Agility and flexibility in times of crisis

by Hugo Keller

Variability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity are all part of life, not only during the COVID-19 crisis but certainly to a greater extent now. But what does this mean for us as a company? What structures can we use to best manage these challenges? And what demands does this place on our strategic orientation? It’s time for a paradigm shift.

Network structures have greater bandwidth

Since the founding of the Messerli Group, we have felt it was important to combine the advantages of a group of companies with the flexibility of a start-up. Over the years, we have continually added new skills, services, products and business models to the Group. In order to stay agile and flexible, we have deliberately abstained from integrating smaller or larger units into the Group, preferring instead to organise ourselves within a network structure. We pursue a strategy of independence and decentrality. And the pandemic has clearly demonstrated that our network structure is extremely crisis resistant. In this case, one plus one is more than two. And this added value helps us to agilely navigate complex challenges.

The virus – our enemy and our mirror

The COVID-19 pandemic is making everything even more complicated. In this case, remaining agile means efficiently and effectively managing the relevant changes. This has been our everyday reality since the start of the pandemic. Before the crisis, it was already important for us to roll with the punches in order to stay competitive. In this regard, change has been a key component of our business model for some time now, with or without the coronavirus.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the behaviour of our customers. When looking for the right marketing mix, they need a partner that can take a 360° perspective in terms of marketing and communications. As a live marketing group, we connect offline and online activities to create a compelling whole. Our speciality lies in tailoring the necessary marketing mix to the needs of our customers.

The playing field is becoming increasingly interconnected and therefore more complex

For us, the increasing complexity of the recent years has meant that we have evolved from trade fair booth designers and event construction specialists to problem solvers, and today have become an interdisciplinary service provider of complete live marketing packages. And we are still not done evolving. While we will continue to offer trade fair booths and event infrastructure, we are increasingly functioning as service providers, strategists, concept creators and storytellers. Our job is to solve all of our customers’ problems when it comes to creating haptic and digital live experiences. This includes taking full responsibility for marketing and event logistics, providing supply chain management services and optimising processes in terms of how we work with our customers. The field of hybrid live events is growing exponentially and so, in turn, is the complexity. This is also the main factor that sets us apart from our more traditional competitors. Our strategy is aimed at focussing on customer orientation and is less about volume.

Our foundation is strong

With or without the crisis, we still find ourselves in the midst of a paradigm shift. New, hybrid forms of live communication require agile companies. Our curiosity is a signpost on the path to bigger, better goals.