It’s surprising how quickly global news headlines turn into very real problems for small and medium-sized businesses. What feels distant and high-level one week can show up the next as nervous customers, delayed supply chains, or routes to market that suddenly don’t work the way they used to.

We’ve seen this first-hand in recent months with clients across the UK, Europe and Canada. Shifts in geopolitics and economic sentiment have fed directly into changing customer behaviour and uncertain trading conditions. For many SMEs, that uncertainty has stretched supply chains and sales channels — in some cases to a critical point.

What’s been just as striking is the breadth of sectors affected. Within our own client base, businesses in technology, communications, automotive, tourism, hospitality, luxury and manufacturing have all been forced to pause and take stock. Long-standing strategies are being questioned. Assumptions about reliable markets, partners and customers are no longer holding up. The question many leaders are now asking is simple: how do we do business going forward?

Every year we talk about the importance of staying commercially alert and planning with agility. And yet, many organisations still push on with business as usual, even while recognising that conditions around them are changing. That gap between knowing and acting is where risk creeps in.

Never has it been more important to properly understand market trends and to actively explore where alternative or emerging opportunities might lie. This isn’t about chasing every new idea — it’s about knowing which markets you can rely on, which ones are weakening, and where you may need to pivot.

The ability to respond quickly through organisational flexibility and adaptive planning is now essential. The traditional five-year strategic plan has been obsolete for some time, often replaced by shorter, more tactical planning cycles. But the scale of what many businesses are facing today demands more than quick fixes or short-term reactions.

For small and medium-sized businesses, this is especially tough. Unlike large corporates, SMEs rarely have spare teams or time for deep market analysis while keeping the day-to-day running. Yet for some, this work is no longer optional — it’s existential. A niche business can quickly find its core market disrupted by volatile demand, new barriers to trade, or fragile supply chains.

And then there’s the customer. Attitudes and sentiment don’t exist in a vacuum. Global tensions influence confidence, spending decisions and brand loyalty. Understanding how customers are thinking — and how their behaviour might change — should be front of mind for every CEO.

So yes, it’s another challenging start to a new year. And once again, investing time in understanding your market, building a responsive culture, and adopting a flexible approach to strategy isn’t a luxury. It’s business critical.

Business agility isn’t a competitive advantage anymore. In the 2020s, it’s simply the hygiene factor.

Author: Neil Burrows

February 2026