Agile, but not fragile: How business can strike the right balance

In the current market slowdown, companies can go too far in the pursuit of agility, threatening profits and operations and ultimately making themselves more fragile than they need to be

From manufacturing giants to banking conglomerates, business leaders are intrigued with the idea of building an “agile organisation”— meaning one that can change its strategy, operations and technologies quickly and effectively. By becoming agile, they believe they can find new opportunities for profit and protect themselves against the competition. That’s the idea, anyway. 

But it is also true that agility should be seen as part of the wider business strategy, not as a value in and of itself. In the current market slowdown, companies can go too far in the pursuit of agility, threatening profits and operations and ultimately making themselves