Change and impermanency is the common denominator of all phenomena and processes in nature, which include human activities as well. Heraclitus, the 5^th Century BC Greek philosopher, has said that no man can step into the same river twice. This statement from Heraclitus means that the world constantly changes and that no two situations are exactly the same. Just as water flows in a river, one cannot touch the exact same water twice when one steps into a river. This view has been affirmed by Lord Buddha around the same period.

In fact, the challenge of change can be considered as the key driver in all the human endeavours across history and the main motivating factor of business strategies that have evolved through the four industrial revolutions spanning form the mid-18^th century to the present day of mass digitalisation. The four principles of change management at any level – be it personal, family, workplace, company or a country – are:

• Understand the change
• Plan the change
• Implement the change
• Communicate the change

Some of the significant contributors to the management of change which resulted in the emergence of new approaches and working models that became popular during the past 50 years can be enumerated as:

• Lewin’s Change Management Model
• McKinsey 7S Model.
• Kotler’s Change Management Theory
• Nudge Theory
• ADKAR Theory
• Bridge’s Transition Model
• Kubler-Ross Five Stage Model

There are many schools of thought around managing organisational change, but there's one thing that's clear. Change managers need to structure their organisational changes and need to avoid 'ad hoc' change management. They need to look at organisational change from a programmatic perspective, leverage subject matter experts around the impacts of change and look at the ‘change beyond the change’. 

Corporate change has always been associated with leadership, and Jack Welch, the master of transformational leadership, has once quoted that “good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion.”

Notwithstanding the tremendous utility value of these approaches, I have witnessed the beginning, growth, decline and final exit of some great business empires in Sri Lanka, which could not survive up to the third generation. Similarly, there are exemplary business organisations, the roots of which can be traced back in history to a single person who started with a few rupees and later developed in to corporate giants that are thriving through the third generation. It is therefore apparent that there are no hard and fast norms or standard ground rules, but an emerging factor is the importance of the people at all levels, despite the benefits of automation and digitalisation. Success and failure episodes are abundant throughout the world and corporate graveyards are cluttered with casualties.

Change and business strategy are always closely interlinked without clear boundaries. The ‘Art of War’ – which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (around 5^th century BC) – remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare and has influenced both Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy, lifestyles and beyond.

The Covid-19 outbreak, which started around two years ago and developed in to a devastating pandemic, has brought about years of change in the way companies in all sectors and regions do business. The entire world scenario which we currently witness is reminiscent of the opening paragraph of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, an 1859 historical novel by Charles Dickens.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
 

The Coronavirus has rapidly made ‘business as usual’ a phrase from the distant past. There is no ‘usual’ in this uncertain time. But organisations that outmanoeuvre uncertainty create a resilience they can count on, irrespective of the changes that come

. We’ve all changed the way we operate during the Covid-19 crisis. Some changes were forced on us, while others represent the height of innovation in a crisis. There’s been a reset of the workforce and work itself, a reset of the employer/employee relationship and a reset of the business ecosystem. For most of them, the business impact of the pandemic has been negative; for some, positive. 

The pandemic may have wiped our strategy slate clean (or at least it feels that way), but we have also garnered invaluable experience. Now it’s time to bring together our executive team and use those lessons to reconfigure the business and operating models for a new reality. It appears that in addition to the conventional 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle), with respect to resource consumption and sustainability, a set of new 3Rs, namely respond, recover and renew, has emerged during the Covid-19 crisis.

As we shift from response to recovery, the key for senior leaders is to make strategic decisions that will lead them to a renewed future state, however paralysing the uncertain outlook may seem. We can borrow a leaf from the strategy and tactics of the Covid-19 virus itself in learning how to adapt for survival by adopting new paradigms, namely producing more virulent strains such as the Delta variety.

In the absence of a 100 percent effective vaccine or cure for Covid-19, any rebound in business activity could easily be followed by another round of response, recover, renew; so the imperative is to absorb lessons learned quickly and build sustainable changes into business and operating models.

But first, we need to determine exactly where and how the crisis has stretched and broken our existing models, and where the risks and opportunities lie as a result. When talking about risks and opportunities, I cannot help going back to the basics of ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System (QMS) requirements which expect a company to evaluate the external and internal issues (Clause 4.1), expectations of interested parties (4.2), determining the risks and opportunities (6.1) and planning for change (6.2). In some of the companies that I happen to audit, the priority given to these is at a minimum or no priority given at all apart from stagnant records which do not show any objective evidence of monitoring and review.

However, one important factor we have to consider is that everyone – irrespective of whether it is an individual, family unit, organisation or a country – is on various stages of their unique learning curves, and the strategic horizons have drastically become shorter. Business and strategy planning is no longer an elite task shrouded with mystery and confined to the corporate managers only in their air conditioned rooms but a task to be accomplished in consultation with those who are finally going to implement the strategies and plans. While the Japanese Genba (the actual place) approach is more than 50 years old, it is mostly confined to operational levels, which is rather unfortunate. This crisis has created an opportunity to reset some of our goals and ambitions; it’s time to ask: “As we recover from this crisis, do we want to be different, and if so, how?”

One can see that many companies are in the recovery mode at the moment and trying to do damage control based on profit motive, which is understandable. The entire social, cultural and ethical models and paradigms have changed drastically, and the entrepreneurs need to realise that they are no longer operating in the pre-Covid era. Drastic changes have occurred in the entire supply and value chains with changing customer preferences.

The following quote attributed to many, including Eleanor Roosevelt, a former First Lady of United States, is appropriate to be cited here:

“There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened.” 

Change and impermanency is a fact of life, more so today, and if we do not change, change will change us. After all, it was the mathematical genius of the 20^th Century, Albert Einstein, who once observed that:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

We can’t keep doing the same thing every day and expect different results. In other words, we can’t keep doing the same workout routine and expect to look differently. In order for our life to change, we must change – to the degree that we change our actions and our thinking, to the degree that our life will change.

The author a Management Counselor from Sri Lanka

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The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has confirmed that its Annual Conference 2026 will take place on 23–24 November 2026 at the Pullman Pattaya Hotel G in Pattaya, Thailand. The gathering will adopt the theme ‘Building a Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Global Natural Rubber Industry’, reflecting the sector’s urgent need to address mounting pressures across the global value chain.

The two-day programme will feature five thematic sessions before a moderated panel discussion. These sessions will cover geopolitics and the Middle East conflict, climate change and its effects on production and productivity, supply-demand dynamics and price volatility, advancing sustainability beyond the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the implications of protectionist policies for trade and consumption. A 40-minute High-Level Roundtable on the Future of the Global Natural Rubber Industry will close the conference, focusing on strategic priorities, collaborative action and practical pathways towards long-term resilience and growth.

The global natural rubber industry stands at a critical juncture, with rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, flooding and climate-related diseases increasingly pressuring production and productivity. Geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing Middle East conflict, rising operating costs, narrowing margins and evolving sustainability requirements are adding further strain across the value chain, said the association.

As a renewable resource, natural rubber supports industrial development and sustainable value chains, yet it faces supply constraints, price volatility, declining productivity, tree diseases, rising costs and stringent ESG requirements. These challenges also present opportunities to strengthen competitiveness, enhance value addition, diversify markets and accelerate sustainable practices. With decarbonisation efforts advancing towards 2030 and regulations such as the EUDR reshaping market access, stakeholders must collaborate to build responsible, inclusive, transparent and viable supply chains. Innovation, investment, and sustainable finance will be vital for smallholders and SMEs, the association further added.

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Max Verstappen completed a flawless weekend at the Marina Bay street circuit by winning the Singapore Grand Prix, adding Sunday’s race to his earlier Sprint victory and both pole positions. The Red Bull driver managed his Pirelli Soft and Medium compounds across a one-stop strategy while the tyre supplier’s rubber proved central to the race’s varying tactics.

Charles Leclerc finished second for Ferrari, with Kimi Antonelli third for Mercedes. The top three all began on Softs before switching to Mediums, but Leclerc and Antonelli exploited a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period on lap 39 to fit fresh Softs for a second stop.

Verstappen, by contrast, ignored the VSC window, completing 32 laps on his starting Softs before moving to Mediums and running them to the flag. Only Soft and Medium compounds featured throughout the race.

Antonelli extended his championship lead to 340 points, helped by teammate George Russell’s ninth-place finish. Russell sits second on 238, with Lewis Hamilton third on 229. Russell also recorded the longest Medium stint at 39 laps, while Hamilton, sixth, ran 44 laps on a single set of Softs.

Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director, said, “As widely expected, regardless of the neutralisations, the one-stop strategy proved to be the most competitive, with the Soft-Medium combination emerging as the most effective option. The C5 was the star of the race, as it delivered very long stints while maintaining a strong level of performance and offering the advantage of greater grip than the other compounds available. Drivers who used it for around half the race only experienced a performance drop-off in the closing stages.

“The Hard tyre was not a strategically attractive option for the teams, as it offered less grip than the C4 which, despite being the softer compound, exhibited virtually no degradation, without providing any tangible advantages in a race already firmly geared towards a one-stop strategy. As a result, although the C3 has proven effective at other circuits, it was not selected by any driver in Singapore. Tyre degradation was in line with what we had already observed during free practice, and the visual condition of the tyres at the end of the stints was also very encouraging, even over the longest runs. Wear was manageable, although it required a degree of attention, particularly on the rear-right.”

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The DUNLOP Group has systematically organised its sustainable natural rubber procurement initiatives for the first time, centring on the previously announced group-wide Sustainable Natural Rubber Subcommittee. The company will promote these initiatives and accelerate related activities. Natural rubber remains a key raw material for the group, and its production depends heavily on smallholder farmers, meaning challenges tied to productivity, income and environmental and social issues directly affect stable and sustainable procurement.

A second phase of the Sustainable Natural Rubber project, supporting smallholder farmers in Indonesia, began in April 2026. The project was originally launched in 2022 by Sumitomo Rubber Singapore Pte. Ltd., the group's natural rubber procurement subsidiary, together with PT. Hok Tong, a processing company owned by Halcyon Agri Corporation Ltd. In the first phase, improved productivity and earnings were confirmed for participating farmers. Phase 2 will continue support in Sumatra's Jambi region while extending coverage to Rantau Prapat in North Sumatra, aiming to assist roughly 1,740 farms cumulatively each year, with targets rising annually through April 2029.

During Phase 1, which ran from 2022 to 2025, more than 1,000 smallholder farmers in Jambi received support. Yields increased by up to about 19 percent, and both productivity and profitability improved in the project areas. In Phase 2, lessons from that experience will inform expansion into Rantau Prapat, where similar supply chain risks exist. Follow-up training will also continue in Jambi, with technical guidance and agricultural supplies provided so that improved techniques are fully adopted and yields rise further.

The group has identified and assessed its business activities' dependence on and impact upon natural capital, along with related risks and opportunities, following the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures recommendations and the LEAP Approach, and has disclosed information accordingly. The newly established subcommittee has systematically categorized natural rubber risk mitigation measures using the Action Framework proposed by the Science Based Targets Network, linking identified risks and opportunities to business activities.

That framework organizes corporate actions addressing nature-related impacts into avoidance, reduction, restoration or regeneration and transformation. Through this structure, the group will clarify the roles of initiatives previously pursued separately, including risk assessment, farmer support and research and development, as well as measures needed going forward. The Farmer Support Project falls under the framework's reduction objective, with the aim of improving farmer productivity and profitability and thereby lowering risks in the natural rubber supply chain.

Phase 2 is scheduled to run from April 2026 to April 2029, covering Jambi and Rantau Prapat in Sumatra, Indonesia. Support targets 870 households in Jambi and 870 households in Rantau Prapat annually, delivered mainly through technical guidance and agricultural supply support. Indonesia ranks among the world's leading natural rubber producers, and Sumatra is one of its major production areas.

Dwi Sutrisno, Sustainability Manager, PT. Hok Tong Indonesia, said, “This Project is a valuable initiative that strengthens the knowledge, skills and capabilities of smallholder farmers while supporting higher productivity and more sustainable farming practices. As the implementing partner, PT. Hok Tong Indonesia is proud to contribute to this effort and to see the positive impact it brings to farmers and their communities.”

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Maxxis concluded the 2026 Championship Off-Road season with a dominant display at Glen Helen, where its sponsored drivers captured four class titles. The company’s tyre range proved decisive across the field, with competitors relying on RAZR AT, RAZR AT-S, SC-1 and Bravo AT-771 rubber. Jimmy Henderson, Connor Barry, Nick Byng and Jeb Bootle each secured 2026 championships in Pro 4, Pro Lite, Super Stock Truck and Pro SxS, respectively.

Henderson’s consistent weekend sealed the Pro 4 crown with 729 points on RAZR AT tyres. Mickey Thomas claimed third overall in the class, while Adrian ‘Wildman’ Cenni finished fourth. Thomas added second-place finishes in both Friday’s and Saturday’s races, with Cenni third on Friday and Henderson third on Saturday.

Barry enjoyed a flawless weekend in Pro Lite, winning both races on RAZR AT-S tyres to lock down the title with 777 points. Bootle, in his first season as a Maxxis athlete, took the Pro SxS championship with 733 points on SC-1 tyres, delivering the brand’s first-ever Pro SxS title in the series. He also won Saturday’s Pro SxS race and placed third in Friday’s Pro Stock event.

Byng secured his second consecutive Super Stock Truck championship and third career title, accumulating 604 points on Bravo AT-771 tyres. In Friday’s Pro Buggy race, Zac Drapkin won and Chaden Minder finished third, both running RAZR AT-S tyres.

Rossy De La Cruz, Maxxis’ sponsorship and sales specialist, said, “Closing out the season with multiple wins and championships is an incredible accomplishment for our Maxxis athletes. I’m extremely proud of their hard work, dedication and trust in Maxxis throughout the season. A huge thank you to Champ Off Road for another outstanding season and for providing an incredible platform for our athletes to compete at the highest level. We’re excited for what’s ahead in 2027.”

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