Nowadays business is not static, it is constantly changing, it is exciting and challenging. We all need to be striving to keep up and hopefully lead the way in this environment. A critical issue of national enterprises is how to effectively respond in the irrepressible dynamic global business environment. Thus in order to avoid new headaches in 2017 due to factors such as political uncertainty and stunted trade you may need to find the key that can predict the future of your business.
Most global firms in first instance forecast market demand and implement new product development processes. However, new business models need to address several key questions to be competitive in a dynamic global market environment. Practice has shown that in many cases we fail to anticipate or adequately respond to change for several reasons. Sometimes we may not notice the changes from business environments and as a result we are blinded by the changes that have occurred quite unexpectedly.
“The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.” Eric Hoffer
In this context, several types of analysis and statistics are available to improve our knowledge and the capacity to face challenges aggravated by the economic situation. In addition to the foregoing, we must keep ourselves informed, in order to boost business confidence or simply to keep it real when it comes to doing business. Looking to the future as regards the expectations of business environment the EUROCHAMBRES Economic Survey 2017 (EES2017) is one that must be considered.
This survey is based on responses from 50,500 European businesses to a study that was carried out by Chambers of Commerce & Industry in autumn 2016. The results suggest that the economic situation will not change significantly in 2017, with the trend of modest growth continuing.
Uncertainty over the geopolitical situation within and beyond the EU and continuing domestic challenges to productivity and demand undermine the impact of various factors that have a positive effect on consumption, trade and investment.
In summary, the 2017 situation seems set to change only slightly compared to 2016 and, in fact, maintains a trend over several years of moderate growth predictions from Europe’s business community.
Business confidence for 2017 falls slightly compared to 2016.
Conversely, expectations for domestic sales, export sales and investment for 2017 improve with respect to 2016.
The 2017 employment indicator remains almost the same as the previous year.
European companies identify domestic demand, economic policy conditions, labour costs and a lack of skilled workers as the main challenges for 2017.
The climate of uncertainty created by the challenges that companies have encountered in 2016 and those that they expect to face in the future results are in an increasingly complex competitive environment in Europe. Nonetheless, expectations for 2017 remain positive.
Lastly, be sure to keep in mind that most businesses evolve over time. There isn’t a lot of structure or planning, the needs of the business influence any changes. As it grows the operation is modified and hopefully becomes more successful. But if you can build your business on strong foundations, the future is much more certain and the overall likelihood of the business doing well is greatly increased.