Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

At C-View Technologies we face a tough competitor in the form of a type of corporate insanity!

Let me explain and see if these symptoms sound familiar:

Some companies are so focused on the ‘today’ and ‘right now’ tactics that they are slowly and surely driving themselves into the hands of their more strategic competitors, and eventual obscurity, due to a lack of real-time strategic thinking.

We are a technology start-up, doing business in 36 countries across the globe and we see some interesting national flavours to the balance between tactical and strategic. As an example, we are a technology exporter to Japan and our customers there have a definite strategic and considered approach based on achieving long-term business goals. If something shows only short-term gain then they will not prioritise it. In many other regions we see a lot of panic around the ‘this-quarter-only’ approach to business, sometimes in total disregard for even midterm goal achievement. Germany is somewhere in the middle but definitely closer to Japan than the other places we work.

Even though the results are irrefutable, some companies are structured in such a way that they are unable to think and act strategically in a coordinated and real-time way. I am not complaining here as there are enough smart companies to keep us fully engaged but it is a shame to see so much opportunity and resource wasted due to structural issues that are easily fixable. It would be great to hear some views from people out there on both the causes and possible resolutions to this performance-blocking dilemma.