Globalisation and Global Competitive Strategy in 2003

The debate rages every time the World Economic Forum has a meeting when protesters and police unveil their latest techniques in confrontation.

When all is said and done the fact remains that the world is inextricably linked and those links count for most of what happens financially and economically.

Michael E. Porter is one of the old school business strategists. He is rated No.1 in Accenture's Institute for Strategic Change list of most important business thinkers and writers.

He has worked with many CEOs and been quoted by many business people as well as students. Harvard Business School is the icon of conservatism and revisionism for some but for others remains the cutting edge of business comment and strategy.

In an article published in 2001 in Harvard Business Review he stressed the importance of "the Internet as a complement to, not a cannibal of, traditional ways of competing."

This attitude was never going to earn him kudos from the dot coms but he has been proved correct. The jury is still out on just how sustainable profitability is possible online. That is unless you run a porn site.

One of the questions that Porter will be dealing with in his seminar next week, entitled Global Competitive Strategy, is "Why most Internet companies failed, and why a few have succeeded."

The point of questions like this is to spark debate and thereby gain a deeper insight into the issues at stake. Most people either go to these conferences and seminars expecting to have all their business issues resolved or sit stoically through the talks waiting patiently for drinks and lunch.

One of the secrets to gaining something from the event is to look at how the ideas put forward could be applied. Porter would probably welcome tricky questions rather than blind acceptance or indifference.

Peter Matlare, group chief executive officer of the SABC, talked about media coverage and the effects of the Gulf war in the Sunday Independent. It was a transcription of the Media Freedom Lecture that he delivered recently at Rhodes University.

He talked about the decision that SABC took to axe CNN and defended it by saying that SABC caters to a different market to that of CNN.

"What everyone failed to understand was the principle that we, the SABC, should not give up blocks or airtime to any broadcaster. We should be able to take their news and use it to inform South Africans as the SABC and not as an extension of any other network."

The point about globalisation is that it is a fact and whether one builds and designs business strategies or plans news content there are lessons to be learnt. There is a glut of information available and the challenge lies in searching for relevant details and analogies.