With inflation on, corporate Board of Directors should be raising more questions

With inflation on, corporate Board of Directors should be raising more questions

Global inflation is surging. Three months ago the wholesale price inflation touched 8 per cent in Europe, 10 per cent in the US, 15 per cent in India, and 5 per cent in the UAE. It nearly doubled in 37 of 44 leading economies, according to Pew Research. Energy prices and agriculture products seem to be leading the spike – and both are commodities that will work their way into coming price hikes for manufactured goods. According to PwC, inflation is the top-of-mind item in the agenda for every meeting for most corporate boards in the US. This means board meetings with managements commiserating about the present, and worrying about the future. As a director, you should realise that your board (as well as your management) would need to relearn skills and behaviours that most advanced economies haven’t demanded since the early 1980s, when both inflation and interest rates soared. Few execs were around 40 years of age some 45 years ago when inflation was at double-digit rates last. You may want to do some research on what companies did then (right and wrong) to cope up with inflation in terms of strategy, pricing, finance, growth, compensation and hiring. While