The columnist talks about the need to progress in the industry despite the wounds left by the economic crisis. He invites all entrepreneurs to question themselves about the current management they are doing in their company. By: Humberto De la Vega*
2010 is a year that brings with it many celebrations under my arm, starting with my country (Mexico) where we will be celebrating in September and November, respectively, the Bicentennial of our Independence and the Centennial of our Revolution. The United Nations has designated it as the International Year of Biodiversity and of course we will have two sporting events in the world of great relevance, the first, the Winter Olympic Games to be held in Vancouver, perhaps without great relevance of participation for our region, and the second, the Football World Cup, which is undoubtedly always highly anticipated by all of us.
But not everything is a party, 2010 is presented dressed with a big question mark, preceded by a fateful 2009 and that left on the road an accumulation of losses and frustrations that I see very difficult to recover or overcome in just twelve months.
In this year the times of conjugation must change and we have to make the future, present and past become a composite of effective artifices to advance, perhaps slowly, but finally advance. The past must mark the border of risk, the present to live it with intensity and resolution, without hesitation, there is no space or time for it, and finally the future will be only a simple tomorrow, until we manage to clear the shadows of the crisis.
Our industry continues to transform, new players keep popping up, and spaces are also shrinking. The large groups, apparently in a forced lethargy, continue to move their machinery, very discreetly and with great caution but have not stopped, especially those who have stock market responsibilities. But there is something that has changed and that will hardly be able to have a recovery: prices and margins have gone through the roof.
This is by no means surprising, desperation preyed on many actors who considered that the best way to get ahead was practically to give away their work, with the minimum apparently enough to cope with the drama of the markets.
But this is not so so, we have users who have capitalized on this weakness of the market and we have also had mercenaries who managed and continue to penetrate with the offer of products of very dubious quality, including a large number of counterfeits especially of products of renowned brands.
Of course this is not the end of the world, we are on the threshold of a new decade where advances in telecommunications and computing continue to surprise us, which have been embedded in our lives like arrows, where if they are taken away from us, we would practically die.
These advances are undoubtedly a reality in our industry and only manufacturers that continue to invest in development and research can continue to be protagonists through their alliances and distribution chains, and of course the marketers of low-priced products will have their end, some of them and others will find new ways to continue enjoying being parasites and I do not blame them, if there is a market that keeps buying from them, then they will simply continue to sell.
What remains in addition to working and working, is to start a great crusade of education and awareness of the different actors so that we understand once and for all that the service, advice and support, have a cost, therefore a price and that it must be paid. We can not continue to deceive consumers and users that the value of a company is the low price of a product, in reality the value of a company is the set of attributes of both resources and knowledge that guarantee to lead to success a project. The various associations and industry groups must be the standard bearers of this idea and assert it as a quality insurance and not as an increase in the price of a product.
Consultants, designers, advisors and specialists are practically non-existent figures in our industry, of course we have valuable exceptions, but many of these colleagues have been marginalized, somewhat for their lukewarmness, and much for the number of charlatans who have imported promotion and sales formats from the hotel industry: the "All Inclusive".
And you, my dear reader, what do you think?
*If you want more information you can contact the author of this article at the email [email protected]
