NOVEL SOLUTIONS
View the World From a New Angle
SHANNON WETZEL, SENIOR EDITOR
makes a case for thinking in terms of North and South as the economies in the Earth’s southern hemisphere emerge and expand. Charan defi nes this Global Tilt (also the title of his book) as the “shift in business and economic power from countries of the North to those below the 31st parallel . . . the spur to radical changes in strategic thinking, leadership and the organization’s social system.” In Global Tilt, Charan coaches companies on thoughtfully considering changes in world economies and markets and how they will aff ect their business in the long-term future. Like so many business books, Charan’s tends to focus most on big multinational companies with already large market presences or ambitious companies who hunger for the lion’s share of the market, rather than businesses whose goal is to increase profi t and company health. His message is more straightforward for suppliers to metalcasters who can seek to identify growing manufacturing hubs in the South. However, metalcasters can fi nd great value in Charan’s overview of the current and near- future world economic climate. Charan uses the advancement of 3D printing as one example of how business is changing. T e innovation cycle will speed up, supply chain and logistics redefi ned, and costs reduced, which may erode some of the South’s advantages. Other market factors are tilting more in favor of emerging economies, however, and they are not just about cheap labor or component pricing. T e shift- ing economy aff ects raw material inventory (such as the fl uctuating iron ore and rare earth minerals prices in 2010), the availability of talent (out of 400,000 engi- neering graduates at one school in India, Charan writes 125,000 will go to big IT companies and 100,000 will be recruited by software fi rms, leaving a smaller pool for manufacturing), and natural resources supply. Even if your metalcasting company has no plans to expand into another country, global market changes will have an in- fl uence on your business, and it is smart to be prepared for the changing tides. Metalcasting readers will fi nd the most value in the
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middle section of Charan’s book, where he provides some workbook-style approaches to “sorting the ongo- ing challenges” by listing major unstoppable trends you and your management team have identifi ed and the chain reactions they may trigger. Even a 30-person job shop will fi nd this approach to long-term planning to be worthwhile.
40 | MODERN CASTING June 2013
ur world history is often thought of in terms of West vs. East infl uences and cultures, but a new book by business advisor Ram Charan
ABRIDGED
Relevance to Metalcasters Technical Diffi culty Self-Help Fluff Profi t Booster
“One of your jobs as a leader is to pragmatically and unfl inchingly
evaluate the value of your assets and the robustness of your business model on a long-term basis and move before their value deteriorates.”
Metalcasters’ Translation: It’s important to keep your core competencies strong, but it is just
as important to evaluate the longevity of those core competencies compared to the current and future marketplace—before those cores become obsolete. Just as large gray iron shops recognized investments needed to be transitioned toward developing ductile iron 50 years ago, your metalcasting facility will want to maintain its strengths while also keeping an open mind to the needs and demands 20 years from now.
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