Business Observation – 2011 – the year of the “Survival of the Leanest”?

So here we are at the beginning of a New Year - again.

Contemplating our businesses future as a small business owner in a large economy – again.

Looking back, Pacific Northwest Print & Fulfillment had a good fiscal year in 2011. We recognized our dream of expansion by moving from a small 4,000 square ft facility spread between two buildings, into a single much larger 11,000 square ft facility more centrally located in the heart of Spokane Valley. This we did in order to accomodate our future fulfillment and print expansion needs – and so far so good – more businesses appear to keep finding us and using our services. Sure the move did come at some cost to our profit margin, and working in a larger space does of course take more financial resources than in the smaller space - but we’re on our way and poised to have a great year in 2012!

What concerns me as a small business CEO however, is that when contemplating 2011′s ups and downs in the “big business” community, it seems to me that they’ve adopted what I can only term as a ”survival of the leanest” mentality? Take this with a grain of salt - as it’s only my opinion, is based soley on general observations made via news sources over the year…

With a few exceptions, it appeared to me that most big businesses that did “ok-to-good” in the 2011 economy were shedding overhead (typically human resources) one moment, and in the next were reporting good-to-great profit returns back to their shareholders. But one has to ask – at what cost to our local, regional, and global economies? Having worked for larger fortune 500 and 100 companies in the past, I understand how perceived Shareholder Value and Risk Management play a role in a businesses key financial decision making policies, I get that. As a small business owner, I also carry similar resource concerns when it comes to the costs of maintaining a workforce – it’s not cheap, has it’s own risks, and the true costs are rarely understood by the employees who benefit from them the most.

Again, I understand that businesses vary, and that this commentary is only based on my own general observations…

However, if more businesses in 2012 continue to simply protect corporate shareholder profits, while continuing to cut human resources – I fear for what 2013 might look like in terms of corporate mind-share, unemployment and entrepreneurial opportunity both in the U.S. and abroad?

I guess what it boils down to for me is a hope that instead of focusing on 2011′s economic contraction, that we as business leaders (large and small) focus instead on 2012′s growth and expansion. Let’s work to expand employment opportunities (as I hope to later this year), with the knowledge that we as individuals and employees can and do make a difference - starting today.

Chris Ballard

CEO, Pacific Northwest Print & Fulfillment, Inc.

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