BUILDING BUSINESS MODELS THAT WILL ADAPT TO CHANGING TIMES.

DISCUSSIONS BY TITO. 

This is a continuation of my last article which talked about reskilling and upskilling in the new normal. A quick reminder of what reskilling and upskilling means, it simply refers to the need to reorientate, acquire new skills, or improve on existing skills in order to add value to your businesses and organizations. Interestingly, I stumbled on an article that talked about the need to "Build to Adapt". This story was likened to a bridge on the river of Choluteca. I had never heard of this bridge or even the river before.

Like the writer, Prakash Iyer, I also had to read it up and was amazed about the existence of this bridge. What amazed me the most wasn't so much of the bridge but how the writer likened the essence of the bridge to the recent happenings around us. This bridge is reportedly a 484 metre long bridge built over the river Choluteca in Honduras, Central America.  The bridge was specially built to withstand the harshness of weather in that particular region.

It was reported that when hurricane Mitch hit the region in 1998, the same year the bridge was commissioned, all other connecting bridges and roads were all destroyed except the Choluteca bridge. The river also flooded the whole region leaving about 7000 people dead. The river created a new passage and channeled a new course bringing about, new strategies and new dynamics.

The moral of the story which i want to link to my previous article, is the need to channel a new passage for our businesses, restrategise our business thinking and decision making, while reskilling and upskilling.  When this bridge was built, it was built to withstand the harsh weather conditions but other roads and bridges linked to this bridge couldn't withstand the disaster and were all destroyed.

This left the Choluteca bridge in the middle of nowhere and therefore was of no use despite its modern day engineering design. The pertinent question you may want to ask yourself is what is the essence of taking a decision that does not consider the happenings around you, and then you end up being in the middle of nowhere? The writer used this bridge as a metaphor to describe the recent happenings around us. The times we are in right now are peculiar times, a time to rethink and refocus.

Why take business decisions that will leave you in the middle of nowhere. You have to be very strategic in the business decisions that you make. We have all seen or witnessed how most organisations have now embraced the use of information technology to hold meetings and carry out operational activities. When the pandemic finally clears and everything goes back to normal, business isn't going to be as usual anymore.

Many employees will find themselves redundant. Organisations with several branches and departmental heads, will have to scale down, some organisations have already scaled down. This means that the decisions you make right now either as an employee or entrepreneur must be one that will make you relevant in your workplace. You must start to improve yourselves to adapt to the new realities. Reorientating and improving on existing skills or perhaps acquiring new skills must be one that gives you an edge or sets you apart from your contemporaries.

A simple illustration is the e-commerce activities on social media space. Many businesses are operated online and consumers have found this medium very convenient for shopping. Social media platforms also affords you the opportunity of showcasing your products to a wider market. So instead of taking a decision to open more physical stores, you may consider hiring young techno savvy employees with entrepreneurial backgrounds to help push your products to a wider market.   Desperate times they say call for desperate measures.

The business models that you build now must be one that will not only drive rapid growth but also adapt to recent happenings around you. Business models are the heart of any firm's value proposition. Great business models will drive rapid growth and bad business models at the same time will doom any promising business ventures.

Every entrepreneur must apply  business model thinking to specific business lines and specific situations. It doesn't matter what you think you know, it is time to build and adapt business ideas that will thrive. More importantly,  adaptability is key to any successful business. It reflects learning and improvement of skills of the market. For example, this isn't the time for a startup business to open new production lines or divisions, You may want to start lean to allow for flexibility.

Flexibility will allow your business evolve and will give you the required time to get a hang of the business. This way, you would have learnt or gained  the sense of identifying the challenges in your line of business before they appear.  Maintaining a lean and streamlined startup will also help to direct available resources and capital towards the core areas of your business.

For the large corporates and manufacturers, It is imperative to tweak your businesses to adapt to changing circumstances. Tweaking your business ideas to recent happenings may be the deal breaker. In recent times, i have seen a mineral water bottling company now producing hand sanitizers. What this means is that they have restrategised and found the need to upscale and create new product lines as a result of the recent needs of their consumers. As a business owner, it is imperative to have contingency plans. These plans are usually put in place as a way to have preparedness in case of any sort of disruption.

Therefore, before you take that business decision today, consider designing , building and adapting your business models to changing circumstances around your business.