Fundamental businesses practices regularly change and business leaders are looking for consultants who can help them prepare for and keep pace with these changes.

The fundamental management principles of the 1980s may still be useful knowledge base but they are changing fast in terms of relevance and ability to deliver significant bottom-line contributions.

For example, JIT (just-in-time) inventory movement is now being regarded as an old model of efficient inventory management.

The implication for business leaders is that they regularly need to review their strategy and business models and have the courage to abandon old activities that are no longer creating value. Rather they should focus on new ways of doing business that may deliver better performance.

Intriguingly, the consultant should also demonstrate courage by showing to business leaders that some previously accepted business activities are no longer delivering good performance because of a fundamental change in principles.

The difficulty for consultants is how to succeed in delivering the kind of insights that will be acceptable to business leaders. Because business leaders are usually reluctant to undertake transformation and restructuring based on new insights due to complexities in the operating environments and inflexibility of companies to quickly respond to change. Yet new technology and shifts in markets are constantly throwing up new opportunities.

For example, the normal approach by companies to conduct research and development (R&D) is changing due to the widespread use of “open innovation” by non-traditional researchers.

Business leaders must avoid engaging in constant strategic conversations that are operationally focused, outdated by fundamental business shifts, and not positioning the business for competitive advantage,

My usual advice to business leaders is that their strategic conversations must be pivoted on atleast three fundamentals – revenue, costs and market. We can discuss these three fundamentals in greater details based on your individual companies’ core businesses, corporate governance, and strategic positioning.

I agree with Prof Anita McGahan argument that “it is possible that corporate divisions that scan their internal and external environments to absorb technologies might perform worse than corporate teams aggressively dedicated to integrating new technologies into core operations”.

➡️  How well is your company scanning the business environment and preparing for fundamental changes in business practices? Talk to us at Gabriel Domale Consulting and request for consulting services via this link: âž½ https://www.www.gabrieldomale.com/submit-rfp.php 

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This article is contributed by:

Dr Leesi Gabriel Gborogbosi DBA MBA MSc MNIM MCIPS FIMC FCA

➡️ Read more of my profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leesi-gborogbosi

Chief Executive Officer | Gabriel Domale (Management Consulting) | https://www.www.gabrieldomale.com

Chief Financial Officer & Director - Business Development | Gabriel Domale (Expert-Connect) | http://www.www.gabrieldomale.com/expert-connect

Port Harcourt - Nigeria | Mobile +2348070322373 | WhatsApp: +2347034604152 | Skype: leesi.gborogbosi | Email: leesi.gborogbosi@gmail.com

The author, Dr Leesi Gborogbosi, CEO of Gabriel Domale Management Consulting), has over two decades of finance leadership experience from Shell Nigeria (Upstream E&P Oil & Gas). His expertise cuts across finance and strategy with an emphasis on finance transformation, project finance, strategy implementation, performance management, corporate governance, and collaboration. He has also doctoral degrees in Strategy and also Business Studies from IE Business School, Madrid.

Leesi is keen to deliver value for your company as a management consultant or at C-suite level roles such as Chief Financial Officer | Non-Executive Director | Finance Director | Interim Management | Independent Advisor.