Beata Leyland
Business Owner & Author of this article
Unstable circumstances expose gaps in your own enterprise and sometimes the scale of it can overwhelm, which is the 2nd reason why I see Executives being stacked.
Intrigued ?
One of the best indicators of how a country doing is the condition of small and medium-size businesses.
When they struggle it means the society at large struggles too.
2025 and 2026 exposed many problems on the global scale which directly hit SMB.
Here I would like to highlight a few areas where I see my clients and similar businesses like mine struggling.
Inventory Management
So many companies have money sunk in inventory.
It’s so easy to do it based on fluctuations of demand.
When external circumstances are shaky people are way more cautious with spending money.
Excessive inventory is not a new problem, what is new is the scale of it and extremely unpredictable demand.
You need to have inventory to operate yet this same inventory freezes your funds, expires and many times is a subject of additional costs like warehousing, distribution, is being stacked at the ports, and many times damaged. It’s a lot and for many companies this is making or breaking their business.
I see a trend that companies don’t want to carry inventory at all, so all they offer is done by demand which could work but it will increase waiting time and price per single item.
Not every industry can afford such a business model.
Restructuring inventory is another possibility (that’s what we advise our clients) which in practice means a deep dive into problems which haven’t been exposed since a long time and tackle them.
This way creates visibility, helps to create a strategy and builds the company in a smart way adjusted to the market and respecting their own company needs.
This is a long-term winner.
Big companies kill small businesses with pricing.
There is no surprise that the last few years exposed a lot of local and global corruption practises and small and mid-size companies many times don’t stand a fair chance like multimillion enterprises.
Here nothing new has been exposed.
A good idea is to be yourself and differentiate in your own way on the market.
If you can beat the price of a brand of cream cheese, maybe it’s a time to use your creativity, challenge reality and build your own brand based on your values, your ideas and finding your clients.
Daily we work with such Founders who just pop up with ideas so needed on the market, yet no one created them so far.
Changing clients and changing models is a good start, but changing mindset first is the key here.
It’s easy to go into self-pity mode, yet much harder but more rewarding to create something out of true need. I wouldn’t claim “what doesn’t it kill you makes you stronger” as this doesn’t apply all the time; yet we can learn out of messages that the market send us; learn how to see through certain slogans and don’t wait until the last moment when it’s too late.
Before it’s too late,
we get plenty of warning signs,
and many times we choose to ignore them.
Think about it next time!
Ecom takes small local businesses
Ecommerce is a big share of the global retail market.
Some sources claim that Ecom covers 20-21% of sales.
These figures cannot be ignored as many people prefer to buy online than stationery.
Does it mean that local businesses must close?
Not really. The same store which sells jewellery on the local market can sell using online platforms, build their own online store and have an advantage to have local stand.
Instead of fighting with consumer behaviours, it is better to understand them and either create something totally different or adapt some tools from the trend which can help you. Here AI comes to my mind as an example which works for some companies not for others.
If you advertise as a human-touch business, having a BOT it’s a bad idea.
Many times, Ecom businesses are set up to make lots of money in short periods of time and they restructure.
Their operational risk is different than a store with tradition.
That’s why adjusting sales strategies could help local artisans thrive long-term.
Think what you want to build.
Ecom is also extremely competitive.
Founders are usually one or 3 people operating a system which works 24/7 under extreme pressure.
What social media sells as being a CEO in your 20ties comes with a hidden price.
If you build, build smart and think long-term as brand recognition and trust is not sped up by buying likes or followers or being invited to low-grade conferences in popular places.
Transport, bureaucracy
Tariffs, blockades of ports, straits cause more delays than we think.
Many countries don’t see such delays due to extensive inventory but for many businesses the fact that their order sits in customs for months is a business killer.
This is something which should be way more highlighted than it is.
Companies suffer due to inefficient bureaucracy and changing rules.
Transport is essential for many businesses yet transport companies merge, are taken down by unfair competition created by big Corp, are bullied and face price increases which many times they eat if they want to stay on the market.
Many 3PL companies are eaten alive almost by 4PL.
4PL works as a corporation to change the rules, doesn’t show visibility and bullies clients if they want to leave.
This creates scarcity which leads to paralysis in terms of decision making
Decision Making Process
Since 2025 so many companies are extremely cautious about making decisions, even small ones.
Sometimes it is an effect of overstimulated Founders and extreme amounts of scams, badly executed marketing campaigns and AI on top of it.
Everything creates an impression of almost being attacked by a flock of horrible flies that you can’t find a cure for.
Well, there is a cure: ignore.
When you ignore they stop coming back.
Unstable circumstances expose gaps in your own enterprise and sometimes the scale of it can overwhelm, which is the 2nd reason why I see Executives being stacked.
Here I advise help (hopefully ours) from a 3rd party which can help you to undig the worse dirt and move on.
Waiting as a strategy is a bad choice long-term as when you wait other people act and this is very dangerous strategy.
It doesn’t mean always act now, it means think through, think longer but act.
When you are on the tight budget and your money is sunk in inventory the way how you think and operate changes.
Yet, it’s so important to not be blinded by your assumptions and thoughts.
Giving yourself time to make good decisions for you and your enterprise is an art.
An art of choosing the right partners and not wasting money for solutions which you know and feel will have to be redone multiple times,
which translates to more money and time to do one thing right.
Think about it when you face challenges,
who you choose,
why you choose them
and if this is a proper choice.
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