TO WHAT EXTENT IS SCIENTIFIC THINKING TO BE APPLIED TO the business world with all its variations and local customs?
If you asked a British citizen how he feels about decimal money after nearly 30 years from its implementation in the United Kingdom, and why they gave up the old pound sterling, shilling and penny measurements, he would say it was simply the logical thing to do. However, if you asked when the United Kingdom and the United States are going to introduce the process of changing their current measures of length and capacity, square and cubic measures, into decimal values, things are not so obvious. There are many reasons why changes cannot be put in place or simply will not work. There would be a bunch of natural strains and secular ties which, all together, form the cultural resistance of the market.
The next generation, depending on their place of birth, residence, where they grow up and pay taxes, will bear the burden of the paraphernalia of written and unwritten national laws and regulations next to alphabet, language, religion and, last but not least, the burden of state deficits.
Part of the world -most Europeans, Middle Easterners and Asians- write dates as day/month/year. North Americans write month/day/year. The date 7/3/97 on a check can represent a gap of four months, depending upon from which side of the ocean it is issued, mailed and cashed. With partners and banks taking advantage of any presumed discrepancy, the business community appears to be in disarray.
National barriers seem to be leaking when boycotts on arms and weapons are imposed; ideas are sweeping across the continents; yet, while the market is widely open with its grabbing hand, it becomes as tight as a fist when it must return what it has promised to give back. Business is a gamble where all players abide by their own rules, but it is also a far-reaching bridge among all varieties of population.
It is not usual to meet a customer who pays well beyond the agreed terms, feeling it is his right to claim, that after all, you have lost no money with him after so many years. To him it is irrelevant that he has paid 90 or 180 days beyond the maturity date. In other words, it's as though it were an irrelevant fact that financial institutions have accumulated large fortunes, grown wealthy and become more powerful, simply on timely transactions, such as the borrowing and lending of money.
It can be offensive to ask for interest in the Middle Eastern world, a blasphemous demand that only non-Muslims would dare utter shamelessly […].
Credit, at the crossroad of a winding path and a motorway, deals with these topics. Market behaviours go along the winding path with cultural ties. The motorway's traffic is jammed with financial analysts, macro-economic gurus producing at high speed, economic targets and corporate goals requiring more challenging performances year after year.
Indeed, the world of business is becoming more demanding than ever before. Fast changes need a great deal of flexibility and the aptitude to adapt to the many variations which the credit manager faces […].
What about the language of business? Commercial English has been adopted, twisted and corrupted all over the former colonies, who have made a belated revengeful use of the language imposed on them. Whenever two foreign businessmen speak to each other, the spoken English is far from being a familiar sound, even to the British.
A credit man has to master all the tricks of the game to cope successfully in all marketplaces. To pursue his company's mission professionally, he will have to be able to find his way around a maze of consolidated, cooked and non-existent balance sheets; fully understand and use old and new commercial practices, from swapping to factoring; gain knowledge on credit terms, Incoterms and any other terms used in the field; and to always proceed with confidence, avoiding traps, eager to add more experience at every step.
[…]
Fax, Internet, mobile phone and other tools of communication have increased the amount of correspondence and expedited the flow of information. But these tools cannot break the barriers. Overseas travel with all its discomfort and long working hours is still the best way of bridging cultural gaps. Meeting with people of different races and religions in different regions of the globe -easier with a working knowledge of foreign languages and customs, and the willingness to listen- can be of great help in gaining mutual trust and respect.
Yet all the credit managers’ professionalism will prove to be insufficient if the ingredients of the recipe are not shaken up with a little drop of wisdom.
Squeezed between sales and financial functions, how will credit successfully continue to stand up on its own? On the one hand credit managers have to make compatible the different commitments of both road-runners -financial people wanting to overtake a few more positions and salespeople wanting to add another flag of a conquered country- if possible with a magic touch, or alternatively not without strain. On the other hand their performance must be compared and evaluated, taking into consideration the laws of the market.
However, things are not always measurable, unless you can measure common sense. The management of the risk combined with market shares can hardly be stuffed into a formula.
Antonio Fiorella (Business Credit, September 1997)
Intanto mentre la Spagna calcistica (quasi tutta) è in trepidante attesa del prossimo incontro con la squadra avversaria (Bulgaria), io tifo per la moglie del Presidente Sanchez. Il giudice che indaga sulle sue malversazioni (a rigor di legge, presunte, fino al momento definitivo della condanna), il giudice Peinado, ha ritirato il passaporto della moglie del premier spagnolo. E ora la first lady, Begoña Gómez, chiede la restituzione temporanea del documento. Si recherà il Presidente Sanchez solo o accompagnato al prossimo incontro della Nato il 7 e 8 luglio, ad Ankara, in Turchia? La medesima Turchia incontrerà la Spagna, presuntamente, sul suo percorso verso la riconquista del titolo mondiale di calcio. E, la restituzione eventuale del passaporto permetterebbe alla moglie del Presidente spagnolo di accompagnarlo sugli spalti dello stadio? Ne risulterà una ulteriore infrazione? Un intreccio di avvenimenti da romanzo (storico, passionale, sportivo) o da inchiesta a premio Pulitzer a voler dedicare maggiore impegno in ogni direzione. A me di questi tempi riempiono i momenti d’insonnia.