Posted On April 19, 2018

When you ship products and goods across the world, your business is impacted by forces and circumstances outside of your control.

What do we mean?

Right now, the United States and China are engaged in an escalating back-and-forth about tariffs. How will that impact your business? It depends in part on your supply chain and supplier relationships. Ultimately, if the answer to that question was easy, simple, or clear, there wouldn’t be much need for debate. The coming year could see significant change to trade relationships with China, or (most likely) a maintenance of the status quo.

Only time will tell.

But even if you wanted to, what could your company do to influence trade relationships with China, or any other country? Not a lot. And change affecting your supply chain isn’t just restricted to trade relationships. We’ve only just begun to see how technology will transform the way goods are transported across supply chains. The way your company finds, trains, and retains its warehouse workforce is also changing.

While it’s important to keep track of and understand the global forces affecting your business, there are some things that are beyond our control.

Like trade relationships. And the state of the workforce in 2018.

However, there are some things your business can control. You, and only you, decide whether your supply chain is built on excellence. No tariff dispute between countries decides whether you create a shipping department capable of outhustling and outperforming the competition. No outside force decides whether you treat your customers, employees, and community in a way that shows you value their contribution to your success. Successful leaders and successful companies always know that they control their own destiny, and that any hope they have of thriving in a world of constant change requires being built on a foundation of excellence.

Sometimes our customers and clients can be greatly affected by decisions they cannot control. Whole markets can open or close with a single decision. That can happen when your supply chain exists in a flat world. But that ability for sudden, unexpected change isn’t what determines your company’s success. Success starts from within, and for our customers it often starts in their supply chain.

Creating a company that can compete in a rapidly changing world depends on maximizing the efficiency of departments and processes that are often overlooked.

Like your shipping department.

The Flat World Holdings family of companies (Flat World Supply Chain, Flat World Hospitality, Ram International, Ram Custom Crating, and Prologue Technology) are here to help your business create a shipping department that will improve your efficiency, maximize visibility within your supply chain, and make your logistics team a strategic asset.

In life and in business, we like to think we control far more than we actually do. In reality, our ability to exert influence on major events and global forces is limited. However, you do control whether your company is built on a foundation of excellence.

And you can start with your shipping department.