Reading Over the Shoulders of the Industry Future Council
Posted 01/29/09
The 2009 Industry Future Council meets at Foundation headquarters February 2 to 3 to discuss the major issues before the industry and to provide predictions and likelihoods for the industry’s future opportunities, challenges and success. From their discussion, The IFC Report is produced which is meant to provide a “workbook” or guideline which can be used by providers and arrangers of equipment finance as they undertake their own strategic planning efforts. As in recent years, The Council will try to identify the questions – not just the answers – before the industry, while identifying the sign-posts that will indicate future direction and possible changes in direction.
Prior to the two-day discussion, IFC members are asked to ready themselves to challenge assumptions and bring their best thinking to current issues. In order to prepare, the members were asked to review several thought-provoking articles and papers to help with their annual discussion.
Suggested reading for the meeting participants includes several articles from the McKinsey Quarterly (www.mckinseyquarterly.com), including:
- Taking improbable events seriously: An interview with the author of the Black Swan;
- Financial Crises, past and present; and
- Why the crisis hasn’t shaken the cost of capital
- The Boston Consulting Group’s Collateral Damage: Preparing for the tough year ahead: the outlook, the crisis in perspective, and lessons from the early movers; and
- The Failure of Models that predict failure: Distance, incentives and defaults produced by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
The articles are a partial investigation into how events or trends in other industries may foretell trends or reactionary effects on the equipment finance industry.
Last year’s IFC Report, “Short-Term Concerns, Long-Term Optimism”, addressed, as one member noted, the industry’s “crisis of confidence.” The questions then became, how long and how severe would this crisis of confidence be? And, more to the point for the IFC, what could equipment finance companies do to weather the crisis and be prepared to thrive when it’s over? Now, a year later, the IFC will again address the ensuing economic challenges, industry shake-outs, and future uncertainties.
Always a hotly-anticipated report, the IFC report is one of many tools offered by the Foundation for the purposing of helping companies navigate their way through today and tomorrow. The report also is used by analysts, prospective investors, regulators, and others who rely on the research products of the Foundation to develop a better understanding of the variables and trends that will shape and re-shape our industry. The 2009 Report is expected to be no exception.
Sponsored by International Decision Systems, the 2009 IFC Report is expected to be available at the Foundation store in early spring. Donors receive the IFC report at no charge. Non-donors may download the report from the store for $95.
