The Clifton Review
The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.
While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.
Businesses Survive by Adapting to Change
By P.J. Malone
“It is not the strongest or most intelligent that survive, but those who can adapt to change.” Charles Darwin
This certainly applies to business. When the tides begin to change in your business world and you can see the signs on the horizon that your company, as it is, cannot survive the changes in the market, then it’s time to take stock and realign your organization for success.
If you recall from previous discussions, that’s what fashion mogul Peter Nygard did when faced with changes that could threaten the viability of his company. He adapted to the change and then realigned his organization with its new purpose. It’s something he did on a continual basis and is the reason why he has had fifty years of phenomenal success.
Business strategists at Advance Business Consulting describe what failure looked like for a company back in 2009 because they did not adapt to change. However, in this instance, this company got a second chance to get it right following that period of the company’s distress:
Everybody knows the fate of GM [General Motors]. What does strategic alignment have to do with the demise of the once largest automobile manufacturer in the world…? Everything!
When the purpose and brand values of your company aren’t clear, there will never be a clear strategy. Without a clear purpose and strategy people do not focus, and are not able to identify with their brand and what it stands for.
GM’s internal organization has been stifled by bureaucracy for decades, its production has been hampered by strikes, and its marketing has since long lost track of the developments in the outside world where car buyers have increasingly been disappointed by the failing reliability and lack of fuel efficiency of the GM cars they bought.
During that period in 2009, General Motors filed for bankruptcy. Advance Business Consulting points out these lessons from the GM 2009 experience.
What do we learn from GM’s business case?
GM – one of the oldest and once most successful automobile manufacturers in the world has failed to keep its purpose in line with the world’s evolutionary (and sometimes revolutionary) changes.
GM missed crucial opportunities to rethink its purpose, its goals, its strategy, and in line with that its organizational model, and last but not least its company culture.
On June 1, 2009 GM filed for bankruptcy protection, set to close more than a dozen facilities and cut more than 20,000 jobs.
It was Charles Darwin who said: “It is not the strongest or most intelligent that survive, but those who can adapt to change”.
GM has become one of this world’s industrial dinosaurs. GM since decades has been heading the same way the dinosaurs went. Let’s hope that GM is able to realign itself with a clear, new business purpose, and turn the tides in time.
(“The Demise of General Motors”: AdvanceBusinessConsulting.com)
Second chances at survival are rare, especially in business. Though General Motors was able to turn things around since then (with a little financial help in the middle of its crisis), it is not always possible to do. The best thing to do is to not end up there in the first place.
If you are savvy enough to adapt to the changes on the horizons of your business, be savvy enough to also align your organization following your change in purpose to ensure its success.
