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they are being adopted; the increasing
number of branded SKUs, resulting in an
increase in shorter print runs; direct
print to packaging, eliminating the need
for a ‘label’; and the possibility that brand
owners might instigate ‘in house’ label
printing.
STRATEGIC
PLANNING
IN
THE
LABEL
INDUSTRY
:
THE
END
GAME
The second day of the Congress opened
with an interactive presentation and
workshop led by a senior player in the
self-adhesive label industry who was
able to directly relate theory to practice
in this specialist business arena, with its
complex and
extended value
chain. Alex Elezaj,
President of the US
Tag and Label
Manufacturers
Institute’s Young
Leaders
Development
Organization and
COO of Whitlam Label Company
(USA), identified a checklist of nine
statements that most accurately reflect
the success and effectiveness of a
company’s business leadership.
Achieving a high score against this
checklist involves several important
steps – including strategic planning
which, well executed, empowers
companies to take control of their
future. ‘If you don’t have a strategic plan,
as a leader, how do you expect your
people to perform?’, Mr Elezaj asked.
It is, he went on, the desired ‘end game’
that should be the starting point for
turning strategy into action, with four
main categories – market, process,
product, people – the focus in the
planning process. The different strategic
options involved in reaching the end
game were examined, and then
delegates had the opportunity to create
a five-year strategic plan for a label
company (for which a detailed current
profile was provided) with an ambitious
strategic objective for the medium-
term. Working in teams, the delegates
– armed with the experience gained in
Mr Elezaj’s presentation and those of the
previous speakers – presented their
various putative routes to the goal, and
demonstrated not only their grasp of the
issues and opportunities, but also
creative management thinking.
INDIA
–
OPPORTUNITIES
AND
CHALLENGES
India currently
represents one of
the most dynamic
regional markets for
self-adhesive labels,
so it was appropriate
that Dhaval Mehta,
from LMAI – the
Indian label
association and a partner in Super Label
Manufacturing Company (IN) should
present a regional overview. With 17% of
the world’s population, a huge middle
class with extensive disposable income,
and increasing demand for consumer
goods, the Indian label industry is
currently growing at 20% per annum.
Self-adhesive labels represent 31% of the
market, with glue-applied technology
still commanding the major share
although, Mr Mehta said, there is a real
shift to both self-adhesive and shrink
sleeving technologies. He identified
some of the challenges within the region:
its highly-fragmented, disorganised
nature; the high costs of key materials;
and issues of sustainability. On the other
hand, he showed, India’s label industry
can offer low-cost, high-volume
production at consistent quality;
low-cost infrastructure investments; and
opportunities for overseas investments
as well as exports.
DEPRESSION
:
A
PREVALENT
‘
PEOPLE
PROBLEM
’
Drilling deep into the
psychology of
running a business
and caring for its
people, Prof Dr
Ulrich Hegerl, Chair
and Medical Director
of Leipzig
University’s
department of psychiatry and
psychotherapy (D), looked at the
recognition and management of
depression and ‘burnout’. They are a
problem, he said, that is prevalent in
developed companies, and it has
enormous on-costs for a business due to
loss of employee productivity – around
€
77 billion in Europe alone. Rarely
actually caused by work (the working
environment is mostly protective to
victims of depression), it is nevertheless
a real and important concern for a
company’s management team. Dr Hegerl
detailed the different clinical syndromes,
the available treatments, and the
contribution that companies can make to
identifying, facilitating treatment,
supporting re-integration, and helping to
Alex Elazaj
Dhaval Mehta
Ulrich Hegerl
54
FINAT YEARBOOK
2013
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