describes Black Swan events as having three characteristics.  The first is that nothing in the past could have convincingly pointed to its possibility.  Secondly, the event has an extreme impact.  Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the event – retrospectively making it appear to have been predictable even though it wasn’t predicted.  Technological developments can be Black Swans when it comes to long-term forecasting – for example, it would have been very difficult for someone in 1945 to imagine that in less than 60 years  there would be cheap, very small and powerful personal computers with high bandwidth links to billions of others.

There are some events which we know can happen but we don’t know where or when and how severe their impact could be.  These could include extreme weather events (such as hurricane Katrina) and other natural events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, large solar flares, collisions with large meteors or comets.  Then there are disease pandemics and terrorist acts.  While these are highly uncertain, we know they can happen and may be able to take some precautions – such is improving the levee banks for New Orleans, constructing resilient buildings in earthquake prone areas, developing tsunami and volcanic eruption warning systems, and developing new medicines.

Financial markets and consumer markets can also suffer from events which we know can happen, but we can’t predict their timing or likely severity.

Then there are changes which are slow moving and there is little uncertainty about their impact – and yet we take little or no precautionary action.  The only uncertainty is when we will act.  Examples of this type of change are provided in Appendix 3.

Can we predict shocks and so prepare for them?

Yes, we can predict some types of shock and we can have some idea of their likelihood.  The following is from the editorial of The Australian Financial Review of 4 July 2011.

“Imagine this. The year is 2017 and a virulent strain of H5N1 avian flu has jumped from poultry to humans in the crowded southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The virus quickly spreads across the porous border into Hong Kong, then sweeps rapidly through the rest of Asia. The World Health Organisation declares the outbreak a pandemic as governments around the globe break open their vaccine stockpiles in an effort to protect their citizens from the deadly virus. But the measures taken by health authorities do little to stop the spread of the virus. The pandemic ends up killing more than 50 million people around the world, transport and trade systems grind to a halt, and the global economy tips into a recession more severe than that caused by the financial crisis of 2008-10.”

The 2020 pandemic occurred three years after that posited in this scenario.  It was not avian flu, but a corona virus – although it did transmit from an animal and probably started in China.  As at 30 November 2020, 1.46 million people have died rather than 50 million but 63 million are known to have been infected.  The current global recession is indeed more severe than that of the financial crisis of 2008-10.

The scenario cited by the Financial Review was from an OECD report at the time, which identified and described several other potential shocks.

The current pandemic has been described by some as a one in a hundred year event by reference to the so-called Spanish flu of 2018.  It is not!  There was a deadly flu pandemic in 1957-58 which killed more than a million people worldwide (Asian flu).  The Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968 also killed more than one million.  In the past 17 years there have two earlier deadly corona viruses – SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 and MERS (middle east respiratory syndrome) in 2012.  They petered out, but should have served as a warning.

Despite these warnings we were unprepared for the pandemic.  We did not have enough supplies of personal protective equipment and sanitiser.  There had been no pandemic rehearsal for over a decade.

Managing uncertainty means that we should treat how we managed this pandemic as a dress rehearsal and learn from the experience.  There will be another pandemic and it could be soon.

It was possible to predict a severe economic slowdown in 2008-09, but people in power at the time did not want to see the signals.  In mid-2007, I was able to predict the slowdown in Australia and to warn my clients.  I realised that three shocks could occur together in about mid-2008 and that the combined impact would be a significant slowdown.  One was the sub-prime home loan boom in the USA, which was likely to slow their economy when the bubble burst.  Another was the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate policy.  They had been lifting interest rates since 2002 in an effort to quell inflation.  I knew they would go to far and so they did, lifting interest rates in August and November 2007 and in February and March 2008.  By the end of 2004, the proportion of household disposable income which was consumed by interest payments exceeded the 9.7% record set on the eve of the recession of the early 1990’s.  By mid-2007, the burden was 11.7% and yet the Reserve Bank piled on the misery, lifting the burden to 13.3% on the eve of the GFC!  They obviously did not see it coming.  The third predictable impact was associated with the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.  I had visited Beijing in April 2007 and witnessed the huge construction boom as the whole city was reconstructed – not just sporting facilities.  A metro with 500 underground stations, whole villages demolished and replaced with apartment towers – all built using steel made from Australia’s iron ore!  It had to come to a shuddering halt before mid-2008.

The Reserve Bank of Australia did not see the GFC coming, but they were not alone in that.

Legendary US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in 2008 "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms”.  He regretted his earlier opposition to regulatory curbs on financial derivatives which left banks facing billions of dollars worth of liabilities.

The danger signs for Australia were there as I have described above, but the experts in charge of monetary policy and financial regulation were oblivious to them.  All it took was good general knowledge and imagination to develop the scenario.  Both of these skills are important in anticipating shocks.

The 2019-20 bushfires were of unprecedented ferocity, but they were predicted long in advance (see Appendix 4).  Adequate preparation was lacking, despite the predictions.

Preparing for uncertainty  

We can prepare for uncertainty by using two techniques: scenarios and peripheral vision.

Scenarios are plausible futures, like those described above for a pandemic and a significant economic slowdown.  They must be accompanied by plans for managing should they eventuate.   Developing a set of scenarios can increase resilience.  The aim is to develop plans which can succeed across a range of scenarios.  We do not attach a likelihood to each scenario because we are dealing with uncertainty but we may be able to discern which scenario is most likely as time goes on, based on a range of indicators.

Peter Schwartz wrote the early guide to scenario development, “The art of the long view” (Currency Doubleday, 1991).  He lists eight steps in the development of scenarios:

1. Identify the focal point or key decision.  This will increase the relevance of the scenarios.

2. Identify the key factors – what will the decision makers need to know when making choices?

3. List the driving forces that influence the key factors.

4. Rank the driving forces by their levels of importance and uncertainty.  This will focus the analysis on issues which are both highly important and uncertain.

5. Select scenario logics – a diverse set of plots spanning the range of plausible outcomes.

6. Fleshing out the scenarios – develop the narratives associated with each scenario.

7. Implications for each scenario – what are the opportunities and vulnerabilities revealed by the scenarios and how should strategy be adapted?

8. Selection of leading indicators and signposts – which can reveal, as time progresses, which  scenario is closest to the course of events as they unfold.

The intended outcome is plans which are robust across a wide range of uncertainty.  The individual scenarios should be rehearsed so that implementation of strategy adaptation is smooth and efficient.

Peripheral vision

The biggest dangers to a company are the ones you don’t see coming.  Understanding these threats – and anticipating opportunities – requires strong peripheral vision.
George S Day and J. H. Schoemaker in “Scanning the Periphery”, Harvard Business Review, November 2005.

Scanning the periphery is all about answering the question “what don’t we know that might matter”.  Often management reports are quite internally focused – on the business and the market in which they operate.  But demographic change, technological change, regulatory change, environmental change, amongst others can cause major disruptions to a business which are not anticipated.

Peripheral vision involves scanning the broad business and social environments for weak signals of potential change and analysing the implications.  This should be a continuous process.  Unfortunately, this activity can be seen as “nice to know” rather than “need to know” and investment in it can be seen as discretionary.  The global financial crisis which emerged in 2008 was not predicted by economists primarily because of groupthink and a failure of imagination.  Perhaps they had not invested enough in scanning the periphery.

Scanning is sometimes referred to as STEEP analysis (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political) and also has other acronyms such as PESTEL. 

Scanning the periphery differs from scenario analysis in an important way.  Scenarios start with a focus on the key decisions to be made and then identifies and qualifies influential factors.  Scanning starts with the broad business environment and then evaluates how future trends may influence the business.  I recommend that both approaches be employed as they provide complementary insights, which increases preparedness.

How can we survive during a period of uncertainty?

Some organisations lapse into pessimism and crisis mode.  They cut costs across the board, including marketing, and so hand market share to more optimistic competitors.  If the market is shrinking this is devastating and recovery is very difficult.

A study published by Harvard Business Review in March 2010 studied business responses during the three previous recessions to identify the most successful strategies.  It was found that the best performing businesses cut costs mainly by improving operational efficiency rather than by slashing the number of employees.  They also invested in growth. They developed new business opportunities by making significantly greater investments than their rivals in R&D and marketing, and they invested in assets such as plant and machinery to improve productivity.

During the current pandemic and recession governments and some businesses developed near real-time data so that strategy decisions were not based on out-of-date data.  Fortnightly data from the Australian Tax Office on payrolls was used to gauge employment and payrolls, banks provided data on consumer spending via debit and credit card records, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and private agencies conducted more frequent surveys to measure the mood and expectations of consumers and business managers.  Health departments provided daily updates on coronavirus infections.  Mobility data was provided by Google and Apple.

This is also referred to as “fast data”.  It is not only near real time, it is also more granular in respect to location, type of business and consumer demographic.

This regular flow of timely data allowed government economists, health officials, and businesses to adjust forecasts and strategy frequently – to be more agile.

Fast data is essential during periods of uncertainty and our experience in developing information systems over the past year and interpreting fast data will stand us in good stead for the next shock, when it comes.

Can we get stronger during a period of uncertainty?

Harvey Norman sales soared during the pandemic, and so did profits and dividends.  Gerry Harvey said it was the best sales growth he had experienced in 60 years of being in retail. “It started off with freezers and then it went to whitegoods and computers, then to televisions and then to furniture and bedding.  This performance was not by design, but was a consequence of working from home and compulsory cocooning during the pandemic.  Harvey Norman took advantage by strong investment in advertising from the outset.

Other retailers to prosper during the recession have been JB Hi-Fi, Bunnings, Kogan.com, and Temple & Webster.

During the global financial crisis most major brands of vehicles cut advertising investment significantly – because they were pessimistic about recent and expected future new vehicle sales.  One brand kept advertising and so significantly boosted share of voice and market share.  They have held on to that extra share ever since while one of the big brands then, Holden, have now exited the market.  That optimistic brand was Hyundai.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, of Black Swan fame, recently wrote a book called Antifragile.  The theme is that resilience is not the opposite of fragile.  Something fragile breaks under stress, while something resilient does not: but something which is antifragile gets stronger under stress.  Hyundai during the global financial crisis is a good example of antifragility.

These successes reinforce the findings described in the Harvard Business Review article mentioned above.  Investment in growth during an economic slowdown, while also improving operational efficiency, is the best strategy for prospering during periods of uncertainty.

Key strategies for managing uncertainty

1.     Anticipate.  Use scenarios to construct a set of plausible futures complete with appropriate plans for each.  Rehearse the plans and use peripheral vision to be ready to respond quickly.  

2.     Respond.  A strategy which is a mix of improving operational efficiency and investing in growth through increasing market share or creating new opportunity is needed to survive and prosper during a period of uncertainty.

3.     Monitor and adapt.  Develop a “fast data” capability to increase agility as uncertainty develops, peaks, and ebbs.

Article written by Charlie Nelson, Director Foreseechange

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Looking to prepare and plan for uncertainty? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Appendix

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Appendix 1: disruptive shocks over the past 50 years

This list is intended to illustrate the range of shocks rather than being comprehensive.

Appendix 2: potential disruptive shocks

Every year, the World Economic Forum brings out a risks report.  Prominent on the 2020 list were a cyber attack, extreme weather, natural disasters, and human-made environmental disasters.

In 2020 Australian population growth has slumped due to a fall in net migration.  Could there be a significant decline in fertility to continue slow population growth?  It has been speculated that fertility will fall because young adults will be reluctant to bring children into a world where COVID-19 is still a threat in the short-term and climate change is a threat in the medium-term.  The recession also has the potential to cause a temporary decline in fertility due to concerns about unemployment.  Australia’s fertility has been running at around 1.8 births per woman and other countries such as Italy and Japan have lower fertility of around 1.3.  This topic has been researched by foreseechange and current indications are that a significant decline in fertility for an extended period is unlikely but cannot be ruled out.  This research is ongoing.

Solar flares are a hazard for electronic communications.  The last major disruption was the Carrington event in 1859, in the days of the telegraph.  A huge solar flare followed by a large coronal mass ejection struck Earth and induced huge currents into wires causing extensive and costly damage.  Lesser events struck in 1921 and in 1989, the latter causing a huge blackout in Canada.  In 2012, there was an event of similar magnitude to the 1859 Carrington event which passed through Earth’s orbit – fortunately, the planet was in a different quadrant of its orbit.  A repeat of the Carrington event today would severely disrupt all forms of communication, power transmission, GPS and other navigation, and damage pipelines.  The recovery time has been estimated at four to 10 years and the cost at up to $2 trillion in the first year.

In 1908, a large comet or asteroid caused a major explosion over Siberia (the Tunguska event).  The energy released was up to 1,000 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.  Fortunately the area was sparsely populated, but such an impact on a major city would be catastrophic on an unprecedented scale.

A major volcanic eruption is capable of blocking sunlight over large areas for extended periods, creating severely cold conditions.  This can reduce food production and cause illness, as well as curtailing air travel.  There have been several such events in history and they may happen about once every 1,000 to 2,000 years.

Appendix 3: slow and steady disruptions

There are changes which are slow, but steady and seemingly irrevocable – because we do too little to manage the consequences and risks.  This procrastination has current and future financial and human costs.

One of these is the ageing population, combined with still increasing lifespans.  The baby boom of 1946 to 1964 was followed by a baby bust in the 1970’s as women became more able to control their fertility.  This meant that there would be a large generation reaching the traditional retirement age around 2011, followed by a smaller generation than would have previously been expected.  This future problem was evident before 1980.  The predictable consequences were increased funding to pay age pensions, increased demand for health and aged care facilities, and a need to encourage people aged over 65 to keep working.

In the 1990’s a compulsory superannuation scheme was set up and every other predictable need was also put off.  We have not caught up with the needed infrastructure and services yet and there are too many people over 65 who want to keep working but who cannot secure a job.

Another is climate change.  The countries of the world gathered in Rio di Janeiro in 1992 and agreed to take action to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change.  In the 28 years since, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has continued increasing at the same rate.  Temperatures in Australia and much of the world continue to increase.  Sea levels are increasing at a faster rate.

Appendix 4: predicting extreme bushfire conditions in 2019-20

Twelve years ago, economist Ross Garnaut made a prophecy that has devastatingly come true.

In the 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review, which examined the scientific evidence around the impacts of climate change on Australia and its economy, he predicted that without adequate action, the nation would face a more frequent and intense fire season by 2020.

ABC News, 8 January 2020

I, too, provided warnings.  In July 2011, I wrote to the Victorian water minister predicting severe drought in the period 2017 to 2022.  The prediction was applicable to much of south eastern Australia.  The reply, In September 2011, said that the driver of drought which I proposed was not considered by mainstream climate scientists to have a plausible mechanism.  The reply said that planning processes are designed to cope with variability including severe drought.

In January 2019, I again wrote to the Victorian water minister saying that my prediction had come true and that it was time my predictions were taken seriously.  I included a copy of the previous correspondence.  It was a different water minister and a government of a different political party, but the reply was almost a carbon copy:  the government works with Australia’s most experienced and respected researchers and planning processes are designed to cope with a wide range of climate futures including prolonged drought.  Only months later the many victims of the terrible bushfires would disagree with that statement!

Twenty-three former fire and emergency leaders say they tried for months to warn Prime Minister Scott Morrison, beginning in April 2019, that Australia needed more water-bombers to tackle bigger, faster and hotter bushfires.  They were not able to get a hearing.

The catastrophic bushfire conditions were caused by both extremely low rainfall and record high temperatures.  This combination of conditions was unprecedented, but predicted.  The charts on the following page show how severe the conditions were in the three years 2017 to 2019. 

Chart 1 shows the annual rainfall in the Murray Darling Basin, along with the rolling three year average.  The average over the period 2017 to 2019 was the lowest ever recorded three year period, consistent with my 2011 prediction.  Chart 2 shows the mean temperature  and the three year average.  The three year average temperature over the period 2017 to 2019 was the highest on record by a huge margin.  Even more severe conditions may be less than 20 years away!

Chart 1

Chart 2

Article written by Charlie Nelson, Director Foreseechange

Transforming your B2B Sales Team

B2B buying behaviour has become even more unpredictable with Covid-19 and as a result driving customer retention challenges for many organisations who have traditionally leveraged the sales function to manage high value accounts. A multinational client shared with us that their frontline sales teams were now working remotely as their ability to generate face to face meetings with their clients had become near impossible.  

Whilst this trend has been disrupting field sales for many years it has almost definitely been brought to a head and compounded by the pandemic this past year.

Our data and research suggests’ that today’s buyer wants to engage with suppliers through digital channels at least initially. To meet this omnichannel experience for the buyer sales functions will need to leverage new skills and learn to execute the new technologies at their disposal.

The future of sales has been permanently transformed and as a consequence companies that want to be relevant in a sales economy tomorrow need to ensure that their sales processes are bookended and supported by a ‘digital’ engagement will all customers.

Research* suggests that B2B customers are leveraging digital channels for information and guidance prior to engaging sales representatives. In many cases respondents suggested post acquiring the knowledge they needed to make their buying decision they opted away from any engagement at all with the sales rep.

Furthermore, as buyers move more towards digital platforms to help them navigate their decision making process, they are rewarding those companies that have invested in seamless omni channel experiences, hence from a selling perspective ensuring technology is underpinning the sales process has become more critical than ever in terms of revenue protection.

Despite the enormous rhetoric around data and its importance over the last decade research* also suggests that most sales led companies fail to leverage data and AI capabilities to capture customer and buyer behaviour hence enhancing the risk at a relationship level between the sales representative and the customer.

“Sales companies that plan to succeed moving forward must move their cultures towards being the leaders of the selling process as opposed to being the leaders of sellers. ”

That requires a shift in the strategy and focus away from sales professionals as the primary and predominant channel to market and a move towards digital sales channels that are supported by personal human engagement at the appropriate moment for the buyer. In this new world sellers’ decision making will be driven by data, analytics and AI, not on intuition and experience.

A key shift for organisations seeking to transform their sales functions will be their ability to pivot to a model whereby they can be ready to engage a customer in whatever channel they are seeking to be served whilst in parallel having an ability to execute effective selling.

Sales leaders have an opportunity as we move into this next chapter of selling to help navigate their organisations by creating a roadmap that is focused on aligning to their capabilities around customer buying behaviour.

Simple considerations for transformational roadmaps might include:

Position your salesforces as the facilitators of education in the buying cycle

In a world where it’s never been harder for the sales teams to engage and influence buying decisions sales needs to be focused on helping customers feel more confident in their assessment of data and ultimately their buying decisions.

Focus on increasing the digital capability of your sales team

By focusing on up-skilling your sales teams and increasing their digital competence, you will be able to enable your sales team to sell more effectively across various digital channels and in turn be able to be more visible and present to the customer and their buying pattern.

Reconsider your GTM channels so as they embrace more digital engagement points

Moving towards a customer centric channel approach will force your organisation to stop being so focused on your own products and will allow you to leverage your customer lifecycle or value stream to determine the right time to engage a customer based on their need or problem relative to the buying cycle. This shift towards the buyer is fundamental and requires you to focus operational efforts on ensuring all commercial channels are integrated around the customer needs not yours. Taking note and acknowledging customer engagement preferences for digital, sales and self-service channels will allow you to reprogram your efforts around the customer.  

Leverage your technology assets to drive customer engagement

Ensure you are using whatever levels of technology to support as much automation of the customer journey as possible. For example, using AI to execute basic sales tasks such as preparation and insights, to detect buying signals and predict business outcomes will be useful for both your sales teams and your customers will be one.

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Never in our lifetime has the importance of revenue generation and profitability been greater yet failing to accept that technology and readily available data has driven the power to the astute buyer in the old sales process.

The new era of selling means that there can be no separation between your sales teams, technology, marketing communications, data and analytics and all of the operational functions that sit in between.

It’s time to transform to the new approach to selling where every move is driven by how well you leverage AI to command the entire sales process and all of those who serve it.

With change comes opportunity and be clear the possibilities are enormous; but will only benefit those sales leaders who are bold and progressive enough take action now and transform their sales functions.

Moving towards agile workflows and channels that can engage their customers wherever they want, whenever they want will only drive a great connection to the new millennial buyer and in turn a great share of wallet for your company.

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own sales strategy? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

*Source: Gartner B2B Buying survey 2018

Global Trends to emerge post Covid-19

We take a closer look at the trends affecting countries across the world as we emerge form the changes caused by Covid-19.

1. Connected Work

Connected work scenarios will drive the need for cloud everything. New subscription-based models will see growth in demand for unified communications as a service offerings.

2. ‘Lights-Out’ Operations

Autonomous “lights out” operations will drive demand for remote asset management solutions, and service providers will focus on data management strategies and data-driven business models.

3. Connected Living

An increased adoption of contactless surfaces post-pandemic will drive home automation and security markets.

4. Technology Advancements

Pandemic preparedness will speed up AI deployment and accelerate the pace of AI innovation.

5. Supply Chain Optimisation

Seamless integration of end-to-end digital supply chains will increase traceability, sustainability, and transparency within the supply chain ecosystem.

6. Human Augmentation

The adoption rate of customer behaviour analytics by enterprises will grow by 20% for the period 2019-2025.

7. Smart Cities

Increased spending on technology by smart cities will lead to a surge in the adoption of digital tools like crowd analytics, and increased focus on developing digital platforms and apps for citizens.

8. Digital Health

Digital health driven by telemedicine and robotic care will become the new standard of care delivery. Will require an increase in the number of service and technology providers.

9. Geo-Political

To protect themselves from economic fallout due to COVID, global organisations are coming together to restore geo-political and economic balance.

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and ensure your business is poised for success? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

SOURCE: Frost & Sullivan 9 Critical Trends Reshaping all Industries Post-COVID, 2020

Taking Care of Sales

The hot topic for 2020 has been COVID and in particular what businesses should be doing to transform to this well-articulated new normal. At Whiteark we’ve been thinking specifically about the impact this unique year has had on B2B selling and specifically what your organisation may want to be considering ensuring your sales team is set up to be successful over this coming year.

“Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of their clients.”

— Richard Branson

In a year where the conventional approach to B2B selling has been rewritten and now the new normal seems to be emails followed by zoom meetings and if you’re lucky another zoom meeting, how can we help our sales teams better serve their clients?

The B2B sales process has never needed to be more agile than it needs to be today. We are experiencing the constant introduction of new products and services in market as a result of digital software and technology that are challenging even the very best of value propositions in the marketplace.

We are hearing first-hand that even the very best sales organisations are upgrading their sales processes so as they can stay ahead of their competitors. As we move into the Christmas break many companies are planning their 2021 kick off activities with a view to energising their sales teams to meet the demands of the next cycle.

In a market where control is clearly geared towards the buyer, sales must respond to this power shift by ensuring they are able to meet the increased demands of this new process. High levels of personalisation are no longer appropriate for a select few customers who meet a given criteria, it will become a baseline expectation that every customer has some degree of account-based personalisation to meet their specific needs and problems.

Covid has driven the emergence of working from home and many buyers and decision makers will demand access to information that they will expect to be able to review and assess in their own time without a meeting face to face. They’ll use emails and video meetings to manage the selling process and only the greatest equipped salespeople will be able to match this game change.

Buyers will also be leveraging more than ever their peer groups for recommendations, referrals, and reviews of the sales proposals without any engagement or influence from the salesperson. The days where we could get by on ‘the buyer - seller’ relationship will now be tested, and we will need to help redefine the traditional sales tool kit to ensure our sales process maintains its integrity. Customers will now have access to information and will know a lot more about your company and its product, as well as your people than you might expect. They will be looking for partners that are authentic and genuine as a mere starting point before they hand over their trust.

Whilst the process might have shifted as a result of this unusual year the reality is that the sales process has always been underpinned by trust and the real focus for 2021 needs to be fuelled by continuous training and development.

In our opinion, it’s never been more important that the sales team has to be ready to change their game to win the trust and credibility of the new buyer. The bar for sales competence must be once again raised and those organisations that are able to measure and track sales skills, characteristics and abilities via specific dashboards and metrics will be able to use this data to ensure the needs of the customer are met.

Sales teams who have very clearly defined metrics will be most likely to succeed. Hence, sales management will be reliant on sales operations and support functions like never before as well as working with and ensuring their utilisation of technology is driving their sales process. Customers will want to be engaged on their terms and as such every channel will be equally critical to the success of the next sales campaign.

Whilst the sales - client relationships will still be critical, technology and use of emails, EDM, social will become critical tools in the sales communication cycle. Social selling is on the upward trend for sure, with businesses and employees following and commenting on LinkedIn about their companies and their brands. Therefore, engagement in these channels will be critical to sales outcomes and the content that your sales team is generating on this channel will need to be in alignment marketing as well as whatever was leveraged in email, SMS and whatever other channels you are engaging.

In any case as we embark on the new normal for our sales team, it is imperative to accept that everything matters. Remembering that there’s no such thing as ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ approach that will work in every situation all the time so working with the teams in an account-based methodology where ‘every’ customer matters will be critical to your 2021 sales strategy.

This coming year, the organisations that will win will be those who case best align their sales talent to their technology, broader support teams and work together as one to solve the problems of their potential buyers.

Driven by customer insight, behaviour and technology, the trend is moving towards account-based selling and digital transformation.

There’s never been a better time to take stock, conduct an honest self-assessment and to identify the elements that will lift your sales team to meet the needs of tomorrow.

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own sales strategy? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Strategy to Execution

According to Gartner’s research (Strategy Execution Change Model Survey in 2019), only 46% of Executives and Managers felt their efforts were aligned to strategy.

There are 4 key building blocks to guide the process of strategy to execution:

#1

Market & Industry Trends

#3

Build the Plan

#2

Company Strategy

#4

Manage Performance

STRATEGY BUILDING BLOCKS

The Key Initiatives UNPACKED

What & Why?

The first two building blocks are part of identifying the strategic plan – what and why?

1. Market and industry trends – this is where you begin to address the strategic questions; understand key trends for the market, industry, economy, people and workforce.

2. Company’s strategy – this is where you articulate your goals. Define your mission/purpose to explain the reason for your existence; your core values that your foundations are built upon; your vision of what you want to be; where you have a competitive advantage; your key areas of focus; long term objectives and financial outlook.

Who, Where, When & How?

The following two building blocks focus on implementing the strategy – who, where, when and how?

1. Build the plan – this is where you align the company’s ways of working to support the strategy. Identify your company goals; understand the required capability and how to build this within your organisation; determine the metrics that will measure your success; build a budget that supports your strategy; understand your regulatory obligations; identify any risks and build out your initiatives ensuring they complement your strategy.

2. Manage performance – in order to measure your success you need to undertake regular performance reviews; evaluate the performance of your key metrics and your initiative program of work so that you are able to respond/pivot if required in order to keep to your strategic objectives; monitor any risks, challenges, issues to ensure your execution plan remains on track.

Source: 2019 Gartner Strategy Execution Change Model Survey