Striving for business excellence? No – its crisis excellence that’s now essential

It is a no brainer as to why South Africa’s entrepreneurs are being celebrated for their resilience.

If anything, they are the ones who truly demonstrated their remarkable buoyancy, emerging as heroes in the face of pandemics, load shedding, European conflicts, unemployment and greylisting. And there is seemingly just no end to the economic hardships experienced by South Africans every day.

According to Momentum Corporate CEO, Dumo Mbethe, this is a concept in the business world that has been termed ‘crisis excellence’, going beyond just the idea of ‘business excellence’.

At the Momentum Corporate panel discussion held in Sandton on 15 March 2023, Mbethe described businesses that tapped into innovative ways of doing business as those who truly displayed crisis excellence.

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Mbethe said it was what set them apart as society disrupters and true leaders that ensure their survival during the country’s most turbulent economic times.  

Opportunities for growth

Agreeing with these sentiments was the CEO of fintech company Capital Connect, Steven Heilbron, who advised that small and medium-sized retailers facing multiple economic challenges should look for ways to turn them into opportunities for growth.

“With no sign of the present economic storm subsiding, small and medium-sized retailers need to identify ways to turn today’s multiple crises into opportunities for growth.

“Evolving consumer tastes, new market pain points and emerging technologies all offer compelling ways for retailers to diversify into new markets and create additional revenue streams,” he said.

In the last couple of years, retailers have managed to flourish despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

According to retailer research conducted by Capital Connect, 60% of the respondents have diversified their product range, 39% have expanded their service offerings beyond the usual, and 17% have incorporated an ecommerce shopping option into their business.

Meanwhile, Dion Chang, CEO of Flux Trends, said that the rise of a contactless economy during the pandemic has created new business models that retailers can exploit.

“Trends that will shape the market in the next few years include social commerce, the B2B sharing economy, and faster last-mile deliveries—all offering compelling ways for earlier movers to get an advantage,” he said.

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The next crisis

It is methodologies like this that will help us navigate the next crisis on the cards. We just don’t know what that might be as yet.

According to Ricardo Coppus, Manager of Operations Strategy and Process Transformation at Deloitte in Amsterdam, it is no longer t a question of if there will be a new crisis, but when.

“Opportunities arise in times of crisis, it brings forward new skills and business models and the ability to challenge the status quo,” he said.

It is for this reason that the notion of crisis excellence will continue to hold ground in today’s business society.

“This world is hard to predict but taking care of each other and tapping into our shared humanity is the only way to thrive on our journey to success,” Mbethe concluded.