Hi to those of you who still look at this page. I have moved my articles to http://sme-smb-smme.blogspot.com and write Africa focused articles on http://www.evancarmichael.com
I am resurrecting my blogs now that i have completed my PhD.
So please move to these new sites.
Regards
rob
I must apologise for the lack of postings. I have this new Vista laptop, and I have not been able to access my blogs. Today i have finally conquered the problem.
I have published a few comments from people who have made a contribution. Thank you and apologies for the delay in responding. Hopefully I have not lost all my readers!
So back in action from tomorrow.
Too often SME's perceive competitiveness as being about price. But nothing could be further from the truth.
But was is competitiveness? Is it about price? Yes, but it is only part of the whole. The fact is that competitiveness is about the human, financial and equipment resources in the business, and how they are utilised. It is about your leadership skills. the training your staff receive and the organisational structure and culture. It is about efficiency, communication, pricing, customer care, stock control and everything else that happens within your business.
Too often we try to emulate our competitors, and then wonder why we did not achieve what they did. It is because it is not about a one single component, but rather all of the components and how they react with each other. It is about your own personal recipe, which requires you keep fine tuning it until the taste is perfect. Then you have your competitive advantage.
But competitive advantage is seldom understood in this way and is always focused on a single attribute. Do not try to focus on one attribute, but rather try to understand the interaction and interdependency of the business as a whole.
So competitiveness is critical to the SME.
Governments the world over are renowned for intervening in the market in order to achieve whatever their political goals may be. Africa is particularly prone to these behaviours.
Whether, as example, it is the blatantly racist policies of the South African government, or the xenophobic nationalist policies of Botswana, the nett result is a negative impact on the market players.
At times the impact is short term and other times long term. In South Africa the racist policies have resulted in SME's being unable to grow simply because they cannot find suitably qualified staff, and they cannot employ whites with skills as they then face the probability of legal action. As a consequence, approximately 20% of the white population left the country in 2007. This has also impacted on big business, as our lack of electricity has clearly demonstrated.
In Botswana legislation has focused on protecting local citizens against non-citizens. This has lead to highly uncompetitive businesses. They are protected by law and have developed a sense of entitlement. The first thing the citizens rely on is not local market knowledge, but an appeal for even more protection.
It is time governments stop this practice. They are not helping, but simply skewing the markets even further, resulting in even greter hardship for their citizens.
The big trends for the next decade or two are:
- going to involve new fuels for motor cars
- alternative power generation for electricity such as solar energy, wind energy, wave energy and geothermal energy for warming water instead of electric geysers.
- geothermal heating will be used to warm homes
- there will be new systems for refrigeration and air conditioning using old technology
- they will grow a wider range of fruit and vegetables locally in greenhouses to reduce the damage done in transporting these items around the world
- clothing will move back to natural fibres such as leather, wool and cotton
- organic food will be an important issue in the future
- music CD’s will be out
- computer hard drives as we know them will be out
- wind up lights, radios, clocks, and a variety of other items will be in again particularly, but not only, in rural areas
- the cable telephone is going out, particularly in rural areas, and will be replaced by wireless systems such as GSM and CDMA type cellphones
- the Internet will play an ever increasing role in our lives including television delivery
- there will be revolutionary changes in sea and air travel, which might even look like a return to the early days
- security will intensify a lot. Travelling will initially become more difficult, particularly for developing countries, until they can comply with new passport requirements which will require the inclusion of a microprocessor chip that contains biometric data such as eye scans, blood details, DNA details and more. This is due to terrorism. Homes and cars will become more secure and home entertainment will become more and more important.
- as home entertainment becomes more important, so too will getaway type holidays to remote but secure locations
- AIDS and TB will continue to ravage developing countries. There will be many opportunities to solve the problem for government of AIDS orphans. If they are not looked after they will become a roving band of murdering thieves, as they fight to survive in a society that has not cared for them. Set up homes to care for them and educate them for their future and yours.
- facilities for old people and also for frail people will spring up everywhere in developed countries due to the baby boomers going into retirement
- SME’s will experience enormous growth and many large corporate businesses will downsize once they build the necessary trust relationships with SME’s. Banks will make a large shift in attitude and volume of lending to SME’s
Rob Smorfitt
2007 for me was a reasonably good year. I got a few books published. I got a reasonably good manager in to manage one of my businesses to the point that it is now a source of passive income (Thank you Mr Kiyosaki).
I stretched myself into new areas and did some consulting for an SME agency of another government, which I really enjoyed. I was highly commended for the quality and detail of my work and guaranteed more business. I have since tendered for 14 other tender jobs for 2008, so here is hoping.
I have set clear and very large goals for myself for the next 3 years and I am looking good to achieve them (Thank you Mr Trump). I achieved those for 2007 (Thanks Bridget).
I had a great time lecturing a postgraduate Honours group at the local university on Global Business. A small challenge as many were HR students, but it was great fun converting them from cost centres to profit centres in the business. Chen and Li from China were avid students and interesting people to talk business with.
I got to relax this Xmas and read a bunch of books, so my book list is also updated. Any one of them would make a good read.
A friend lent me a copy of the Kiyosaki Cashflow game which I played with the kids. I think the younger one is ahead of the game on this passive income story, and he is devouring the Trump book at present. Damn and he is only 13. Wish I had that kind of start, but that is progress. He starts high school (boarding) this coming year. The eldest is 3 months into his law degree in Bristol UK, and hopefully he will excel like he has the ability to do. He will also be rowing and should do well as he has the build and the powerful upper body from kayaking in South Africa. I really love and hate to see them grow up. (Thanks Bridget). So only one kid at home (Poor Bridget).
2008 has big goals so it will be a tough year, but remaining focused on the activities and goals should make it happen.
I would like to wish all those who read this the best for Xmas and the New Year, and to those for whom this is not applicable a good and prosperous 2008.
For those who want a more African theme to SME's you can find my other blog under http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1492/summary.php . I write both blogs on a weekly basis. They are generally different but on rare occasions there are similarities.
All the best
Rob Smorfitt
Business opportunities lie in businesses that will solve future problems, and also those that solve current problems. I have a tendency to target the future problems, but learnt from a fellow entrepreneur to look at current problems too. Short term cash flow definitely comes from solving current problems.
The problem with current problems is that there is a lot of competition, which means you need to differentiate your business somehow, make it unique in the marketplace, bearing in mind that price is seldom a differentiating factor. Instead product and service differentiation are required. Or a unique approach to sell the product. This what makes it difficult. Finding a unique way to differentiate your business.
So for short term cash do current problems, and for medium and long term cash do the future problems.
Rob Smorfitt
