From a competitive point of view, globalization and distribution created many new competitors in all markets.
The only thing we can be sure of is that future competitors most worthy of fear will not come from our own industry. A good example of this is that the main competitor to the Encyclopedia Britannica did not come from the publishing industry, but from the software industry, and its name is Encarta.
This puts us directly in contact with the question of paradigms, and the need to constantly review and update them based on new technologies and market realities. Thinking that an encyclopedia to be such can only be if it is on paper prevents us from seeing the possibility of generating the product generation digitally, with all the benefits that this brings both for the producer, as well as for customers and users.
The Encyclopedia Britannica was slow to recognize this possibility, giving Microsoft (a competitor not from its own industry and owner of Encarta) free rein to make a breakthrough in market share.
If to this is added that being the first has its effects both in terms of positioning, as well as in the experience curve, this created enormous difficulties for the Encyclopedia Britannica to reposition itself.
Globalization has effectively removed many of the barriers raised by countries, allowing increasing freedom of trade and providing consumers with increasing choice. Companies cannot continue to rely on regulation to protect their positions in the market, for this reason planning and strategic thinking are necessary, as well as the implementation of a continuous improvement system. And it's not just about continuously improving products and services, but also processes.
Each and every one of the components produced, as areas of the company, must be improved day by day, only in this way can companies protect and improve their position in the market. The new reality requires constantly improving quality, productivity, costs, satisfaction levels and response times, only in this way can a company continue to participate in the competitive game for markets.
If the new global economy and its impact on business are to be properly understood, we have to take a systems and holistic point of view. Because without it, we will only see disorder, complexity and volatility. We are at the end of an economic cycle and the beginning of a new one, the force of which is to shake the fundamentals of global business and the world economy.
The new information economy, often called precisely the New Economy, driven by communications and information technology, has produced in recent decades an economic transformation greater than that of the industrial economy in recent centuries.
Anyone can try to access all the world's information and turn it into knowledge and training. For this reason, information is no longer a scarce resource, thanks to the Internet.
From the foregoing it is clear that we can no longer use our centralized control models, born in the industrial economy. They are heavy, dated and mechanical. The markets of the information economy are increasingly revealing the characteristics of the complex and dynamic systems that shape the world around us.
For this reason, companies require a new type of leadership, appropriate to the rapid and profound changes in consumers, technology, the economy and culture, as well as the radical increases in competitiveness at the local and global level. Thus, it is necessary to have leaders:
That they inspire.
Who believe that their vision is adequate and do not waver in their beliefs.
That they are driven by a strong desire to win in the competition, and to defeat the "enemy".
May they combine enormous energy with strength and tenacity.
That they show they have the courage to take risks.
They have deep respect for the people on their team and for building a valuable team.
That they properly understand how money works.
A good leader in the business world is one who knows how to build effective human teams, who knows how to listen, who has the ability to make decisions for himself, who knows how to retain the best elements and who has the ability to surround himself with capable people.
Making this feasible requires people with a very high level of energy. There are differences between having energy and being a hard worker. Getting the most out of entrepreneurial energy is more than working fast or harder. Anyone can work 16 hours a day, what is really important is the way they spend their time and the way they excite others about the hours worked. Quality is vital; quantity is no longer a competitive advantage. Quantity never means quality.
Planning and strategic thinking, as well as continuous improvement in quality, productivity, costs and satisfaction levels require training. Training equals money now more than ever. It is also equal to efficiency. Studies carried out reveal that an average increase of 10% in the training of the workforce produces an 8% increase in productivity. In contrast to this, the 10% increase in facilities and equipment increases productivity by only 3%. In the new economy it is worth having training, because it is the people who clearly make the difference.
But it is not pure knowledge that is most valued and required, but applied knowledge. True economic value is only created when knowledge is translated into capabilities, that is, skills for which the market is willing to pay. It is no longer about what we know. What makes the difference is what we do with what we know.
Business is not what it used to be. Customers are changing. Services, products and entire companies are lagging behind in the race. What worked until now has stopped working. Pyramid organizations are literally being pulverized by fractal organizations. The organization of the future is the fractal organization, an organization characterized by its flexibility and adaptability, totally focused on the market.
A company that is not competitive has nowhere to go. If you are not structuring your company around the new demands of the market, it is likely that you will not stay in business for much longer. To remain competitive, companies must redefine themselves. In this redefinition, companies today are defined more by their relationships than by their products.
Competition for the customer will be fierce, unparalleled, and radically different in every area. The only true constant is change. Just as the philosophers said that a man could not bathe twice in the same waters, today it can be affirmed by saying in other words that a man cannot generate success by applying the same paradigms.
