Don't panic, Captain Mainwaring, don't panic!
I'm a packaging man, not a money man (as my wife will confirm), and I don't presume to know what knowledge or experience you need to run a major bank, or under what day-to-day pressures they operate. However, as we of the manufacturing world watch the developing crisis in the financial sector and learn of the huge losses of taxpayers’ money, the 'why' questions are mounting. How did this happen? Was it incompetence? Simply greed? Maybe it was the blind leading the blind? Who really knows?
As far as our industry is concerned, the key is to understand what lies ahead and how we are to ride out any storms, if they come our way. The banking and financial sector is critical to our industrial well-being and, if I've learnt anything from recent events, the health of the financial sector is intertwined with that of manufacturing and the consumer.
None of us want to see a 1930s-style Great Depression, but it does seem galling that a financial institution can be bailed out by the public purse. Can any of us see a packaging manufacturer being rescued if it were to go bust after a series of poor decisions? Nor should they be. We all know the score in a competitive market – employees depend upon their leaders to steer them correctly, and business leaders know that their responsibilities are to generate value.
Now is the time to sit down and work out your strengths and weaknesses. Some businesses will undeniably face problems, but there will also be opportunities. The industry needs to maintain its focus on development, efficiency and innovation, together with credit control and sensible financial planning. The financial industry is essential to our economy, but equally it cannot function without packaging and the ancillary processes and functions upon which it is underpinned, such as the design, machinery and distribution sectors.
As the weeks and months pass, there will be opportunities for the packaging and allied industries to exploit the situation. However, we have to know what we are doing. It is vital that both companies and individuals take responsibility to ensure they have this knowledge, emerging from this period of uncertainty in a state that is stronger and better equipped for the future.
We aren't doomed, far from it. Know your strengths and weaknesses, plan sensibly, and don't panic, Captain Mainwaring.
