When the going gets tough, the tough smarten up

When the going gets tough, the tough smarten up

Experts in business innovation and strategy will present the smartest advice at an event the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) is running next month to help firms reach beyond the bounds of these tough times.

First up at the Smart Business Development conference on February 24 is Icehouse chief executive Andy Hamilton to answer questions like:
• How do you know if a new idea is any good?
• How do you turn an idea into something real?

His ‘thinking big’ theme includes tips, tools and stories on new product development.

Thinking ‘Lean’ is no longer an ‘if’ but a ‘when,’ for all organisations.

Efficiency expert Clinton Yeats of Yeats Consulting Ltd says Lean is now established as a disciplined approach for business to identify and eliminate all non-value adding processes.

“It’s such a simple concept but dealing with people and change can be hard.”

In rough times like these your competitors could be pulling back, says Chris Caiger, director of Traffic NZ Ltd. But businesses should seize the opportunity to create programmes to win market share and launch new offers.

“Fighting for market share on price is alarmingly expensive, and damaging to the brand and morale. It’s often far better to get out of the trenches and spend a fraction of the cost of a price cut on aggressive growth programmes. And they can be just as effective at defending price and market share, as well as creating growth,” Caiger says.

Rob Verkerk of Scope Services Ltd adds it is more important than ever for firms to ensure their money is well-spent and returns maximised.

“When implementing strategy, a disciplined, project management oriented approach is required, but in a way that eliminates mindless process compliance and report generation.

“The problem for many is the success rate of projects can be low when its process-bound and compliance-oriented. But effective implementation of project management can improve profit by an average of 6%.”

The Smart Business Development conference on February 24th will deliver practical tools to strengthen business operations, and sell more, or grow market share.

It also talks about the latest in IT and web development, how to monetise research and development, and how to super-charge marketing cut-through.

Go to ema.co.nz for more and to register.

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