Competing in the Next Economy

CENTRE FOR COMPETITIVENESS MESSAGE TO BUSINESS LEADERS

Dear Business Leader 

 I attach for your interest a compelling report on “Competing in the Next Economy” developed over a period of 18 months by the leaders of US companies and universities and facilitated by the US Council on Competitiveness.  (A New Economy – a New Game with New Mental Models required)

 Post Covid-19 ways of working in most cases will never be the same again with society and governments raising the bar on environment regulations on both organisations and supply chains.  Environmental legislation has been with us for some time and this will become increasingly more stringent towards the decarbonising of national and individual company footprints encouraged by increasing carbon taxation penalties.  

 Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines stated that “Innovation with a focus on sustainability, centred on people, will be the future of our business, from ultra-efficient planes to zero-emission biofuels. With the future of our world at stake, companies will be leading the way with continued investments in sustainable technologies, like those that capture carbon or replenish the environment in order to neutralize their carbon footprint."

 With the economic and environmental trends towards the emerging economy with Industry 4.0 digitalisation, energy decentralization and footprint decarbonisation, these tends will force companies to adopt an innovation based competitiveness strategy and not just competition on price, delivery and quality, although that will also be required in order to survive in the long term.

It is already clear that there is an increased focus on recycling of waste, new materials in packaging, materials used in new product development that can be reused. Environmental considerations include the use of water, energy and those resources that in a previous life were not a major concern. Today for example the “Smart Grid Ireland” energy cluster is working with industry and network owners in taking significant steps in the decarbonisation of electricity supply to business, while cars and and transportation companies are well advanced in leading these changes within their organisations.

CHALLENGE:   

Start now by having a strategic high-level business snapshot of your company Direction, Execution and Results in the context of the European Circular Economy lens and establish where you are and what actions you need to consider going forward to meet national, customer and societial expectations for an environmentaly friendly organisation.

The recently developed European Circular Economy Lens and the European Innovation lens are both sub-sets of the overall 2020 European Breakthrough Management Framework ideally suited to re-establish a business recovery strategy and realignment of any business or organisation going forward.  Depending on the priority need of the business, these frameworks can be applied bottom up or top down.  Competition is changing and it is the Centre’s role to make business aware of this as loudly as we can. The decision on how and when business responds is a matter of priority in these times of economic transition. Should you wish to investigate further on what is involved in reviewing your strategic position, please contact Lorraine at Lorraine.branagh@cforc.org and we will arrange for one of our Executive staff to respond accordingly.

 Best Regards

Bob