What companies must do to remain competitive post-covid19

While the covid19 pandemic continues to have broad-based negative impacts on the performance of the economy, there have been encouraging signs of adaptation by private sector firms to pandemic-induced constraints, such as utilising more electronic interfaces with clients and streamlining work processes, among others. Realistically however, the short-term outlook for Trinidad and Tobago will be dictated by the evolution of the coronavirus.

Diversifying the economy remains the main challenge (and necessity) facing our country. We have no other option but to pursue this goal unswervingly. The trends and data have been consistently pointing us in this direction prior to 2020. With or without a pandemic, our business community has no option but to transform. Covid19 has simply accelerated the pace at which change has come.

Currently, local operators must figure out ways to remain competitive. The fact remains that TT has been growing less attractive as an investment option, especially in the face of high capital mobility. Although the CSME has provided a stable market which has become more valuable in these pandemic times, it is clear that bold steps are necessary to re-invent our businesses, and the pathways to delivering products and services.

As part of its mandate to help to equip the business sector with the tools for the new normal, this year the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce is partnering with the world-renowned McKinsey and Company to present its annual business meeting on April 22, with keynote speakers Justin Sanders and Keith Martin. Themed Change that matters: Defining trends for 2021 and achieving your company’s greatest potential – the aim is for private businesses to continue to tap into avenues for boosting performance using more efficient processes, integrating more technology and re-tooling skill sets as the country prepares for more intense global competition in the post-pandemic world.

Sanders and Martin, along with Kevin Laczkowski, Martin Hirt and Becca Bauman recently co-authored an article titled – This way out: How leading companies chart a full-potential COVID-Exit – which discussed how organisations can balance performance and portfolio moves to pivot and thrive out of the pandemic. The article noted, “Half measures and incrementalism won’t work when your company emerges from a crisis...Our research on the 'all in' approach to transformation illuminates what we’ve found to almost always be the best way forward: full speed ahead. Our findings from past downturns confirm, as well, that companies that take an all-in approach emerge stronger and sustain that competitive advantage for almost a decade afterward. Whether your organisation’s transformation should be primarily or equally about portfolio moves or performance improvements misses the point. To succeed, you need to consider both, and your transformations need to go big.”

Martin is a partner in McKinsey’s transformation practice in Canada, and advises clients across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. He has deep experience in leading transformations across multiple industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and high tech. Before joining McKinsey, he worked in Irish and European politics and led the IT function for a large international NGO.

Sanders is a partner in McKinsey’s New York office and a leader of McKinsey’s corporate finance and strategy practice in the Americas. He supports clients on portfolio strategy and performance transformations. He has significant experience in value creation strategy and merger and acquisition transactions in the industrial sector. Sanders also is a leader of McKinsey’s activist investor defense practice, helping corporate clients prepare and respond to activist investors.

Other panellists will include president-elect of the chamber, Charles Pashley; Maria Daniel, strategy and transactions partner at EY; John de Silva, managing director at Lasco Distributors of Jamaica; and Shaun Rampersad, CEO at Ramps Logistics.

We invite TT’s business community to join the discussion via Zoom from 10 am - 11.50 am. We look forward to seeing you online.

Article sumbitted by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industy and Commerce