Five Upcoming Business Milestones to Watch For to Help Strengthen Business Acumen Competencies – Part I
At the end of every business acumen workshop that Advantexe delivers – whether online or live – we urge our participants to strengthen business acumen competencies by continuing their learning journey through applying new skills and keeping up-to-date on global business and economic challenges and opportunities that we all face.
During the next few weeks, our business worlds will continue to evolve as the end of 2015 turns into the beginning of 2016. One of the core tenants of our business acumen workshops is to think strategically and continually assess markets, competition, competitors, and customers.
Whether you are business unit leaders running a billion dollar unit, an R&D manager, a supply chain manager, a sales professional, or an individual contributor, here is one of five business acumen happenings to watch during the next few weeks:
1. Q3 2015 Earnings Reports
The Q3 2015 earnings reports are highly anticipated because they will provide and strong indication of how the full business year will turn out. Most companies are on a January - December business calendar but even those who aren’t still put a significant value on this quarter’s financial reports because of the implications to this quarter and more importantly next quarter (October-December) when much of the retail world drives the economy. There are several “bellwether” companies that many economists and investors look at to measure the health of the economy. A bellwether company is a company that typically follows the same patterns as the rest of the economy; in other words, if these companies do well, all of the other companies in the economy do well. The five bellwether stocks include Fedex, Alcoa, Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton, Caterpillar, and Walmart. Here are some quick observations for each:
Fedex
Fedex had a high stock price of $185 in July, but it has slowly declined to $150 during last few months. Fedex is predicting a flat but steady holiday season which is not a good sign for the economy.
Alcoa
Alcoa is the world’s provider of aluminum. The stock has declined from $17 in February to $9.55. Alcoa has already given strong indications of poor global performance in Q3 and has anticipated weak results for Q4 as well.
Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton
Sales of luxury goods is always strong indicator of the health of the global economy; when luxury goods are up that means new money is being spent. Despite the slowdown in Asia, Louis Vuitton has been holding its own and the stock is down only slightly from its high earlier in the year. This indicates that there is still money being made, just not as much as before.
Caterpillar
Caterpillar is the largest producer of heavy equipment that is used in construction and mining. Caterpillar has shown a significant downturn in value going from a mid-summer high of $88 to $69. Caterpillar has also given signals of poor Q3 economic performance due to slow global growth.
Walmart
Walmart has shown steady and significant decline all year. In January the stock was valued at $90 and it is now down to $59. In addition to US economic issues slowing down sales, Walmart is facing severe competition from the internet, specifically Amazon.
In summary, it looks like the slowdowns in Asia and South America have caught up with earnings and the reports are going to be very weak. That means many companies will look to slow spending and investing because they will want to prop up earnings. Companies with a strong strategic plan and strong leadership will continue to invest and fight through it; companies with a weaker strategy and worried leaders will starve these companies of investments, which could come back to haunt them. From a planning and business acumen perspective, there are plenty of challenges, but there are also many opportunities.
Stay tuned for Thursday when I will discuss milestones two through five!
