Is the trend your friend?
Wednesday, 09 March 2011
I was going back over some past issues of a weekly investment magazine over the weekend. The oldest dated back to September last year. This is a mere five months ago but, in political and economic terms, it seems like a lifetime.
During that time the world has experienced some profoundly shocking events. The floods in Brisbane which started as a few days of nuisance rainfall have ended up costing Brisbane City Council alone an estimated $440 million. Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a new 1.8 billion Australian dollar income tax to help fund reconstruction of Queensland. On the other side of the country, Perth has been suffering bush fires. Meanwhile political unrest is now rippling across North Africa and the Middle East and no-one quite knows where or how it will end.
Historian and broadcaster, Dan Snow, speaking on the radio at the weekend, pointed out that uprisings rarely lead to peaceful or successful change. In fact, throughout history, he argued that most revolutions had resulted in a swift, hard clampdown and a more severe ruling regime than the one that inspired the original revolt. My point is that we all live in very unsettled and unsettling times, and be they political, economic or weather-related events, every single business is now exposed in some way to new levels of risk. The only way to manage such a fluid situation is never to have too many eggs in one basket. Spread the risk and make it work in your favour. The serviced office sector is ideal for companies with that mindset; who want to maintain control of their own future and have the freedom to manage their office space requirements up or down depending on changing requirements. In many ways we are part of the risk management industry – and proud of it!
Philip Parris, Chairman, Harvard Managed Offices
