David vs Goliath and other Cautionary Tales

An insight into the current world of prepress by Nick Brunk, Pacificolor's Chief Revenue Officer.

The pantheon of literature is littered with stories of how a little guy took on a big guy, and somehow prevailed. Usually by some miracle, or divine intervention. In the world of business, miracles or help from the creator of all things seem to continue to be in short supply.

In the Packaging supply chain, recent news and events seem to reinforce the idea that big is better. Consolidation has been a watchword in the industry over the last few years. Big multinational printer/converters buy or merge with their competitors. Smaller brands get swallowed by bigger ones. Now Pre-media has its own version, as the trend continues of trying to consolidate packaging design with print preparation because that supposedly will help the Brand to streamline their process.

But is bigger always better?

The University I graduated from, told all of us in the Business school, “Look for Economies of scale. Reduce your costs. Carefully build a competitive pricing model that puts pressure on your competition.” Words to live by no doubt.

After more than 30 years, my experience in the corporate world said bigger organizations have better access to capital to fund growth. Maybe, perhaps, could be…

But is growth, for growth’s sake really a goal? Whether it is by organic rapid expansion or by acquisition and consolidation, does it inherently make an organization truly “better”?

Look, I get it, I’m coming from the small to medium size segment of the business spectrum. I’m espousing my own opinion. But I have experienced first-hand how merger, acquisition, and consolidation of large organizations many times tries to jam together disparate corporate cultures, which builds bureaucracies and fosters an ‘us versus them’ mentality in your internal operations.

And that’s not the only outcome you can get, but boy, it happens a lot more than many senior executives would like to admit. I know, I was one of them.

So back to being better. Being bigger is not the key, nor is being smaller. It’s fostering a work ethic that says we will do what’s necessary every day to better serve our clients.

We will work to make their hectic life, which is often filled with unreasonable demands because they do the work of two or three people, somehow simpler.

We will act as though at the other end of that phone call or email there is a person that needs our support, insight and our responsiveness because we strive to be an invaluable resource to get done what they need done.

We will show inquisitiveness to discover what their organization is working to achieve every day and align ourselves to help make sure those things happen for them.

And we will show them that they matter, that they have the right to succeed, that they deserve to achieve and surpass their own goals and have some fun and happiness while we do it together. They will know they are a priority.

To sum up!

It really doesn’t matter whether you’re David or Goliath, Jack or the Giant, Nestor or Ereuthalion, being better, is doing the right thing for the people who depend on you. It is that simple.

If this resonates with you, or if you're looking for a partner who prioritizes doing the right thing and delivering real value, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s start a conversation—reach out today and let’s explore how we can work together to achieve your goals.

https://www.pacificolor.com/contact/.