Ways to improve operation and increase profit during the pandemic

Prof Cheng (top row, far left), Ir Dr Wang (top row, middle) with the participants during the photography session

Sustaining a business and a turnaround company have become an important topic of discussion in today’s world as companies are preparing for recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, the Institute of Management and Leadership Development (IMLD) and Belt and Road Strategic Research Centre (BRSRC) jointly organised a webinar titled “Five ways to improve operation and increase profit in Covid-19 Pandemic Environment” which saw about 150 participants on 5 March 2021. The webinar was held via Zoom.

Speaking at the webinar was The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Vice President Ir Dr Wang Hong Kok while moderating the webinar was IMLD Director-cum-BRSRC Chairperson Prof Dr Cheng Ming Yu. During the webinar, Ir Dr Wang discussed the framework of turnaround using Goodman’s (1982) five dimensions which were getting ready, building the team, the power of bifocal planning, turnaround strategies and motivating the team. Aside from that, participants also learnt about the two companies that Ir Dr Wang had resurrected from the brink of collapse.

Ir Dr Wang started the webinar by sharing the global outbreak of Covid-19’s impact on human lives such as untold miseries and deaths. He said, “Covid-19 pandemic affects businesses across the globe as sales are down, companies running into losses, employees experiencing pay-cuts, retrenchment and so forth. According to IEM’s survey, 35 per cent of employees from 699 respondents indicated that they were affected by pay-cuts and 26.62 per cent were retrenched. From the 92 respondents who were employers, 18.6 per cent indicated they had retrenched staff and 36.6 per cent placed their staff on a part-time basis.” He added, “Turnaround strategy means stabilising operation, bringing in new resources and allowing it to compete again. It is important to know your competitors and analyse before coming up with a strategy.”

Ir Dr Wang explaining Goodman’s (1982) framework

As a registered professional engineer, Ir Dr Wang spent 21 years working in the property industry and turned around three companies successfully. “Apple emphasises on unique product development to beat the competitors. General Motors turned around the company by introducing scientific management. Now, they have produced 9 million vehicles and employed 200,000 employees. Starbucks turned around when it considered customers’ ideas and turn the ideas into practices. Thus, it is also important to learn from your customers in order to succeed,” shared Ir Dr Wang.

In Goodman’s (1982) framework, Ir Dr Wang discussed 16 key principles of turnaround success, five ways to handle management changes and 10 ways to ensure successful planning. “The takeaway is to understand Engel et al (1990) on customers’ decision making and to prioritise the potential customers’ likes and dislikes. Next, you need to learn Goodman’s (1982) framework to understand yourself, the market, competitors and their customers. Aside from that, to realise whether you are ready to become a turnaround manager and take up the challenges along the way, be a participative manager, a high achiever, a committed person with acceptable emotional quotient, be resourceful and trustworthy,” advised Ir Dr Wang.

The webinar was followed by an interactive Q&A session and a photography session.