Brexit Archives

Most Mondays we try to publish a short list of thought-provoking facts that bear some relevance to the time of year and current events.

It’s not a science project, rather a list of things that catch our eye during the week from reading, viewing and absorbing by osmosis.

If anything grabs your attention, please get in touch. It’ll be a pleasure to talk; innovate@room44.co.uk.

Thoughts

Music streams in the US broke one trillion streams this year, up 11.9 billion on 2021.

Blackrock

Natural future

Tortoises living to 150 years old do so in the same youthful state as when they were 50.

Future of work

“…employees working from home could be “socially disconnected from their organization.” Their work could be less inspired, …, and companies could experience higher turnover.”

Malcolmn Gladwell, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/malcolm-gladwell-on-the-evolution-of-his-working-from-home-stance.html

Wework reimagined – watch the growing trend for redundant retail space. Failed (and failing) department stores are being regenerated as retail units combined with food courts and shared work space.

Inflation

UK inflation examples, in the last year:

Cheddar cheese +26%

Dog food +31%

Butter +27%

Milk +36%

Brussel Sprouts -2%

Kanter

Eggs +50%

The Grocer

In 2019, three years after the ‘BREXIT’ referendum, Jacob Rees-Mogg is quoted as having said “I can see the opportunities of cheaper food, clothing and footwear, helping most of all the incomes of the least well-off in our society.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/02/brexit-poor-people-paying-eat-debate-human

While the media (and all of us) continue to hazard guesses about what March 29th will bring, this week has brought more news of businesses leaving the UK to base production abroad. We’ve had Monocle Monday and Honda Tuesday. What next?

Monocle Magazine #Monoclemagazine the newsy/ lifestyle/ trend reporting magazine that has been, until now, printed in the UK announces that it is moving printing to Germany “to ensure there are no hiccups in delivery and quality”.

#Honda announces it’s closing a factory in Swindon – devastating, not only for its employees, but also the thousands working in the Honda supply chain around the UK.

The Labour Party #LabourParty goes into a flat spin with Monday Mutineers, and responds by pleading for by-elections to paper over the cracks.

These are effects brought on by mounting uncertainty. When a problem shifts from ‘chronic’ to ‘acute’, our defence mechanisms mobilise and decisions are made that may prove not to be best-judged.

Although we have had nearly three years to plan for the Brexit scenarios, it’s only now, when the impact of the move is still so unclear, that many businesses are acting.

As Courier Media #CourierWeekly said today: “We are living in uncertain times. In the UK, trying to understand what Brexit will look like is impossible (even politicians don’t know). So what’s the current reality for small businesses operating in the unknown?”

This is the question room44 is here to help with. Thursday is a great day to start seeing it differently.

With five weeks to go before the clocks go forward (in the UK) and Brexit happens, you do still have time to see your prospects differently.

Innovation (even invention) can happen regardless of Brexit. Treat the macro impact on the trading environment right, and we can show you how to turn it into a positive feature of your development plans.

Another word from #courierweekly. This time from top UK chef Shamil Thakrar: “We’ve spent an awful lot of time thinking about this [Brexit]. This time would be better spent improving the proposition for customers – [instead] our mental focus is on damage limitation.’

Make this Thursday DESIGN THINKING THURSDAY.

Click here to download our guide to Seeing it Differently – How to sell innovation into your own business.

Once you see the potential room44 holds, get in touch. There is no time to waste.

UK businesses have a little under two months to watch Brexit unfold and try to decide how to move forward. Conventional advice is to watch the pennies and mitigate the risk of getting caught out if and when rules change.

This is brilliant news for innovators.

Your colleagues have been working on Brexit planning for months, and they probably have a pretty good idea of the scenarios that could play out. So, let’s give them something new to do for the next few weeks.

You’ve still got time to dedicate to new and innovative projects:

Time to build a plan that your company can focus on.
Time to set a strategic direction that will carry the business into a new phase of growth.
Time for interesting, creative, transformative work, while the supply chain servicing your current business worries about what new costs Brexit may send your way.

room44 has a unique perspective on business – your business.

We don’t believe the traditional way is the only way.

We don’t believe the only thing you can do is to wait for bad news.

Let us show your team the way to a new plan.

It’s a programme for change-makers. The ROI is clear and precise:

Drive new products to market faster than ever before
Increase sales from new products, current and new markets
Have more ‘hits’ as a % of ideas started
Balance criticism with market insight
Develop an enquiring mindset
Bring future profit forward to today

Traditional thinking vs Future Thinking

The table below compares what a well-known accountancy firm suggests you should do with Brexit looming, and what we say about that. You’ll have done most of what’s suggested in column 1* and now you can invest a few short weeks more profitably?

‘What they say’.

What we say

Regulation and compliance

Maintaining compliance with changing regulatory frameworks will be crucial to enabling a business to continue to operate and trade across the EU and non-EU countries as they do now. For example, businesses will also need to consider how Brexit might impact their ability to access some tax reliefs and whether insurance provisions will still be appropriate.

Good, pragmatic, conventional advice, but…

you’ve probably been planning this for ages, and you still can’t be sure you’ve guessed right.

Let’s not keep doing the same thing.

Now is a perfect time to see things differently.

Financial planning and management

Forecasting the impact of decisions and price shock uncertainty will be crucial to maintaining business continuity. Equally important will be the ability to access finance to fund suitable working capital requirements.

No matter how well you are planning and managing your finance…

…your buffer won’t last.

You need to grow. Innovation is the answer and it’s within reach, this quarter.

Trade

Can your supply chain withstand Brexit? Businesses need to consider the potential impact of increased customs duties, greater regulation causing delays to the movement of goods and services, and the effects on cash-flow. Have you made sure your suppliers have also considered this?

Yes, it can.

Will you be affected by increased charges? Possibly. But if price rises are inevitable, you won’t stop them.

See it differently. Now is the time to start.

People and talent management

Changes to UK immigration policy will have a profound effect and businesses should be thinking about how they will continue to recruit and retain the right people to maintain business continuity and make the most of Brexit opportunities.

The skills shortage in the UK goes beyond access to EU labour resource.

Let’s focus on what we can influence…

…like how we see markets evolving and how you meet developing consumer need.

Business management

Avoiding disruption to core operations and maintaining business continuity will require careful planning and may involve restructuring the business or acquiring additional entities in different jurisdictions. This may also mean outsourcing key areas to increase efficiency and enable a business to focus resources elsewhere.

…or be the disruptor.

If your competition isn’t planning to nail you while you’re fussing over Brexit, they’ve missed a trick.

Let’s assume they have. This is your big moment.

room44 is your weapon of choice.

The programme is written.
It’s adaptable precisely for you.
We’ve even set some time aside to take on a small number of projects in February.
The workshop just needs a room and a date.

Your next e-mail is where it starts. Click here over to you and the e-mail is set up for you/

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.