Failing to plan or planning to fail?
Failing to plan is planning to fail – teaching of all management gurus and learning of all management students and more over the practice of all managers and corporate leaders. All management qualifications, all the management theories in the world which
In order for an entity to achieve growth it should work on increasing volume of sales or value of sales. There is no doubt that almost all profit making entities are planning for growth; i.e. planning to sell more and more products. Can any organization sell more if there is no one to buy? Obviously the answer is ‘NO’. Hence, all organizations are achieving growth by promoting more and more consumption. If there is any organization which aims at profits tries to achieve growth by curtailing consumption of products and services it will only be a government sector or cooperative sector organization which runs with the primary goal of serving or servicing the community or the general public. Therefore, it’s evident that there is no growth in the absence of consumption or purchase of such goods and services. Nature of the competition is such, each organization or entity tries to outperform the other by selling more and more. On the one hand the whole world is paying lip service to environmental protection, sustainability and achieving sustainable development goals on the other hand promotes consumption. Does this make sense? Who are we trying to deceive?
The individuals or the members of the organizations where they are employed are evaluated based on growth – sales – profits. In other words the individuals need to promote more consumption to succeed in the corporate world and when they get rewards of such growth they themselves can consume more. There are so many motivational theories in the world which explains as to why people want to achieve more. But no model would explain what it would do to this world or what the end result of such achievement is. Why growth? It’s because increased consumption makes people happy; increase could be quantity or quality. It’s no secret that everyone wants to increase the quality of life and, the same comes at a higher cost hence everyone tries to sell more to earn more and in return to consume more.
The growth is something which will never end. The more you earn the more you want to earn and the more you consume the more you want. This concept of “more’’ has given the fundamental purpose for many corporate entities to measure their success. The ultimate yardstick of success of growth is “more’’ sales, “more” profits and “more” savings. Hence, this keeps the system going as it has given a perfect explanation for employees of organizations to keep striving. At the same time, employers, owners, entrepreneurs keep accumulating wealth. Accumulation of wealth gives status, recognition and sense of achievement. Among thousands or millions of such men and women in the corporate sector there will be few who would want to make this world a better place by means of sharing the results of such growth with his/her community, employees and other stakeholders. Therefore, growth will never end. Growth will continue to grow. But the merit of this system is that it increases efficiency and increases productivity which government or public sector wouldn’t achieve for the simple reason that there is no reward for accumulating wealth for government.
In this backdrop it’s pretty obvious that sustainability is just a buzz-word which is used in the corporate vocabulary which is adding a feel good factor to the corporate world. It’s not the true sense of purpose ofmost businesses throughout the world. Introduction of environmental standards, reporting standards etc will only be on the surface
If we can satisfy needs of the present generation without compromising the opportunity for the next generation to satisfy their needs, it’s the simplest definition of sustainability. Are we really sustainable in our behavior? We humans have dumped so much garbage on planet earth - by 2050 the total weight of fish in the sea is going to be the total weight of garbage and plastic in the sea. Sri Lanka a country with a population of 21m people is one of the largest polluters of the ocean with mismanaged plastic waste (source:www.statista.com). We think that humans are superior to all other creatures. Hence, we have the right to do so. The world has a carrying capacity and it’s estimated to be 40mn people. Planet earth is carrying 7.5bn people today and it’s going to be 10bn by 2100 and very soon it will reach the carrying capacity.
This world needs a plan. We have miserably failed to plan. Business entities can make money by any means. It includes legal operations which are sometimes not ethical. Enforcing law is no longer going to solve the problem whereas enforcing to be ethical can solve the problem to a greater extent. Politicians, celebrities, business leaders, researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs, scholars and general public should be brought into one platform where they can look eye-toeye and agree that no one would try to over-do the other… we have come far away from the point where we can come to that equilibrium as the world believes in the fact that everyone has to run faster than the others to survive in this world. Before it’s too late, there must be an intervention from the government in these sectors to have some control in the way unnecessary consumption is being promoted. This beautiful island nation can be preserved and protected if this direction is set before it’s too late. Marketing and branding have evolved beyond a point where it communicates what’s not necessary for existence of mankind and other living creatures.
The government should bring in controls to non-value adding production and communication spend and resources being spent on such activities. This moment is the best moment for us to come to this agreement. Most of the products consumers buy today are priced way above the actual value addition due to reasons such as exorbitant packaging cost, colossal amount of money spent on advertising and promotions etc. The world spends so much on communication. This is the moment consumers are realizing the fact that they don’t need to pay for the celebrity endorsements of the brands they consume. This is the moment where the world is realizing they don’t need to consume more and more for them to be content. This is the moment that the world is realizing that living is not about flamboyant brands. On the one hand the fashion industry is also responsible along with media for what we are facing today as they promote unwanted wants simply for few people to make money. As highlighted in last week’s article, creativity that doesn’t support the survival of the mankind doesn’t mean anything (anyone who reads this article should read the previous two weeks’ articles for a better understanding). Doctors are responsible along with pharmaceutical companies for promoting medicine under various brands for their benefit expecting rewards from pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceutical companies for playing around with the lives of people for them to make more and more money.
I would like to propose to the government, the concept of co-operative shops which prevailed in Sri
Lankaas the best solution which can solve most problems if executed with purpose and if executed well without any undue interventions. This system would be able to provide goods and even some services ata much-reduced price as the motive is not to accumulate money for the benefit of few. The system should also promote sustainability by means of promoting less harmful and more value-added products for consumption. A simple example that could be cited here is; all toothpaste brands which come inside a box can get rid of the box and reduce the price and also be more environmentally friendly by reducing the paper consumption if a regulation says; no boxes for toothpaste as it really doesn’t add value to the consumer. Another example would be to produce toothbrushes and school andoffice stationery using recycled ocean plastic. Without taking drastic changes in the way things are planned, there will be no way we find solutions to the looming economic crisis. It will not make sense for the government to have a similar system which prevailed in Sri Lanka prior to 1978 open economy. But it will make perfect sense if the same system is studied now to figure what elements can be adopted to today’s context. Government intervention in the private sector with knowledgeable officers can pave the way for a more planned economy than what we are experiencing today where anyone can sell anything at their discretion as long as it’s a legal entity. Being legally bound shouldn’t be the measurement to decide if the business should be in existence or not. Government should make an assessment to check the real need for a business to be in operation if it’s only producing for the local market. But if the business is targeting overseas market it can be given the approval for production and then there should be strict regulations to make sure that the products will not compete in the local market.
In the end, brands will and should come to a platform where they promote responsible consumption. Responsible consumption is all about consuming what’s needed and not promoting undue consumption which demands more than what’s required for the survival of mankind. Controlling consumption shouldn’t be in the hands of the government as it can lead to a situation where political weathercocks can make slogans out of it for them to arouse the general public. Private sector brands, and entities should be assigned with the responsibility of promoting responsible consumption. But the real issue is that the system we are stuck in only promotes consumption and anyone who wouldn’t promote consumption will not be considered to be important in this system. After all, our plans have failed and we need to plan all over again for a better tomorrow.