A journey towards 2010
The strategy wheel
The analogy of a locomotive wheel is particularly apt. It takes enormous effort to get it moving but once it is in motion, the wheel gains momentum and is very difficult to stop. Various programmes are in place to remind employees that each one needs to place a shoulder to the 'Spoornet wheel' to get the train moving - fast and profitably.
The Strategy Wheel has four quadrants: our people; our financial performance; effective and safe railways and delivering the best service to our customers. In all of this, our vision is to develop a freight railway that satisfies our customers and there is a powerful focus on safety.
Rail track map
The year 2010 is a designated destination and we begin the journey with a disproportionately low share of market in the freight business. As we work towards becoming the customer's first choice, the initial stage on the track towards success is to stabilise our business and regain credibility. That part of the journey is already underway.
The strategies include:
- improved business performance,
- greater operational efficiency,
- improved customer care and
- appropriate investment.
The stages will be marked by the disinvestment of non-core non-freight business and the separation of infrastructure and operations. For this to have meaning, we must grow our volumes and our business. Most importantly, and against the backdrop of international trends and the needs of our continent, we will ensure sustainability by placing ourselves at the heart of the industry.
Our unified business objective has no room for a "them and us", "white collar vs. blue collar" approach. Our strength is in our diversity and in our unity of purpose.
Strategic intent
We have redefined our strategic intent to reflect our renewed focus on our customers. Spoornet is a freight railway that satisfies the needs of our customers.
We will achieve this by amongst others reducing our cost of doing business, building capacity and having safe and efficient operations. Our goal is to develop skills and build a culture of customer obsession.