Month: February 2021

Second (and last) article in the series on the alternatives that industrial SMEs have in front of difficulties that threaten their continuity. After an analysis of the situation in the first of them, this one deals with potential solutions that can be arbitrated in light of the conclusions of the first part.

As always, I have tried to do it from a positive point of view of the situation. I am aware that several of the solutions do not exactly enjoy a great reputation or press, but it is no less true that in many cases it is because they are taken improperly, either in time or in form.

What I mean by what is indicated in the previous paragraph is that the same solution, adopted when there is no other remedy left, can lead the SME to an undesirable end, when taken before and with due foresight, the result will surely be completely different.

In short, I believe that what this article exposes may well lead to a deep reflection on these alternatives, and above all, it should be a lever for a paradigm shift. The solutions will not come from outside, in the form of aid. If they come, they will logically be limited in time and quantity. The real solutions must come from an appropriate internal management of the company in the current situation.

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I try in all my articles to establish possible solutions to the problems that I see arise in industrial companies. Sometimes these potentially successful solutions are temporary ones, as in the recent article about ERTEs, and other more structural, as when I wrote about Industry 4.0 and others.

In this case, I would say that it is a mixture of both. Some of the solutions serve to tackle problems inherent to the time that we are having to live and manage, and other recommendations go more to the substratum of the management of the company.

There is no doubt that we are facing an extraordinary situation, which has its influence on the future of companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, and among them, both those that were healthy companies before the pandemic and those that were not. Unfortunately, Covid 19 and especially its duration and effects have meant that both classes have now entered the same group.

This is the first of a series of two articles on the subject, in which, following my usual scheme when it comes to a series, I make an approach to the situation and in this particular case, how it has affected industrial SMEs especially to their chances of survival.

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