Once-in-a-generation inflation, supply chain issues wreaking havoc on inventory, and the prospect of international expansion. These are complex issues so vast in scope, that even the brightest business minds can get tripped up trying to address them.
It’s at this juncture that the expert team at BDO Canada enters the fray, offering both small and big business solutions for even the most complex financial headaches.
Take inflation, for example, and the myriad of problems it can cause: costs are rising, interest rates have shot up, profitability is shrinking and available labour is at a premium.
To help clients through these issues, the BDO team walks clients through a process called “value creation.”
“Our teams work with companies to really get into their businesses and help management really understand where they make money and where they don’t,” says Michael Madsen, BDO Canada’s International Liason Partner. “We help prioritize their resources and efforts – sometimes that entails discontinuing service lines or finding operational efficiencies in existing businesses.”
Getting ahead of supply chain issues, on the other hand, starts with BDO’s expertise in risk assessment: mapping a business plan from start to finish, ensuring forecasting and contingency plans are in place or moving the business model into the digital realm.
“As negative as all this sounds, a lot of what’s happening is also an opportunity for companies to do things they may not have otherwise done – things you’re forced to do that makes a lot sense now but didn’t before,” Madsen says.
The term “going global” may sound loaded and overly complex for both small and large businesses, but it need not be. The BDO team walks clients through the process and begins with the 5 W’s: why does the business want to go global, where a company is in its life cycle, what problem it’s attempting to fix and which opportunity the business wants to capitalize on. From there, the plan can then be fully fleshed out.
“Quite often you hear that you have to go global for financial reasons, but you have to slow it down and really understand why they want to go global,” Madsen says.
These everyday, contemporary talking points make up BDO’s recently launched podcast, “Bored at the Airport.” Each episode tells the story of a company that tries to go global; some do so successfully, while others fail. What follows is Madsen in conversation with BDO experts who explore the details of what made, or broke, each of those attempts at global expansion. The conversations BDO experts dig deep into tackling problems both big and small: hiring the right people, mergers and acquisitions and digital investments are just a few of the conversations covered in the nine-episode series.
“They’re all topics that would be of interest for Canadian entrepreneurs, but also topics that we hear everyday around the board table,” Madsen says. “We made sure to touch on areas where we provide services to our clients.”
All nine episodes of Bored at the Airport are available HERE.
