Arthur Cox: do what’s right, not what’s expedient
Arthur Cox Managing Partner Alan Taylor reflects on the signs of real confidence in the Northern Ireland economy.
Determining what is best for the Northern Ireland economy at any given time is a serious pursuit for amateur pundits and serious commentators alike.
Export more, grow faster, reduce corporation tax, introduce an enterprise zone, cut red tape, increase bank lending, boost government investment in major infrastructure projects: the ingredients for the recipe promising future success is varied and indeed changes almost daily.
One economic report after another seeks to explain and provide answers but are people in the boardroom or on the shop floor really listening?
One wonders what the businessmen and management teams of Northern Ireland companies make of all they read and hear. It’s a bewildering cocktail of ideas that threatens to leave you feeling a little light-headed.
Most people don’t have time to give much attention to the so-called ‘big picture’. They are aware of fluctuations in exchange rates as it affects their export value, know what inflation does to their business and analyse what’s happening in their own market so they can work out whether or not they will sell more or less this month.
If they look at the economy in recent weeks, they can see that the story is one of falling proportion of exports and manufacturing with another rise in unemployment. House prices remain depressed. The outlook? Well, in the short term, like the weather, probably mixed, mostly dull.
So what is one supposed to do in the face of such challenges? Where do businesses find inspiration and support?
The answers usually lie closer to home: from within their businesses (the people employed) and from the commercial relationships they foster. Of course, companies have to deal with the economic reality of the times, but it doesn’t mean they should act out of fear or stop doing the things that matter.
In almost every sector in which we work we see businesses planning, managing costs, looking at export opportunities, seeking growth, assessing and re-assessing their skills base, looking at acquisition prospects, seeking and finding finance, investing in their communities and doing deals.
It would be wrong to paint a picture of all this happening at its most vibrant level, but it is happening and so it is equally misleading to portray an economy without hope or at the very least without qualifying some of those jarring statistics that get thrown about like confetti.
Northern Ireland is having a confident summer in the sense that we thronged to Titanic Belfast, watched the Irish Open with the stars of world golf and savoured the glory of the Giant’s Causeway at the new visitor centre.
These are good things to celebrate. They create a subtle antidote to the prevailing doom and gloom and tell a story of an economy that really has more strings to its bow than is apparent at first sight.
Revisiting Strategy 2010
Northern Ireland is shaping a new economy and that takes time. Back in March 1999, the Government launched Strategy 2010, a much-maligned document at the time that attempted to help guide the new Stormont Executive in its economic deliberations in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement.
In essence it was a ‘self-help’ document encouraging Northern Ireland industry and commerce to take responsibility for its own future.
It quoted several prominent economic giants of the 20th century like Charles Handy: “If we want to see more of the good news than the bad we will have to do it for ourselves. It is no good waiting for some unidentified ‘they’ to fix our world for us.” Then there was Peter Drucker extolling the virtues of the so-called ‘knowledge-economy’ that was emerging at the time. “From now on,” he said, “the key is knowledge, the world is becoming less labour intensive, not materials intensive, not energy intensive but knowledge intensive.” Of course, we still need labour, materials and energy but knowledge is the key: ideas and knowledge generate wealth.
Finally there was the great BC Forbes who simply said: “Do what’s right. Do it right. Do it now.”
Surely doing what is right really matters today and many companies that we work with and indeed others do just that. They do what is right for their businesses and they’re doing it now and their aspiration remains the same: succeed.
Results won’t come easily and patience is required. In many respects Strategy 2010 was viewed as too prescriptive when in essence it attempted to define the economy of the day, stare intelligently into the future, match aspiration against policy and dared to consider what was possible. Today people generate their own vision.
Interestingly it also heralded the importance of the agri-food industry to the region, something that is apparent today as that sector exports, grows and innovates. We’ve always known the food industry is important to Northern Ireland, but today we are really seeing it show the way forward while at the same time almost taking for granted the importance of software development, IT and communications. We’re good at those too and we recognise that we need them but we are rediscovering our agricultural heritage and taking that know-how and putting it to productive use.
It’s when economic challenges come that an economy innovates, gravitates towards its strengths and has the courage to exploit new opportunities. This is such a time and one only has to look at the continuing and growing success of our aerospace supply industry, and the exciting development on the other, of one of the world’s largest online bicycle retailers.
This is a time for Northern Ireland companies to lift their eyes and ambition beyond the parochial and compete with the best. We would need to collectively do what is right, do it right and do it now.
To find out more about our firm and how we can assist your organisation, please contact:
Alan Taylor, Managing Partner, Belfast +44 (0)28 9026 2671
alan.taylor@arthurcox.com
or visit our website:www.arthurcox.com
