PERSPECTIVE
Open Trade Secret : Part Three !
By Joseph Lunani
In the last article I wrote about collaboration to create new products and / or services . Just like the tango dance , good business plays to a tune within and without their operations . Internal affairs of a business have a tune and it is the job of the entrepreneurs and management to set the music and rhythm . Good music promoted people to dance and as such staff pick up this good vibe and dance their best . External affairs have tunes as well . How do we determine the music and rhythm our businesses dance to externally ?
Competitors set a pace and tune , regulators have their piece as well , staff unions play their music , local and national government have their notes too . All these players require a dashboard for their actions prompt responses from our businesses . Sometimes their actions can stifle our production or choke our clientele thus diminish our reach and returns .
For businesses to flourish , sound policies have to be enacted and enabling laws created . This does not happen in a vacuum . The decisions of government and her agencies are influenced by people . This therefore calls for those that are exposed and have a balanced view of things to be influential to the powers that be . Industry leaders ’ views and opinions need to count .
If you lie to yourself that you are safe within your business operations and governance issues are alien , then please wake up . When you abdicate your duty to positively influence good governance then you are driving your own business to the ground . Fringe policies and storyteller theories will find their way into that influence , and we would all be doomed . The story of the sinking business environment in some countries at the point of writing this column is regrettable . The living standards are deplorable , and doom is evident in all sectors .
All governance decisions made in trust of a sovereign people should be devoid of knee jerk reactions or emotional posturing . They should be based on facts and proven structures even when they are creative , or an improvisation move .
Laws , rules , and regulations that influence the socio-economic strata of societies should be influenced by the very people and businesses they seek to govern . To rise to
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If you lie to yourself that you are safe within your business operations and governance issues are alien , then please wake up . When you abdicate your duty to positively influence good governance then you are driving your own business to the ground . the level where your voice counts requires a deliberate strategy as part of your business .
Businesses that align with laws , rules and regulations in good time do not only become compliant but stand to gain exponentially . It is an open secret that fast adopters of policy changes have a blue ocean strategy advantage . When late comers dirty the water , they plunge deeper into the sea and create pink ocean advantage .
First Adoption and fast implementation can be your advantage as well . In this era when KRA has implemented new changes on tax reporting , those that will quickly change stand advantaged . Real time tax settlement is good for Kenya ’ s governance . It will also annihilate the big conundrum businesses face in filing tax returns . In the long run the benefits of paying what is due in real time will see our country flourish .
Remember , unscrupulous big businesses have always taken advantage of post-sale tax settlement to under declare payments due . When these are compounded , the country then misses out on its fair share of taxes . What that means is that the country then cannot implement its development agenda .
That makes it imperative for all entrepreneurs and businesses to engage with external players . Help them set the music that they will be compelled to dance to . When we sit back and then complain of the choice of music then we fail ourselves and by extension all the socio-economic pillar of our society .
The question that builds the storm then is how can your business influence positively the actions of these external players ?
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