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FOCUS FEATURE


CONNECTING WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE


The sky’s the limit when you collaborate


Fostering relationships in business is by no means a modern phenomenon – but some of the ways we go about it certainly are. Business Network Editor Nathan Fearn looks at how the world of networking and collaboration is changing – and why it remains as important as ever.


It was Walt Disney who once said “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality”. And such a view is eminently transferable when it comes


to business. For an organisation may be blessed with entrepreneurial spirit, a clear vision and, importantly, high quality products and/or services – but whether a business is B2B or B2C-focused, if nobody knows about it, it will struggle to make headway in competitive and often crowded markets. Of course when we talk about networking, we’re talking


about a practice that goes back through the ages – it’s what many suggest sets us apart from other animals; our ability to communicate so comprehensively with others through language. Yet it could be argued that, relatively speaking, the idea of


networking in a business sense – certainly to the levels we see these days – is a relatively new and evolving concept. Of course there are exceptions to the rule but, on the


whole, businesses – especially smaller ones – were limited in the scope they had for developing contacts in times gone by. Certainly, pre-Industrial Revolution there simply weren’t the vehicles – literally and metaphorically – to cultivate relationships outside of immediate communities a business would operate in. In many cases, there was little requirement to either. That’s not to say that powerful and crucial partnerships


and relationships didn’t exist. On the contrary – a business’ local community was its heartbeat; its clients, its employees and its stakeholders all rolled into one. Businesses could build fantastic rapports with the communities they served, they could rely on the loyalty of their customer and client base and develop strong reputations that were often passed down through the generations. One only needs to think to the romanticised view of a


local family-run bakery serving its community for generations, with the business knowing everybody it came into contact with. While such examples still exist and remain highly


effective models – indeed the rise in Corporate Social Responsibility has brought the idea of businesses serving and enhancing their communities full circle – we nevertheless live in a far more complex age when it comes to developing and harnessing important relationships. This is, largely, down the huge developments in


interconnectivity – both physically and with the dawn of the Digital Age – which has seen the world become smaller, as technological advancements fundamentally change the way we work, the way we do business and the way we live our lives.


56 business network March 2019


‘Networks no longer stretch just to neighbouring towns, counties, cities or countries; they stretch across the world and at the click of a button’


Networks as such have developed, businesses have


ventured away from their local communities and they have developed partnerships that would simply not have been possible in times gone by. Businesses that may have already enjoyed a national presence before have been presented with the chance to go international. Networks no longer stretch just to neighbouring towns,


counties, cities or countries; they stretch across the world and at the click of a button – and such possibilities are no longer the preserve of established, resource and cash-rich enterprises. And with such an explosion of possibilities, the need to connect with others, both B2B and B2C, no longer appears merely an opportunity or ad hoc exercise for businesses – it is a downright necessity. Yes, it is natural that some businesses have grown


organically and exponentially but they are now aided by improved connectivity and enhanced collaborative capabilities. Continuing the bakery theme, you need look no further


than the evolutions of Warburtons for evidence of a local business that has expanded its horizons over the years and broken out from its traditional roots. The Warburtons website states that “Thomas Warburton


and his wife Ellen first opened their grocery shop in 1870… Ellen's first batch of four loaves of bread and six cakes sold out in under an hour. Within two weeks the tiny shop in Bolton was renamed 'Warburtons the Bakers' and continued to go from strength-to-strength over the next 141 years. “All those years on and Warburtons is still a private


family-owned business, actively managed by the fifth generation of Warburtons Jonathan, Ross and Brett. It is the largest family-owned bakery business in the country, and employs around 4,500 people across 12 bakeries and 14 depots across the UK.


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