Buy British Again!?

Recent comment on facebook regarding the economy is worth considering in light of the economic downturn.

Virus costs on overdraft

Right, first of all without being political any borrowing by the government will need to be repaid or at least, reduced by taxes or the ability to balance the books and repay the debt.

Thinking it through

We feel it for those in businesses who are picking up the threads of their time and energy and bring it back to a sustainable entity once again.

Those businesses, for whatever reason, that did not have a sutable "reserve policy" will have found the situation more challenging.

So what are the steps to have a vibrant economy and self sustaining business growing?

taken 10.30 14/5/2020 last six month trend

Speed of money circulating

One aspect is the " multiplier" effect.

This is the speed of money moving around the economy.

Now it still holds good even with electronic money rather than hard cash.

The speed at which we move money has an impact on the community.

I get paid,  I buy a loaf, the baker buys stationery for his buiness, the Office retailer buys meat from the butcher and the butcher buys a loaf of bread.

The speed of buying is controlled by lots of things.

Having the cash!, Assessing the need to buy now, quality quantity and price all come into the equation. Its the assessment of the buyer to part with money rather than have it holding for a rainy day or a lower borrowing.

Taken at 10.30 14/5/2020 Daily trend

So if the public are feeling secure and confident they are more likely to buy.

One observstions of the last major resession was that people tended to continue to eat out. This is unlikely after the current virus as people assess the risks of eating out. perhaps home decorating will take a lift. Or perhaps car purchases will regain as people refuse to go on public transport.

So if you think about it, if we are all buying then the sellers will buy and so on, which will in turn help the flow of cash and the "muliplier" will increase.

As an aside when there is a faster rate of sales the VAT for the government will increase ( pay the debt?)

So buying and keeping the money in the community is a good way if improving sustainability.

Buy British again

This is where the Buy British makes sense we buy "locally" and the benefit not only to the purchaser but the seller is all local. As the multiplier works, confidence continues revenue comes in- we pay the debt.

At some point we as a nation can consider the selling abroad as part of the medium trend but for present buy British makes sense. I appreciate that there are some items that we will need to import and we have businesses where all their revenue comes from abroad. (There is also the Brexit ramifications- Buy British will help?)

Please Share!
Thank you

Have Tesco got it right?

But first a Risk conversation

The Corona Virus has involved all of us in risk assessments.

How often should I go to the shops? Weekly shops are more common than monthly now.

Should I go for a paper every day?

How much distance should I give for runners and cyclist? More than 2 metres?

I remember the first time I had the opportunity to stand behind a shop till. It was a newsagent. I was a paper boy. An emergency took place and the shop manager said, "you cover the counter while I deal with this situation." Apart from the buzz for a child to be in control of a shop, I had never dealt with cash before, I was terrified.

But what of the lasting impression about that situation as I saw the shop from a different viewpoint.

Years of paper rounds delivering in the local village, leaning on the counter, several visits each day I had got used to seeing the shop from one side the customer side.

Now I was seeing the other side. It was strange.

If you have lived in the same house for a long time and you haven't been in the garden of next door then when you do go and visit -Its strange because you are seeing it from a different eye, a different perspective!

Looking at risks is to some extent looking from a different angle.

While you might have an insight the rest of the street or community might not!
To move forward in risk management there is a need to have everyone increase their awareness.

With change, like behaviour, it might take time, but as you carry on others will see this new perspective and what a benefit it could be. A disaster missed, a more efficient home or workplace, no loss or a catastrophe averted.  This virus still has the potential to be more than a Catastrophe if we do not act wisely.

So, what are risks?

Risk is the possibility of something bad happening.

Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environment), often focusing on negative, undesirable consequences. Many different definitions have been proposed. The international standard definition of risk for common understanding in different applications is “effect of uncertainty on objectives”.

How do we deal with risks?

We can try and reduce the risk, minimise the risk, eliminate the risk, insure against the risk.

One way to reduce risk is to put controls in place.

Examples might be :

Locks on doors!

£45.00 limit on card transactions without a PIN!

Eat your main course before you get sweet.

Wear protective clothing.

Safe distancing, “Social distancing” or as Radio four tried to adopt the term “Physical distancing”.

Other controls might be documented to help reduce the risk and formulate thinking and practice. A policy or procedure.

Examples:

Child protection policy

Fire procedures

Tesco

One of the first retail outlets to re shape the shopping experience was Tesco. They implemented restricted times. Times for care workers etc , a one-way system  2-metre markers and the use of a separate exit for customers who had completed their transactions. There installed splash screen to protect the staff. Trolleys being wiped down.

All these were controls to reduce the likely hood of virus spread.

But here is an observation.

The staff making up the customer orders on the face of it do not act with distancing aspects to themselves or customers.

Is this a weakness?

Then we have the pleasant door person holding the door, nice touch,  to let customers out the fire exit. No handles to touch. Good control.

But he is less than 2 meters, and he is near every person leaving the shop!

Is this a weakness?

As we all take stock and consider more so in the subconscious our responsibility in this period of Corona 19 virus we all need to take recognition of good controls.

If we feel 2 metres is not enough control we could implement our own control of 3 metres.

As we have seen in walking the streets as part of exercise people do change behaviour and are influenced by others’ actions. Those who are unaware or lack risk awareness or have a larger threshhold for what is acceptable risk will see hopefully why we act in a particular manner.

With all risks this is not static. Reviews need to be held regularly and be part of on-going practice.

I think Nicola Sturgeon was right to leave lock down in Scotland for a further period as the information was showing we had not reached the peak of the “first wave” of the virus.

I am sure she has had lots of risk conversations over the last two months.

Please Share from here or from where you game from. Thank you. 

Managing risk the viewpoint

I remember the first time I had the opportunity to stand behind a shop till. It was a newsagents. I was a paper boy. An emergency took place and the shop manager said "you cover the counter while I deal with this situation." Apart from the buzz for a child to be in control of a shop, I had never dealt with cash before, I was terrified.

But the lasting impression about that situation was; I saw the shop from a different viewpoint.

Years of paper rounds delivering in the local village, leaning on the counter, several visits each day, I had got used to seeing the shop from one side the customer side.

Now I was seeing the other side. It was strange.

If you have lived in the same house for a long time and you haven't been in the garden of next door then when you do go and visit -its strange because you are seeing it from a different eye, a different perspective!

Looking at "risks" is to some extent looking from a different angle.

While you might have a insight, the rest of your team might not!
To move forward in risk management there is a need to have everyone increase their awareness.

With change like behaviour it might take time, but as you carry on, others will see this new perspective and what a benefit it could be. A disaster missed, a more efficient office, no loss or a catastrophe averted.