The Global Forest Products Industry, as an industry segment, expends vast amounts of capital on plants, equipment, market share, and resources. Within the Forest Products segment, as a primary industry, new products and product innovation come at a slow pace. Highly competitive industries with short product cycles (cell phones & computers) force companies to adapt, grow, innovate, or die. The competition makes them better. It forces them, and allows them, to be better.
It doesn’t always work. Five years ago, most of us used Blackberry’s. Today, RIM is on the block. It has lost most of its market share and market capitalization. The root cause of RIM’s failure is leadership and management. Adapt, grow, innovate, or die.
Brookfield recently announced the sale of Ainsworth to Louisiana-Pacific, for a tidy profit. The big change Brookfield made at Ainsworth was in the C-Suite. They did not spend millions on plants and equipment. They did not hire an army of consultants to restructure and revamp the business. They just changed horses. The horse they chose and rode was a really good one. This by design.
Excellent leadership is a strategy, a choice, and a decision. Douglas Reiter