Values and value

It seems that this is the time when we should be re-evaluating our values and goals. However, we seem to be in the midst of a global economy (the westernised ones, at least) increasingly being ruled by an outdated and discredited Keynesian policy (quantative easing, aka printing money) to try to persuade us to continue paying for goods we can’t afford (and never really wanted or needed), secured on property which was ridiculously overvalued. The EC is currently benefiting from individual countries’ fear of being left out in the cold and away from the ‘welfare state’ of the central bank baling out broken economies, surely this will ensure that the Lisbon treaty is passed into law despite the misgivings of many citizens and several ‘no’ votes first time round.

We all need to be focussed on what we need and want personally and what our customers need and want. These things should be priorities – and yes, they will not be the same as a year ago. One would hope that if someone stood on a street corner and dished out quantities of bank notes, recent experience would drive a few people to put some of them somewhere for a rainy day rather than spending it straight away on a new flat screen TV. Printing money simply makes an intermediary commodity (currency), without any inherent value, worth less when compared to other currencies and therefore less spending power – so what is the point?

The G20 summit has again exposed the ‘quick fix’ mentality of politicians seeking to resolve profound issues overnight and to ‘pitch it’ to us for short term political gain. Where can we identify value? While it is difficult to understand when so few commercial decisions are being made and acted upon, corporate value is apparently not in the market capitalisation of companies, particularly those trading at values below their cash holding and/or their tangible balance sheet values. Sustainable profitability seems an ethereal goal when survival feels is an ambition, but surely it has to be better than the alternatives.

This means dealing with the fundamentals, getting back to proper business ethics without the nepotism. Adopting technical advances and other innovations which make doing and running businesses so much more economic if they are wholeheartedly adopted (haven’t they been missing so far from this recession?) and finding new and innovative ways to engage with customers and really understand what they want and need.