Growth in hard times: surviving—and thriving—amidst chaos isn't impossible. The secret lies in corporate culture, a contrarian attitude, the art of anticipation, and change strategies - Perspectives: Strategy

Chief Executive, The, August-Sept, 2002 by Hal F. Rosenbluth, Diane McFerrin Peters

We looked at things we're good at and existing assets. We looked at the threats and the needs, and launched our business. It was crucial in our ability to sustain the hits 2001 and 2002 brought. But time is a luxury not often afforded when preparing for the future.

In the midst of the chaos caused by September 11, we disciplined ourselves to practice the art of anticipation and jumped on the development of a global security suite. Our clients called upon us to provide critical information on their corporate travelers' location and safety. We did, but the information was in a variety of places and took hours to obtain. We worked quickly to take it to a two-second process, which we unveiled in February 2002.

Our Web-based tools include e-mail alerts on breaking news around the world, a real-time look at travelers itineraries, updates on weather and political conditions, and automated U.S. Embassy registration. An events database provides information on historical events with anniversaries that may cause higher risk for travel. This information is all tied to the traveler's itinerary, so they only get what's relevant to them.

CHANGE STRATEGIES

Everything we implement has a built-in change strategy. We don't announce them, but we always have them ready. We know exactly what the next step will be at any given moment, and we begin to act well in advance. Many predicted intermediaries would vanish as a result of technology, but we find that being an intermediary gives us a 360-degree view. Long ago, we made a shift from intermediary to infomediary, enabling us to take advantage of our place in the middle. One recent example is a new market we developed.

More than 13 million small-to-midsize companies in the U.S. comprise 60 percent of the nation's corporate travel spending, and have historically been expected to pay full fare for travel, while larger companies enjoyed negotiated discounts of up to 75 percent. Travel suppliers were simply not equipped to reach that segment of the market.

We used our position in the middle to create a Web-based B2B marketplace called Rosenbluth Exchange, where companies can submit electronic RFPs. Suppliers bid for their business, and negotiate with them on line. The result? Double digit percentage savings for the companies, access to a new market for the suppliers, and we have secured a pivotal role for ourselves in this important arena.

WHAT'S NEXT?

As we look into the future, the next battlefield is further consolidation of our industry, and Rosenbluth International is ready. We'll be leading it.

Hal F. Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters are co-authors of The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch 'Em Kick Butt (HarperCollins, August, 2002.) Hal Rosenbluth is chairman and CEO of Rosenbluth International, the world's third largest travel management company. He can be reached at hr@leighadvisory.com.