The Covid-19 pandemic created a seismic shift, wiping out all the resources businesses had built up during the pandemic. As the Vietnamese economy gradually adapts to the 'new normal,' to maintain operations, business managers must continue to manage finances after Covid-19, balancing cost reductions without negatively impacting the business, while also redirecting investments appropriately.
To prepare for future crises, now is the right time to review financial management goals, prioritize business areas, seek differentiation, and train employees in new operating methods.
1. Review priorities and costs.
First, businesses need to clarify strategic questions that will help them quickly identify the capabilities needed to gain a competitive advantage in the market.
1. What changes have occurred in the market? How have customers and competitors changed? What current market trends are noteworthy?
2. What value-added solutions are suitable for the business? Can the business quickly develop better competitive ideas than its rivals? What are the current competitive advantages of the business?
3. Has the company invested sufficiently and appropriately in those ideas? Could investment costs be shifted from other areas to ideas that create more competitive value?
Balancing costs, identifying market needs, and prioritizing goals, along with determination and effort in areas that provide a competitive advantage, will help businesses quickly increase profits and have the strength to grow.
2. Re-evaluate the financial management approach.
Financial management is a crucial task for business managers. Good financial management not only helps businesses maximize profits but also helps them achieve their goals, build budgets, and maintain growth momentum.
Reorganizing finances is the first step to generating profit. Properly utilizing financial resources ensures the most efficient use of capital.
Streamline processes, thereby reinvesting and developing by cutting inefficient steps, rectifying control gaps, and adjusting inappropriate content both overall and in detail. Understand current financial reports to grasp the company's reality, and then restructure and adjust resources and reorganize to serve new strategic directions.
Strictly manage cash inflows and outflows, and allocate resources clearly. Plan for contingencies in both the short and medium term and choose "strategic investments." This will help the business quickly achieve expected results.
3. Assessing market changes and management
- Commercial sector: Along with the acceleration of digitalization, shifts in consumer habits and behavior, such as online shopping, are impacting the changing business environment. The increasing need for technology and the growing urgency of digital transformation are affecting the survival of businesses.
- Supply chain disruption: The supply crisis has shifted the focus from efficiency and price to finding suppliers with resilience and flexibility in supply. This involves sourcing from other locations, expanding supply sources, and developing multiple contingency plans to proactively respond to unexpected situations.
- Information Management and Compliance: This involves managing and synchronizing all business information, including information provided by the company and related data, and tightening control over relevant figures such as bank accounts, insurance, payroll, invoices, and other supporting documents. Business managers understand these issues and the serious impact of these regulations on business operations. Therefore, they are changing their mindset, building management systems, and implementing them to achieve the best possible results.
4. Training employees on new operating methods.
A crisis is a time when morale needs to be constantly boosted. Managers should adopt new operating methods and disseminate information widely to maintain employee morale.
- Flexibility in work environment and working hours;
- To achieve a unified mindset and spirit in order to reach the common goals of the entire enterprise, not the personal goals of the leader;
- Training focuses on work methods based on a technology-driven approach, enabling quick and timely operation;
- The ability to understand, empathize with, and strive to interact with customers and deliver the best products and services.
With new standards and skills, employees will become more flexible, resourceful, and highly effective in supporting the business and operating according to precise procedures. Through this, both the business and its employees achieve common goals, working together to find good and innovative solutions, and increasing the value of their products and services.
Sustainable development is the aspiration of all businesses, from multinational corporations to newly established small businesses. In the post-Covid-19 era, businesses have come to understand even more the importance and necessity of resources for sustainable development. Through sharing insights on what businesses should do to recover, manage finances, and grow after the Covid-19 pandemic, EXPERTIS aims to contribute to helping businesses find solutions to achieve their sustainable development goals as soon as possible.