Macleay Valley Transport (MVT) is the perfect example of a company that has embraced change as part of the game instead of fighting it, enabling it to survive and thrive in an economic environment that has seen many a competing business capitulate.
What MVT’s story taught me is that business success is not a straight line, it’s a highly variable process where constant readjustment must be the norm, not the exception. As such, every business plan must be constantly adapted and refined to resonate with the fluctuating world around it.
Think about it – Instagram started as a Foursquare knock-off, Slack was online gaming software, Groupon was a fundraising site, Nokia was a paper company, and the list goes on.
In a transport context, SAF-Holland is one such champion of change, as our research into the company’s colourful history revealed: An amalgam of two iconic businesses that were merged to create a cross-Atlantic powerhouse in 2006, the company has seen a fair share of strategic adjustment over the past 135 years or so.
While the German arm of the business – originally named Otto Sauer Achsenfabrik (SAF) – started out as a forge in 1881, the origin of its US counterpart – The Holland Hitch Company – can be traced back to a rural coupling business founded in 1910.
Both defied the odds of history and eventually evolved into globally acclaimed manufacturing businesses – overcoming two world wars along the way, as well as the Great Depression, the 1973 oil crisis, Black Monday and, most recently, the Global Financial Crisis. The result is a battle-hardened global corporation with a strong heritage of strategic adaptability – making it a perfect case study for those leading the way in commercial road transport.
Looking ahead, the leadership lessons learned here may also help us navigate the seething debate about Australia’s next heavy vehicle emissions standard: Do we want to follow an existing system like Euro VI or is there an opportunity to expand on what’s believed to be best practice, as ARTSA Chairman, Dr Peter Hart, boldly suggests?
Part two of our ambitious three-part sustainability special may not provide a solution, but it does succeed at painting a more complete picture of the green v clean debate and how it could affect post-boom Australia. As such, it may at least serve as a decision-making tool to help us understand the forces at work and make the right decision down the track.
