Raw materials crisis, impact on costs and on organizations

The increase in commodity prices has a strong impact on all business espacially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

The increase in prices and the crisis of raw materials, which is affecting all sectors, impact on the growth and development of many companies and especially SMEs, that represent the productive sector of the Italian model. The "bottleneck" effect will not be easily overcome in the short term by individual companies and organizations that will have to face very long delivery times and uncompetitive prices in almost all sectors.

Pending government interventions at national and international level are necessary to regulate the new situation, it will become strategic for companies and organizations to develop the ability to combine the efforts necessary to increase sales with the management and organization of internal and external resources. It will also be critical the development of sustainable business models from an economic and environmental point of view,  and the promotion of value-building models based on the mix of human resource quality and the digitalization of processes.

The main risk that has to be overcome, and faced, is the often brutal cut in the costs of managing activities, accelerated by the need to maintain profitability. The need to review the cost-income ratio to remain competitive on the market must be associated with the reshaping of the traditional business management model, through the implementation of digital models and processes, specific skills and resources, including those outside the organization.

Therefore, the promotion of outsourcing processes with clear and defined objectives will always be strategic, if it uses on one hand, specific external resources capable of contributing to speeding up the digitalization of processes and the adoption of sustainable models; while on the other hand, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization through the focus on the core business.

To make the business secure, it is necessary to reorient some no-core activities such as security, which can be extended, in a much broader sense, to the collection of data and information, from support in the management of operational processes, to the analysis of global scenarios, as a risk management tool to ensure business continuity.

Alternative, digital, remote models and the ability to exploit the benefits of connectivity and specific skills, is one of the answers that organizations can give to face the recovery of the coming months and lay the foundations for a sustainable development in the coming years.