Focus on Execution Will Create Winners
Pandemic has pushed the world into a deep economic crisis that is taking a tremendous toll on businesses, consumers & governments. Consumer confidence is low, strategies and business models that have been working before the pandemic may no longer be relevant post-pandemic.
The business and economic environment will not go back to normal even when the pandemic ends. We will realize many things have changed post-pandemic forever.
Pandemic and geopolitics are resetting the global business environment. Many large MNCs have already started relocating their supply chains with an aim to de-cluster and de-risk it from concentrated lockdowns.
No one would have imagined a year back that a tiny virus originated from one food market will disrupt the entire world in such an unimaginable manner.
Most of us would agree, the business environment will never be the same again, new business models would emerge, consumer behavior will change, organization strategies would be more agile and dynamic, government regulation might change, and employees would be required to re-skill themselves.
All of these inevitable changes in the business environment will make execution harder but also more important than ever before.
Execution ensures efficient use of crunched resources and also provides feedback for the business to adjust to the changes in the external world.
Well, it’s true, the business leaders will formulate innovative strategies to navigate the changes brought in the business environment by the pandemic, but the execution is what will help organizations drive along that path and seize new opportunities.
While many economists and international bodies have predicted when this pandemic will end but no one can predict precisely what the future holds — we will all have to deal with whatever is ahead when it happens.
Let me draw your attention to some of the profound changes that are likely to occur post-pandemic.
a) Growth will be muted -sustained low consumer confidence, heavy job losses, cautious discretionary spending, demand & supply-side constraints will keep private capital investment muted. In a slower growth scenario execution will make the real difference between winners and losers.
b) Competition will be tough -In a slow-growing economy, many contenders will be fighting hard to win market share. Every organization will strive for new competitive advantages, be in product, service, technology, pricing, customer experience, etc. The agility in allocation and re-allocation of resources creating advantages will make a huge difference in performance. A poor execution may result in irreversible damage and waste of scarce resources while a good execution can timely reveal the flaws if any in the strategy and provide room for course correction.
c) Rapid digital transformation will take place- We have seen numerous examples of the organizations who had the foresight of investing early in digital transformation and these organizations were less impacted by lockdowns compared to those who hadn’t. This would encourage many organizations to allocate significantly higher resources towards technology and digital transformation to ensure business continuity amid a highly uncertain business environment. Identification and investing in the right digital assets with an aim to enhance value and experience for customers and reducing the cost of acquisition and retention to the company will be the key. The availability of the right set of people in the organization to execute digital transformation will make a key difference in the organization’s performance.
d) Government will be required to spend more- Due to muted private investment, the government would be expected to spend more to revive the economy. Given the limited headroom available with govt, it would be seeking more private partnerships to build capacity and generate jobs. Govt would favor companies with a good track record of execution for partnerships. Therefore, companies with a focus on execution will seize new growth opportunities in public-private partnerships.
e) Nationalism will takeover globalization- Changing geopolitics, supply chain disruptions, aggressive posturing by China to establish supremacy, and resultant polarization of the world into with and against China will encourage nationalism over globalization. Countries will look for reducing dependency on imports, our PM has already given a shout out for “Atamnirbhar Bharat”. Ongoing border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh will ensure that our government will continue to spend significant money on the modernization of our arm forces to keep our borders safe. The government’s focus will be to indigenize high tech weapons and support systems to reduce dependency on imports. Given the poor track record of govt in terms of cost and time overrun in domestic production of high-tech weapons, the govt would be keen on partnering with defense- tech companies with an impeccable record in the execution of large projects.
The above-expected changes in the business environment post-pandemic era present opportunities as well as threats. Good or faulty execution will make all the difference between winners and laggards. Focus on execution will help organizations pick up robust strategies and will also be the safest bet to tide over the changes and uncertainty brought by the pandemic.
It’s true, the leaders are supposed to think strategically, inspire their people with vision, and thinking big but it’s going to be equally important for leaders to focus on execution. Given such a high stake, the responsibility of execution can’t just be left to managers, and leaders will have to see the execution as strategic responsibility and not just the tactical one.
