EM – Start-up will begin the journey of creating values to contribute to society, positioning themselves of many entrepreneurs in the elevator industry. In that luggage will not be missing the value of integrity.
Arthur Andersen – the name used to be one of the 5 largest auditing firms in the world (along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG), has offices in more than 84 countries with headquarters in Chicago, USA, At its peak (2001 – 2002), annual revenue was up to 900 million USD. But all achievements have collapsed, 85,000 people lost their jobs just because the leader of this business trades integrity for money.
At the time of this major scandal in America, Arthur Andersen had been active for 89 years. It is ironic that the company operating under the motto “Think straight, talk straight” abets the energy company Enron to manipulate financial statements and commit violations related to dishonesty in audit.
The giant collapsed by integrity when it was only a slogan on the wall.
As an entrepreneur, I realize this is a profound lesson that those who have and are about to start a business in the field of elevators and escalators need to pay attention to this integrity.
The reason is that because elevators and escalators are devices that transport large numbers of people every day, every hour. Just a little lack of integrity from ensuring standards in the production process of products, to installation, inspection, maintenance, , etc., can lead to unpredictable consequence, cannot even fix.
When the unexpected happens, all construction efforts go down the river, into the pool. Therefore, integrity is something that benefits not only society but also a vital principle for businesses and entrepreneurs.
The word “integrity” comes from the Latin word “integritas” which means whole and sane. It is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
Integrity expressed by credibility with external and internal partners must come from the actions of leaders to employees. Therefore, integrity becomes the pursuit goal of many businesses, to bring it into the breath of every member of the organization, gradually becoming the corporate cultural DNA.
Over 95% of our businesses are small and medium-sized, which means that the financial resources, size, management capacity, etc. of the majority are very modest. We can set great goals, roadmaps and expectations, but without integrity as a guideline, things can turn negative. Is it true to the philosophical law: Matter determines consciousness?
The story of the elevator start-up can be simple at first. As long as the owner has a familiarity, experience, a little technique, the rest of the stages from production, construction, installation, equipment maintenance, etc. can hire an outsourcing company to work as a subcontractor be able to run the business.
Founders only need to reach a number of elevators a month to have a much higher income than previous salaried employees. And at that time, often the first “child” will be taken care of very carefully as an affirmation of the business’s intelligence, bravery and self-respect.
However, when starting to expand the scale of production and business activities, the enterprise begins the hot growth period. The number of employees in the organization will quickly increase, accompanied by pressure on sales, progress, etc., which has caused many businesses to gradually forget about integrity. Ethics of technicians or sales staff can be overlooked, increasing unfair competition in the industry. From a macro perspective, if growth in quantity is lacking in relation to quality, the elevator and escalator industry will not develop sustainably.
Besides, in order to survive and expand, how to develop, determine our goals, orientation, advantages compared to competing companies is not easy in the elevator industry. The answer is the founder’s idea and ability when incubating his own business, participating in the value chain to create a complete product.
You can build a business that can establish a nationwide sales network, or you can manage a high-performance elevator factory at a good price, or you can train a team of skilled technicians, professional service in the field of elevator services.
Statistics show that 90% of start-ups fail in the first 3 years. The most successful cases in common come from integrity. Integrity for successful businesses to realize that they do not follow the path, do not make imitations, is to follow the difference to create competitive advantages.
Starting a business has the advantage of being able to start exploring a new path. Therefore, elevator startups need to find their own ways. From there, the business community together support and promote each other to develop, instead of holding back, treating the marketplace as a battlefield leading to armageddon.
