Prevailing Law and Order & changes in Business Strategy

What this session covered

This webinar examined how prevailing law-and-order conditions and regulatory change bear on business strategy. An opening address framed the theme, proposing a close relationship between a stable order and business growth and setting out strategies firms may adopt under conflict or disorder — among them avoidance, accommodation, remodelling their planning, and building adaptive corporate cultures through what was termed transformational leadership. The session then heard from two speakers, one a small-business owner based in Northern Ireland and the other a senior executive working in India, and closed with a moderated question-and-answer session drawing on delegates from several countries.

The first speaker described strategy from the vantage point of a small investigation consultancy in Northern Ireland. During the region's long conflict, he said, the prevailing business strategy was survival; the settlement of 1998 restored order and allowed a shift towards expansion, longer-term contracts and inward investment. He then traced two later regulatory changes: the licensing of private investigators in Ireland, which came into force in 2015 and led his firm to restructure into separate companies, and the General Data Protection Regulation, in force from 2018, which he presented both as a compliance burden — citing the 72-hour breach-reporting window and fines of up to four per cent of global turnover or twenty million euros, whichever is higher — and as a commercial opportunity for firms that adapted their systems. He also reflected on Northern Ireland's position following Brexit.

The second speaker addressed the Indian context, describing regulatory reforms affecting real estate, the goods and services tax and anti-money-laundering measures, and the role of social media as a channel for consumer complaint. He gave an extended account of the pandemic's effect on the migrant construction workforce and the steps a large employer took to house, feed and retain workers. The question-and-answer session considered why large and small firms adjust strategy at different speeds, the constraints — skilling in particular — on relocating manufacturing to India, and, offered as a personal view, the then-current farm laws and the trust deficit surrounding them. Closing remarks returned to skilling and to the design of protective legislation.

Key points raised

• The opening address framed a relationship between law and order and business growth, and outlined strategies firms may adopt under conflict or disorder, including avoidance, accommodation and adaptive planning.
• One speaker traced how the end of the Northern Ireland conflict, the 2015 licensing of private investigators in Ireland, and GDPR successively reshaped a small consultancy's strategy.
• GDPR was presented both as a compliance burden and as a commercial opportunity for firms that adapted their systems.
• The other speaker described regulatory reform in Indian real estate and the pandemic's impact on the migrant construction workforce, including measures a large employer took to retain workers.
• The question-and-answer session discussed why large and small firms change strategy at different speeds, with skilling identified by one speaker as the main constraint on relocating manufacturing to India.
• One speaker offered a personal view on India's then-current farm laws, noting a trust deficit and a possible role for corporate outreach.