Don’t say nobody told you!

The Times
October 16, 2007
Oil price hits record of $86 as commodity rises intensify inflation fears
Carl Mortished and Steve Hawkes
The price of crude oil rose to a record of $86 a barrel yesterday amid fears that a surge in the price of traded commodities is storing up a winter squeeze on consumer wallets and new risks of inflation for the global economy. . . . .
Economists gave warning that soaring energy costs could delay any further reduction in interest rates by the Bank of England. George Buckley, the chief UK economist for Deutsche Bank, suggested that economic growth could be hit if oil continued to rise.

Back in August we wrote

Four years ago Mervyn King issued a warning, “Will the next ten years be as nice? That is unlikely”.

Tough talk by the usually super-diplomatic Governor of the Bank of England. Since then oil prices have doubled, raw material costs soared, interest rates keep climbing and at the end of July this year the “credit crunch” has hit the world’s financial markets. It has definitely not been “nice”.

How is this affecting you and your business? Are you worrying about your pension fund, contracting sales, customer failures, supplier weakness, deferring prized expansion plans, unpredictable cost of finance or the increased risk of opportunities? Nearly everybody we know is.

It could get worse; one authoritative source has predicted a “supply crunch” by 2012 resulting in an oil price of $150 dollars a barrel. What would that do to your business? And there is global warming, globalisation and more economic uncertainty from the European Constitution. It is nasty now, it could become really horrid.

We are all heading into very uncertain territory. The only certainty is that something unwelcome will happen – and then something else. Is there any basis for hope for any of us?

Yes, there is a solid basis for hope. There are a few businesses that seem to be able to ride out these rough seas of uncertainty – they appear to be able to surf the economic breakers and emerge stronger and fitter than before. What do they know that everyone else doesn’t? What do they do that makes such a difference?

A massive research project by Dr Vinod Singhal in the USA has found the answer. He has proved that, providing that you do it effectively, “Excellence” doubles your financial competitiveness.

Using this research base we have developed a powerful web based business diagnostic tool called the Competitive Strength Report. It is the only tool available from anyone, anywhere that provides an objective assessment of a business' Competitive Strength compared to the very best in the world - not just in a particular sector but the best at anything.

The Competitive Strength way of looking at the world delivers exceptional insights - why don't you find out more about it at the Competitive Strength website?