Colin Benjamin - The Futurist@SmartCompany

As the big end of town shreds jobs to retain profitability, the key to success will increasingly give smart companies the edge through scope not scale.

What do Christine Lagarde, Barack Obama and Julia Gillard have in common? All agree that the US economy has managed a major turnaround and will grow at nearly 2% this year. All agree that the developed nations have to provide international funds to hold the line against sovereign defaults. More importantly, they all agree that small and medium business capacity to create new jobs is the key to their success this year.

When the banks start cutting their hours and financial institutions slash staff, it is clear that Glenn Stevens is going to have to make some early and hefty contingency corrections to central bank assumptions about fiscal policies.

As Mitt Romney prepares to do battle with Barack Obama, the Europeans continue to manage down expectations and Wayne Swan struggles towards his wafer thin surplus, 2012 will be a year of start-ups that find local niches and offer outstanding customer service, and a year of growth for companies that consolidate their capacity for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. The market volatility index is reverting to more acceptable levels, the private equity firms have resumed their takeover tactics and banks are showing that they are determined to support any business with better than ever growth prospects. Both households and business leaders are willing to invest in improved performance and consolidation of their core requirements but are still going to be very cautious about conspicuous consumption that can be deferred. Under these conditions, smart companies will see this year as the time to expand into new territories based on brand extensions and close attention to changing consumer preference patterns. This is the time to hold a structured session that is designed to ensure that everyone is committed to finding what else the customer may be seeking and creating a consumer oriented environment. This does not mean covering the wall with post-it notes and ballast from a short brainstorming session, but instead reaching out to customers and their consumer markets. There will not be a lot of room for new products and processes that require support from the adventurous early adaptors as the emphasis will be on upgrades to current brand offers and market extensions. It does mean engaging family members and the whole staff team in understanding that value propositions are converted into whole of business communication, ongoing training, career development, talent management and a willingness to listen to comments, complaints and commendations as straws in the wind. A developing company consists of teams of people led by the managers who plan the future of the company. To consolidate in the constrained growth of retail markets and consolidate around the real strengths of the business, it is vital to have full team support that anticipates changes and captures emerging opportunities. Smart companies will take time to go beyond their current customers to find out what brand extensions and consolidated service offers are being sought by customers who are moving up the learning curve with new expectations. SMEs that will make it will capitalise on their farsighted capacity to be more flexible, adaptive and responsive by getting closer to the demand cycle rather than their supply chain. In a year where consumers are saving and cutting their retail expenditures all around the globe (not just in Aussie department and discount stores) there will be rewards for being agile, flexible and able to modify, adapt and promote innovative concepts that enhance customer satisfaction, ie. they can constantly adapt to the specific needs of these customers. Smart companies will use this year to reach beyond their current customer base by consolidating the personal and professional growth of the people within it. Creating a good working environment and providing workers with an opportunity for creative expression will have nothing but positive repercussions. They will make this year of creative consolidation effective and effulgent by developing their own brands, recognised by customers as a symbol of quality that is more closely aligned with added value and stimulating experiences. Dr Colin Benjamin is an entrepreneurship and strategic thinking consultant at Marshall Place Associates, which offers a range of strategic thinking tools that open up a universe of new possibilities for individuals and organisations committed to applying the processes of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Colin is also a member of the global Association of Professional Futurists.

Smart companies will benefit from having trimmed their sails to tack closer to their customer base and set a course for exports into the Asian markets. Credit and loan books will be more flexible and companies will find it easier to get funds for market expansion.

I’m finishing the year on a positive note. As Annie says: “Clear away the cobwebs and the sorrow and bet your bottom dollar that a better new year’s only a few days away.”

As equity markets continue to go sideways for the rest of the year and business confidence still frets about the eurozone, our highly profitable banks will apply a rigid stress-test to their lending to homes and smart business borrowers.

The European Summit continues to meet today to find new ways to kick the financial can down the road as part of the extend and pretend (EPP) masquerade of stabilising the euro-zone and saving us all from recession or worse. More summits are our only guaranteed Christmas presents as markets continue to move sideways.

The long, the short and the steady as she goes crews need to abandon the look back over the shoulder of euro-zone crises and US Super committee failures to progress plans for the second half of the financial year.

Smart companies will need to reach out to their premium customers in the next few weeks to generate high tech and holiday purchasing plans, to overcome the mid-year slump in sales following months of threats of Greek defaults, US debt crises and media beat-ups that generated higher than average equity market volatility.

We must now be patient and wait until November 24 to get the results from the head butting, recalcitrant and entrenched political disputes to be determined by the US Super Committee’s patchwork response to the US debt crisis. This will undoubtedly keep the media in a frenzy and the markets in free fall until the deadline on default reaches its climax.

Media advertising’s Harold Mitchell suggests that there is a lag between interest rate cuts and their effect on retail spending that may take over a year to come through to the cash registers.

After a confrontation with Merkel and Sarkozy made it clear that the question was whether Greece remained in the eurozone and that there would be no payments while Greece remained divided, the debt deal referendum quietly has been shelved.

Australians who have heard Julia Gillard's and Wayne Swan's lectures to the Europeans to follow our lead and get on with a solution, have already moved forward and started planning to have a very merry Christmas and a much more prosperous New Year.

With Wayne Swan desperately seeking ways to stay "determined" to return early to surplus and Joe Hockey encouraging belief that we are heading for a rash of electioneering before the nation can determine its investment future, "uncertainty" is becoming the new financial media filler.