Volatility of every day

Andrzej Derkowski: First of all I’d like to thank you for your speech: very interesting and inspiring for me and other participants. I’ve prepared some questions before our conversation but your lecture even changed my point of view. Why is the topic of volatility so popular last months?

Karl-Heinz Steinke: I think it’s so popular because volatility on the market has increased so much since 2008. We have always had volatility in the business but not that fast changing as we can see nowadays. And there are no signs that this situation will change: this volatility will stay in the future and therefore volatility has such a high rank on the agenda of the management and agenda of the International Controller Association.

AD: What is the practical consequence of these changes for the business?

KHS: We must seek for more flexibility in the ways how we arrange our business and how we buffer the company against the shocks from the market, shocks from our internal volatilities. Our reaction time is very important here. How fast can we react when we have complex knowledge that a change is coming up? Do we have plans? It’s very important not to lose time for the reaction: reaction time is crucial for the enterprise. And as much important is also the execution: Don’t wait till the decision is made, make the decision as soon as possible and as appropriate as the situation requires!