The advent of technology is perhaps one of the most identifiable features of the 21st century. This technological advancement has improved the quality of lives in many and varied ways. Industries are expanding in their production capacities while traditional jobs like Accounting, Law are radically redefined.

In the business world, technology has led to what has come to be known as globalization. Though globalization has political dimensions, the economic dimensions have been more pronounced.

A market is no longer defined by physical space. In this kind of space, many companies can now put their business online and advertise their products and services even to people they will never see, and in places, they will never tread. This means for example, that a company in America is not merely competing in America but literally, it is competing with every fellow company in every part of the world. IS this a positive or negative consequence? It depends on how you react to it. If you are the market leader (on top of the competition), it is positive. On the other hand, if you are being thumped out by competitors from outside, it is negative.

So how do you survive in this globalized economy?

The days of being a generalist are over

With increased competition and supply across the world, it is becoming more and more difficult to succeed in a business or individual career path by being a generalist. Specialization does not just help to define your brand; it gives you a lot of expertise in a particular field or business line that leads to the economics of scale and learning curve advantages.

When you are known as an expert in a particular product or service line, customers tend to put more trust in your abilities, and your name is on everyone's lips in that particular area. As the world market expands and technology continues to redefine and enlarge everything, chasing many rabbits may be dangerous as you can lose them all. And in this case, what is gained provides better and greater satisfaction.

As Corbett Barr observed, “Being a specialist is about discipline, and generalists find this kind of discipline hard to come by. But you have to be an expert in something or a handful of things, if you expect to charge top rates, land the coveted jobs, or create the next hot product”( https://fizzle.co/sparkline/generalist ). What was his advice?

“The intersection of the two is where the magic happens. Become an expert and a generalist at the same time, and you'll be unstoppable. And here's the ironic part: once you become an expert at something, your generalist skills will be more valuable than ever. The expertise gets your foot in the door. It makes you valuable and opens opportunities. Once you land the opportunities, you can embrace your generalist nature all you want.”

Let the improvement of yourself keep you busy

Every line of business and profession is going through radical improvements, and those who gain from these are those who know how to be on top of developments and quickly adapt to them. Marketing is redefined by Social media, content marketing, and many other developments and to be a 21st-century marketer requires consistent learning, unlearning and engagement with the newest trends to position your business and yourself as market leaders and industry experts

“Change is your friend, not your foe; change is a brilliant opportunity to grow.” -Simon T. Bailey

As we observe all the changes around us, they offer new opportunities to grow, to learn, to expand. Those who get the best out of the globalized economy are those who remain on top of the massive changes we see all around.

Remember, you are not an island.

As business processes become more complex, there is a greater need for collaboration. A group of experts coming together to build a business empire and the next great innovation is the reality that we see today. To build a successful online business require the services of a web designer, a marketer, a content expert, a social media marketing expert, a copywriter, analytics, a search engine optimization (SEO) expert.

There are wide varieties of expertise across the board, and business success, as well as personal success, depends more on collaboration than competition. Choose your niche, become an expert and work together with fellow experts to build a global empire

Joshua Michelle Ross in a Forbes article commented, “The supply chain of work is getting longer. Getting any product or service into the market is the result of a much larger set of people, organizations, places and processes than before; a dizzying number of interfaces with people who all seem to speak a unique dialect – even within the same company: finance, legal, HR, engineers, marketers and so on. They are quite independent in how they see and speak about the world and yet wholly dependent upon each other to get anything done. The more moving parts required to get work done, the more chance there is of creating confusion, rework, variance and other inefficiencies. The only known remedy is structured communication (aka collaboration) across the supply chain.”( https://www.forbes.com/sites/oreillymedia/2011/06/13/collaboration-rules-five-reasons-why-collaboration-matters-now-more-than-ever/#7fa4483924c1 )



Source by Paul Abayomi Owolabi