eBuzz: The Lok Jack GSB eNewsletter

July 2009 | Issue 48

Feature Article

Don’t Waste the Crisis”, Business School Leader Advises

“A Crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

That was the sentiment of Professor Miguel Carrillo, Executive Director of the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business. Speaking at The Ideas Forum seminar “Understanding & Surviving the Economic Downturn” - his first public speaking engagement since becoming the School’s Executive Director - Carrillo had some unconventional wisdom to offer.

Addressing a full audience at the business school’s Yara Auditorium, he explained that a crisis always brought with it new opportunities and that the task of the business person was to recognise those opportunities. He emphasised that survival in crises usually depended on the organisation’s ability to adapt to the changes in the environment, suggesting that perhaps, contrary to popular belief, now was not the time to do nothing, but rather a time to change.

Focusing heavily on innovation, which he called “proactive adaptation”, Carrillo’s presentation outlined the positives of a financial crisis stating that it increased awareness, exposed vulnerabilities of businesses, brought frugality to the business environment and tested adaptation skills. He also encouraged business owners to focus on the value of their product or service rather than simply the delivery of said product or service. Additionally, he stressed the need to master the essentials of good business management: tight control of cash and talent flows, as well as reviewing every customer’s profitability.
“Do not compete” and “Do not listen to Customers” he told participants, turning some long established rules on its head. When challenged on these points, he explained that simply doing these things was not enough and businesses had to do much more to differentiate themselves and survive.
To succeed, he said, would require that they break the rules as they’ve come to know them and learn to combine value with uniqueness, with the ultimate objective of being “original”, rather than simply “better”.
Earlier in the session, Economist and Lok Jack GSB member of faculty, Jwala Rambarran, brought the focus on the local and regional impact of the financial downturn. He said Caribbean economies have been hit as hard by the downturn as the international community, as a result of our close ties to the US, and that this was evidenced by a general contraction across all sectors. He also said the Trinidad & Tobago economy had already showed signs of slowing before the global crisis, and the downturn was only exacerbated by the global situation. Giving an example of the extent of the impact on this country, Rambarran stated that even with a 4% unemployment rate, Trinidad has suffered significant job loss: of the 14,000 jobs created between 2002 and 2007, 4,000 have been lost in Trinidad’s 9 month recession. He estimated that there would be a doubling of the unemployment rate in the next year. He expects T&T’s recession will end in the first half of 2010, but says there are likely to be lingering concerns given that the country has seen experiencing steady decreases in global competitiveness.

Thomas Johnson, owner and Managing Director of Caribbean Insulation Systems Limited (CISL), also addressed participants on “The Firm Level Perspective: Coming to Terms with Business Reality”. In his presentation, he outlined some long term strategies for business survival, which included development of areas such as Human Resources, Employee Value, Education and Internal Corporate Social Responsibility.

Drawing on measures implemented at CISL, he encouraged businesses to expose trained staff to opportunities, to assist in personal development issues and to encourage employee empowerment - which he said always lead to an increased level of responsibility. He said leadership and trust were imperative in helping businesses retain talent. He expressed the need for greater awareness of the effects of a global financial downturn locally, as well as the need for local business to recognise the value of home-grown talent.

“We have a philosophy that our talents and skills are not as good as anyone else’s,” he said. “If given the choice between a local company and a foreign company, we choose the foreign one.”

In the 30 years he has managed his own business, providing support services to the energy sector, Johnson said he has come to realise that nothing was further from the truth, and that locals could be just as capable as foreigners when it came to getting the job done.

Also in this Issue

Consulting
- Lok Jack GSB Certifies Employee Assistance Professionals
Centre for Training & Development

Consulting

Lok Jack GSB Certifies Employee Assistance Professionals

The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business recently concluded a one-day workshop as part of its initiative to offer requisite professional development hours (PDHs) towards becoming Certified Employee Assistance Professionals – the first of its kind to be offered in the region.

The Employee Management Assistance Programme (EMAP) arm at the School will be working closely with the Employee Assistance Certification Commission (EACC) and International EAP advisor and EACC certified facilitator, Dr. Dale Masi, who conducted the first domain.

“This is a major recognition for how EAPs have become professionalised in Trinidad…soon HR Directors will be able to require CEAP credentialed staff for their programmes”, said Dr. Masi. She added: “The Business School should be commended for taking the leadership in forming an EAP Association chapter and developing the CEAP courses.

The first cohort comprised professionals from the local and regional public and private sectors. The next workshop will be offered in July 2009.

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Centre for Training and Development

Finance

Fundamentals of Finance & Accounting for Administrative Professionals
July 20th, 21st and 22nd 2009.

Overview

Gain confidence in dealing with financial information. Understand the financial aspect of the business and ensure budgets and expenses stay on track.
An introduction to the fundamentals of accounting for administrative assistants, secretaries, executive secretary and other administrative professionals, this seminar gives you an understanding of the financial aspects of business to ensure budgets and expenses stay on track.