STUDENTS' CORNER - 233

Customer

Knowing the customer is knowing the way the business goes and to go

We are trying to understand Customer so that we can be confident of retaining him with us.  We seek the perceptions of Management Great, PeterDrucker. Through him, we are trying to capture the essential facts related to customer along with, of course, an honest attempt to know what is the secret of a successful business.

In pedagogy, that is, in the art of teaching, it is often pointed out that the best things cannot be taught implying communication even at its best will transmit very often only information.  And we know information is anything but knowledge. With this background, let us approach Drucker to gather his perceptions on customer and business.

Let us take some very popular quotes and reflect upon them.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Business is preoccupied with future and it cannot help it as things stand today. Upgradation, Consolidation, Diversification, Merger, year-on-year report, --- all these dominant words we know refer to our deep concern for the future of business. In fact, market survey, market share, cost of business, rather cost to company—these words also reflect inevitable concern for the future of a business. Having entered into a race, you cannot but run with look on those who are in front of you and also on those who are very close to you on the back. In other words, business involves constant prediction of what is going to happen next to our business, that is, ultimately to our bottom line.  So, more or less, all the time a business mind focuses on the time to come, the future.  And the only aimis, more profit, more turnover, more outlets, more products and more and more. 

And the irony is tomorrow comes out of today;  that is,  tomorrow is in a way continuation of today and also proceeding towards more tomorrows. We forget that today , the present is FACT and tomorrow is not a FACT and it may be termed as projection, that is, Something that is not a fact though it may turn out to be one.  Based on the past –facts, we frame a future-fact; we predict.  All the same tomorrow’s fact is not a fact; it may be also called Fiction. Only thing on hand to work out and to work on is the Present.  Understanding the present in all its dimensions ends in actually understanding the future as well.  In short, Peter Drucker is emphatic that you cannot be certain about your future no matter however intelligent you are. Future is uncertain; therefore focus more on the present; thus, you will be creating your own present and not the future. 

The best way to approach the business is to focus on the present and not on the future because we know future contains many unforeseen and unforeseeable features.

We will take some other quote and reflect on it; say two more and stop with that.