EDITORIAI

Just what is it we really do?

EOR many in this business, 1980 has been a I confusing and frustrating year. There have been more than the usual number of highs and lows, bursts of business followed by exasperating lags, and an ongoing economic picture thaf may make the coming months a Winter of Discontent. For many, it has been more work for less reward.

It may be that the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet are trying to tell you something. Perhaps it is not just that conditions are poor, but that it is time for you to step back and take a hard look at just what your business is. Are you competing against other firms that have advantages you can never match? How long has it been since you objectively surveyed your customer base to make certain that it hadn't changed without your realizing it? Is your marketing targeted on a physical or market segment that has subtly evolved so that it no longer is as profitable as before?

For many firms, the old standard that eighty percent of iheir piofit comes from twenty [ercent of their customers still holds. It is very easy to begin that imperceptible slide away from the profit-heavy twenty percent and slip into spending time on the less challenging, but vastly less profitable areas of business. Ask yourself honestly whether there has been any of that kind of slippage at your firm. You may not like the answers, but correcting the problem before it becomes too severe is far preferable to other, far more serious, consequences that may well result from inaction

In a time of belt tightening, it may seem like heresy to propose adding employees. Yet it may be that the addition of even one person could free up enough of your day so that you could finally find time to tackle that long postponed project that could well make back many times over the cost of the new person on the payroll.

In any review of business, take a hard line and ask the tough questions. Make certain no one is kidding himself or you in answering those questions about who does what, and why, and where the black ink runs the deepest. Without that commitment, you might as well abandon the entlre pro]ect.