Is It Time To Present Our Industry Views To Government Leaders And Policy Makers?
In the trending atmosphere of bad business, an empowered, democratic body to guide, share and educate across industry spectrum is critical, says Bhavin Kothari of Ganko India.
It’s Simple. Wake up and smell the coffee! We are down but definitely not out! Now we gonna get up and make it count. That's what COVID 19 is all about. We are not infallible and we cannot take things for granted. Forced ‘Change’ is extremely difficult to execute. Therefore, it is time to ‘Evolve’. Meaningful Change will happen and it will be seen through the lens of evolution and not revolution. From a VisionCare industry perspective, there are some clear issues we need to build consensus and evolve on. These should be the prime objectives going forward for the next 12-18 months.
- Importance of Profitability and Cashflows
- Create a lobby to present views to relevant authorities 3. Think supply chains, rather than individual business
Think Profits
This is primarily important as Industry at every level has been found wanting to manage its cash flows. Eg: Due to unrealistic ‘growth’ targets, suppliers are breaking all logical barriers by flooding goods to retailers, where retailers are being ‘targeted’ with sweet deals/bargains to buy and stock goods resulting in the gridlock of the cash management cycle. The result is an extremely harmful credit cycle that is inflating costs, squeezing margins and threatening long term relationships.
Higher ‘margins’ are great but of little use, if they are not translated into ‘profits’. It’s time that every part of the chain stops being in a grip of ‘fear’ about losing business and start thinking of making ‘money’.
For the next 18 months, profits and positive cash flows must become the sole objective, rather than sales growth. ‘Value’ must take precedence over ‘Volume’. Businesses must align themselves to this objective at the earliest.
Think Voice
We are one industry and one family. A lobby and think tank of industry thinkers, representing the majority of the industry verticals must be encouraged to present views to government leaders and policymakers so our thoughts, ideas and issues are highlighted to them and appropriate actions can be taken on them. Discussing grievances/issues in a social media group chat does encourage much-needed debate and viewpoints, but does not lead to a clear objective based decision. An empowered, democratic body to guide, share and educate across industry spectrum is critical. It is time our Industry looks outside and hire professionals to help and guide us with clearly defined objectives into creating a strong lobby for our future.
Think Supply Chains
In order to create a strong and viable manufacturing option, it is not enough to have just a frame or lens factory. We must think in terms of having the bulk of the supply chain available to local factories to take advantage of. If a factory has to import over 20% of its raw material, there is no way any manufacturer can be competitive. Therefore, it is necessary that ancillary industries be a part of any manufacturing thought process. The need to also ensure that the last mile chain connectivity like key components of marketing, packaging, human resources, access to capital etc. are all factored in. These are all key critical parts of an industry-wide supply. Some great examples like Pharma/Automobile industries were starting from an ancillary industry availability to consumer financing, everything is linked. There are many learnings for us from these industries. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel and there are some great case studies for us to emulate.
Think Simple
None of the above are hard fixes. They are evolutionary thoughts and ideas that need to be discussed and acted upon to create a stronger platform for our future as an industry and for the next generations to come.
