WHY WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER’S BUSINESS
We’ve all heard the saying, “mind your own business.” In life, that’s probably good advice. In business, however, there is a strong argument for doing the exact opposite.
Perhaps we should care a little more about each other’s ability to do business.And no, I am not suggesting that we interfere with each other’s companies!
One of Africa’s greatest contributions to leadership is the philosophy of Ubuntu – Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu – “I am because we are.” While Ubuntu is often associated with our communities, I believe it has an equally important place in commerce.
What does Ubuntu mean?
In business, Ubuntu simply means this: My business is healthier when the businesses around me are healthy too
That doesn’t mean we stop competing. It doesn’t mean we stop negotiating. It means recognising that our businesses are interconnected and that long-term success depends on the health of the entire value chain.
The auto body repair industry demonstrates this every day. Insurers rely on repairers. Repairers rely on suppliers. Suppliers rely on manufacturers. OEMs rely on competent repairers to protect their brands. Every vehicle we return to a customer is the product of an ecosystem rather than a single business.
Management scholar R. Edward Freeman describes this through Stakeholder Theory – the idea that sustainable businesses create value for everyone connected to the enterprise, including suppliers, customers, employees and business partners. Ubuntu arrived at much the same conclusion long before business schools did.
Interestingly, we already understand this principle – at least from one side of the table.
As repairers, we rightly expect insurers and OEMs to treat us as valued business partners. We advocate for commercially sustainable labour rates, meaningful consultation before major decisions, fair payment practises and relationships built on mutual respect rather than unequal bargaining power. When those principles are absent, we are quick to point out the impact they have on our businesses.
And rightly so. Perhaps the more uncomfortable question is whether we consistently extend those same principles to the businesses that supply us.
Every business owner enjoys negotiating – until someone negotiates with them. That is why it is worth asking ourselves a different question.
Instead of asking, “How much value can I extract from this relationship?” perhaps we should ask, “Will this decision strengthen or weaken the health of the value chain?”
Our own industry has already answered that question before.
Not so long ago, proposals were introduced that many believed would significantly disadvantage independent local parts suppliers. While there were commercial arguments supporting those proposals, the broader industry recognised the unintended consequences. Independent suppliers contribute to competition, availability and resilience. Had they been weakened, repairers would eventually have felt the effects too.
The industry rallied – not because suppliers needed sympathy, but because healthy suppliers are good for a healthy industry. That was good business.
More recently, we’ve seen dealerships and supplier groups offering to subsidise certain operating costs or OEM-related expenses to attract Major Body Repairers.
Commercially, these initiatives make sense. Business has always been competitive, and there is nothing wrong with innovation or creating attractive value propositions.
However, there is an old truth about commerce: there is rarely such a thing as a free lunch. If something appears to be free, it is worth asking where the invoice eventually lands.
As beneficiaries, we should be commercially curious enough to ask: Is this creating value, or simply transferring cost somewhere else in the value chain? That isn’t suspicion, it’s stewardship.
The same principle applies whenever suppliers are expected to absorb additional rebates, fund accreditation costs, extend payment terms or continually reduce margins.
Viewed individually, each request may seem reasonable.
Viewed collectively, they raise a more important question: what does this do to the long-term health of the businesses we depend on?
We spend a great deal of time measuring the health of our own businesses. We monitor productivity, margins, cycle times, CSI scores and profitability.
Perhaps we should spend a little more time thinking about the health of the businesses around us.
Healthy suppliers carry stock
Healthy suppliers invest in skilled people
Healthy suppliers support training and technical development
Healthy suppliers solve problems instead of creating them
In other words, healthy suppliers make healthy repair businesses possible.
The reverse is equally true. If suppliers are continually expected to absorb costs, finance working capital or subsidise the profitability of others, eventually something has to give. Usually it is investment, service levels or capability. By then, everyone pays the price.
One of the simplest ways to strengthen business health across the value chain is also one of the least glamorous, paying on time.
Pay suppliers on time
Every repairer understands the frustration of waiting for payment from an insurer. Suppliers experience exactly the same frustration when payments drift beyond agreed terms.
Cash flow, much like wheel alignment, only becomes the centre of attention once it’s out.
Paying suppliers on time isn’t merely good financial discipline; it enables them to invest in stock, technology, people and service. Those investments ultimately benefit every repairer who depends on them.
Being a good player in the game of business is seldom about grand gestures.
It is about consistently making decisions that build trust.
Honour commercial agreements
Communicate openly when circumstances change
Remain curious about how your commercial decisions affect the sustainability of the businesses around you.
I like to call this commercial empathy. Not emotional empathy, commercial empathy.
It is the discipline of understanding the commercial reality of the business sitting across the table
Can they sustainably absorb another discount? Can they finance your cash flow through extended payment terms? Can they continue offering incentives without compromising their own future? These are not questions of generosity, but questions of leadership.
As business owners, we are all custodians of an industry that has been built over generations. The decisions we make today shape far more than our own balance sheets. They influence the strength of the relationships, businesses and supply chains that the next generation will inherit.
Success is connected
Ubuntu reminds us that our success is connected. Modern business theory reaches exactly the same conclusion.
The healthiest industries are not those where one stakeholder wins. They are those where businesses across the value chain – from independent suppliers and repairers to dealerships, OEMs and insurers – remain commercially healthy enough to continue creating value for one another.
Perhaps that is the real moral compass of business.
Not simply asking, “Is this good for my business?” But also asking, “Will this strengthen the businesses my business depends on?” Because when the value chain is healthy, every business has a better opportunity to remain healthy too.
That is not only good ethics, it is good business.
One final suggestion: because your audience is predominantly panel beaters, I’d change “healthy suppliers are good for a healthy industry” to “healthy suppliers make healthy repair businesses possible.” It shifts the focus from doing suppliers a favour to recognising that supplier health is directly tied to the success of repairers. That’s a subtle but much stronger commercial argument.
By Busi Maile
