The world is moving faster with the advancement in technology that has brought drastic changes in many fields, especially in business. John Smart talks about the current day practice of people not following the rules anymore in any institution. Managers do what they feel is right. The 3Ps model Possible, Preferable and Probable futures are three types of Foresight management. Possible includes ideation and innovation which are on the evolutionary side of an institution or an organization, Preferable includes vision, strategy and planning which are done by the leaders and Probable includes forecasting, risk management and prediction which are on the developmental side of an institution or organisation. Innovation, management and foresight are necessary for any entrepreneur.
According to Jack Ma, the CEO of Alibaba, a budding entrepreneur must be focused and must believe in his/her dreams. One must keep their dream alive. Mistakes are bound to happen but that is how you learn. He stresses on the being ready to face rejection. Empowering others is also very important to be successful. To Jack Ma, customers are number one priority, followed by the employees and the last being shareholders in his business strategy.
Canada Post is one among the many organizations that has been obviously affected by advancement in technology. The rise of E-commerce had increased Canada Post’s parcel division, but it too faced challenges with its infrastructure and inability to maintain the same services as large international couriers and the private sector (Government of Canada, 2016). Canada Post came up with a five-point action plan which includes moving towards community mailboxes, introducing tiered postage pricing, and strengthening the retail network. Moreover, they streamlined operations to increase efficiency and addressed the cost of labour through attrition and collective bargaining (Government of Canada, 2016). They also became more digitally mobile by introducing an app through which customers can track their packaging, look up postal codes, locate post offices, find out rates for letters and packages, manage their bills, and buy cards and postcards with custom images (Begin, n.d.).
As per Government of Canada (2016), Canada Post has a business line referred to as other services, which includes several small-scale products and services. In 2015, this category accounted for about 5% of Canada Post’s operating revenue. Businesses, governments and individual consumers are the major customers. Few of the products in this business line are: epost, which allows users to receive, pay and manage bills in one place online, remittance services that includes MoneyGram, which is an electronic money transfer service available at any Canada Post location at competitive costs and exchange rates, postal money orders that are certified cashable documents sent through the mail to transfer funds locally or internationally, another aspect is mail redirection, which allows individuals and businesses to have mail forwarded following a change of address and data products for direct marketing mail such as postal code data for targeted marketing mailing lists.
I think their reliance on technology, especially for communication and transacting business should have been implemented earlier and expanded the digitization of their infrastructure, company systems, and public engagement more deeply than they did. Though they conducted researches in 2016, they should have done some strategic prudent preparation decades ago. There still needs to be some time to do some innovative thinking around new programs and services that will take them into the next generation to be more effective.
References:
Begin, D. (n.d.) Tool of the week: Canada post staying relevant through technology. Thornley Fallis. Retrieved from: https://thornleyfallis.com/tool-of-the-week-canada-post-staying-relevant-through-technology/
Government of Canada. (2016). Canada post in the digital age: Discussion paper. Retrieved from:https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/examendepostescanada-canadapostreview/rapport-report/consult-eng.html#a1
Rohrbeck, R., Kum, M. (2018). Corporate foresight and its impact on firm performance: A longitudinal analysis. Technical Forecasting and Social Change. (129)105-116: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.12.013