Cisco boss urges focus on long term growth, recovery

CHAIRMAN and Chief Executive Officer of Cisco, Mr. John Chambers, has urged global business leaders to focus on long-term growth and recovery from the present economic crunch.

Speaking at the just ended World Bank Economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, he said that the next phase of the Internet offers an opportunity for bold steps to be taken.

He also tasked political as well as business leaders across the world to extend their focus beyond short-term stability to long-term growth and recovery in the wake of the current global financial crisis.

A press statement from Cisco Nigeria, endorsed by the Marketing Manager, Ms. Owen Nwelih, quoted Chambers as saying, “The companies and countries that will succeed in the next period of economic development are those that look beyond the short term and focus on the future.”

According to Chambers, doing so, “would require a vision, an ability to make course corrections in strategy and the skills to execute against long term goals. It will also require the foresight to recognize market transitions and then invest in the areas that will create new industries and jobs for tomorrow.”

The world, he said, was on the verge of the next wave of innovation and productivity growth fueled by the Internet when the global economic crisis emerged.

“The first phase, began more than 15 years ago as the Internet changed the way we sold and bought products, managed our businesses and communicated with our customers and communities,” he noted.

Stressing that the Internet of the future will be centered on a combination of networked technologies, video and social networking, which has the potential to transform the global standard of living with a speed and efficiency far greater than what we thought possible.

The next internet experience, he said, will enable “a profound level of collaboration that will change the way we think, the speed by which we invent, how we connect and share information and the extent to which we can sustain our environment.”

Thus, he canvassed the need for world leaders to invest in the future by beginning to prepare for the economic upturn.

“Now, is the time to take the bold steps necessary to enable a new economy built on innovation, collaboration, operational excellence and sustainability. If we continue to invest in the future the implications are transformational, we will have a more world, with strong economies, job growth, education and healthcare as well as the ability to deliver on new energy efficient technologies that will allow our global community to thrive,” Chambers said.

While the challenge of today’s unique economic environment is very real, he pointed out that the value of a global partnership has never been more important for the post-crisis world.

“Together, we must embrace the next phase of the Internet to guide our global community into a more prosperous future,” he asserted.

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