Looking forward

Looking forward and determining a long-term strategy is one of the core fundamentals of good entrepreneurship. In magazine publishing we always live a few months ahead of the actual publishing date. Just after the summer holidays we started preparing our media planners for the following year, which means we already have to think about topics for all next year’s issues, while the two last regular issues of the running year are being readied to go to the printers: the October and November/December issues and our yearly Buyers Guide are ready in August, always in ample time to be distributed at the conferences and shows taking place at that time of the year.
I believe that this process takes place at the same time in every company; after the summer holidays the year to come is not far away in the heads of forward looking managers. This issue will be distributed at quite a number of the autumn conferences and shows: Oceans 2015 in Washington, DC, Oceanology International in Shanghai, China and Hydro ’15 in Cape Town, South Africa. We all know that this year has not been the easiest in the history of many companies. The low oil price resulted in hydrographic surveying being suddenly put on hold, while oil companies refrained from major investments in new oil fields and the geo-political circumstances in many regions made sales shaky. Nobody can predict the future, because there’s nothing more volatile than the oil price or politics!

But a strategy, enabling you to respond to changing circumstances, is the least you will have to put in place, particularly when these volatile situations look like they are here to stay for a little longer. Keeping in mind next month’s shows and conferences, I would say that looking for new business in new markets, be it geographically or field of application, should be one of them. The US, Africa and China present opportunities, while the situation in Europe continues to be slightly more gloomy. Growth in Africa is tremendous, although there are major differences between the continent and its surrounding seas; the same still goes for China and the adjacent Southeast Asian region. The US has always shown to have an economy that is able to bounce back at a pace unknown to, for instance, Europe. In all the aforementioned geographic regions a focus on sustainable energy, including wind and tidal, is part of the policy. There is a sea of opportunities for positive forward looking managers and entrepreneurs.

It is with great pride that I am able to announce the first issue of Hydro International in Spanish. Many of our regular subscribers, but also new subscribers in Latin America and Spain, will receive this first issue together with this issue of Hydro International. I invite others to visit www.hydro-international.com, to check out the digital edition. We very much believe in the future of the continent that seems slightly unexplored to date and the business it holds for hydrography. The Spanish version of Hydro International is also proof of our forward-looking approach.