The global economy is improving, and while there's plenty of room for improvement, overall things are moving in the right direction, according to Erik Fyrwald, president and CEO of chemicals distributor Univar, Redmond, WA. But successfully taking advantage of any opportunity requires "building and never losing a fanatical focus on both our customers and our suppliers," he says.
Fyrwald was featured in the latest 7 Minutes With … segment of MDM's Executive Briefing.
"If we get into trouble anywhere in the world, it's because we've taken our eye off of making sure we bring more to our customers and more to our suppliers … than any of our competition," Fyrwald says.
Opportunity exists in many regions around the world. "(We need to) make sure our strategies are reflecting the realities of the world today," he says, "shifting resources to not only where we see the opportunity today, but where we see it in the future."
That includes investment in the "shale gas revolution" of North America, continued investment in China and a focus on cost reduction and productivity in economically challenged Europe.
"As long as we've got the right talent and we are fanatically focused on serving customer and suppliers better than our competition we will thrive in any economic scenario," Fyrwald says."…Not doing that as well as we can is what keeps me awake at night."
Listen to the interview with Fyrwald below:
