Transporters must rethink post-recession tactics – Sunter

South African transporters should act more like foxes than hedgehogs if they want to survive the economic storm, writer and scenario planning guru Clem Sunter said recently. “It is extremely important to be adaptable, to read the markets and constantly question if your strategy is still valid,” said Sunter. “In the current economic times no businessman can be a hedgehog and remain fixated on one vision and one mission. While there is no doubt that you can be successful while keeping your eye on that one big idea, you may miss many opportunities along the way. You have to be foxy and not put all your eggs in one basket.” Warning that the recession was expected to continue for at least another 12 months, Sunter said all predictions were that it would be a V-shaped recession, which would see many companies head back up in 2011, but the game will have changed completely. “All expectations are to be out of the recession by the end of this year but business is going to need new balls for the new game as the way of the past will no longer exist. There will be no more easy credit, banks will be more regulated than ever before, the East is going to play equal to the West for the first time ever and we will have new technology that will also determine how we work.” He said two scenarios existed for the recession – a V shape where there is a downward move and unpredictably you cannot say how long and how deep you will go down before going back up again, and a U shaped recession. “I think we will have a relatively shallow V in South Africa, which is now considered the fifth most bank-worthy nation on earth because our banks escaped most of the toxic debt. “The world has been in a long boom scenario since 1982, mainly due to the rise of the East and secondly the development of technology. This recession was inevitable in some regard but we Clem Sunter ... ‘You have to be foxy.’ believe the worst is over.”