The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted and changed a variety of factors related to customers on a global scale: from the value’s point of view, behaviours, ways of shopping and choosing products and services. These changes are considered to certainly have profound effects on the operations of business. During an interview in VTV2\’s Industry and Trade Perspective program, Dr. Duong Thu, Director of Sleader, shared her thoughts on the continuous transformation of the current business environment and what business leaders need to do to promptly adapt to the context of Covid-19 pandemic.
See the summary of Dr. Duong Thu’s interview on Industry and Trade Perspective here
Reporter: With your experiences, can you share with us what business leaders should do to adapt to the new business environment?
First of all, there is a phrase that I would like to suggest to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to choose as their motto for action after the three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is PROACTIVE TRANSFORMATION. Do not wait for the old world to return, businesses must realize this is actually an opportunity for them and promptly make decisions. However, the transformation must be done in accordance with a roadmap outlined by business leaders themselves. It is worth noting that instead of imitating each other, they must rely on their core competencies to successfully create their own position and maintain long-term values.
Reporter: Accordingly, can you suggest to businesses what they need to do to transform?
First, businesses need to adapt and maintain existing operations to retain customers and generate revenue. Then, it is necessary to reconsider the strategy and business model, and transfer resources and capabilities to the new business model. Businesses need to take advantage of the achievements of the 4.0 technology revolution, such as: applying the form of e-commerce, connecting with the business ecosystem to support and create a more efficient supply chain, using smart tools to support administration. Next, businesses should evaluate and rearrange personnel in alignment with a new business model, which focuses on promoting the strengths of each member of the organization. Finally, for SME, it is worth-noting to pay attention to the positive features of Vietnamese culture combined with the application of Western standard technologies in management.
Reporter: In the new context, what do you think leaders should do to enhance labor productivity?
In the new era, the concept of labor productivity needs to be understood and approached according to systems thinking. In other words, labor productivity is considered in overall relationship with other factors in the enterprise such as strategy, quality of human resources, resource allocation, application of science and technology in production. Therefore, to improve labor productivity, business leaders should concentrate on the following points:
Initially, business leaders must innovate their thinking and act vigorously, avoiding following the old way, which is no longer suitable in the digital business environment and global integration. Next, businesses should transform the business model to accommodate the new normal; at the same time abandon the traditional management method and switch to modern management, which uses smart tools to support corporate governance. Last but not least, it is the leaders themselves who must know how to optimize the power of collective intelligence by using the Syntegration method. The Syntegration Method, which is likened to “a smart phone” in the field of management, as using this method will help combine the intelligence of a majority of people in a less time-consuming way, but still achieve high efficiency.
Synthesis: Institute of Strategic Leadership (Sleader)
