IMHO, retail's corporate objective is to develop strategic relationships with key customers and be recognized for our ability to deliver services of superior value. This competitive advantage will only be achieved through continued focus on our core competencies, management attention to the development of operations and process management excellence in all parts of our business, the identification and application of best processes, and continued attention to direct and indirect cost management. The focus on core competencies will no doubt promote the concentration of knowledge in select areas consistent with the tenets of the strategic plan. Management's attention to operations and process management excellence in all business areas can be achieved through the continued expansion of our management and technical staff, as well as through consistent application of corporate quality programs such as benchmarking and continuous improvement, leading to the establishment of our superior business processes in each core competency. Finally, continued attention to direct and indirect cost management will enable us to offer customers a superior, value-added package of high-quality service at a competitive price.
As we look to the 21st century, our goals will no doubt be to penetrate new markets, attract external interest, and achieve increased business volume. Our most critical challenges will involve moving faster, communicating better, and coordinating activities more closely company-wide. We must concentrate on growth within our existing clients and seek to improve upon the ways in which we solicit new business. We must question old ways of marketing our product line while consistently fine-tuning our selling processes. Our future success will depend largely upon the quality of our service and our ability to leverage additional income from our existing base clientele.
IMO, our strengths to date have been built on a strong commitment to quality, value, integrity and innovation. Management must continue to invest in the appropriate technology, human resources and infrastructure to meet our strategic goals and objectives. We must continue to deliver high-quality, value-added services by hiring only the best and the brightest professionals. We must retain, motivate and reward these individuals and instill in them an unmatched commitment to client service.
Face it folks, we will face many challenges in the coming years. Successfully managing these challenges will demand a strong commitment from management. We must invest in new technology to strengthen our performance management and control processes. In order to effectively manage the day-to-day operations, management must have immediate access to relevant financial and operational information. We must capitalize on our own experiences and expertise. Understanding how to leverage our internal knowledge is no longer simply an advantage -- it’s a business imperative. Our ability to learn faster than our competitors is quickly becoming our strongest sustainable competitive edge.
A critical initiative beginning soon will involve organizing our internal knowledge, best practices and innovations into an effective knowledge management system. Building upon our proven methodology for continuous quality improvement, we will combine resources to develop a corporate learning system. The system will assist our professionals in staying abreast of current company goals, objectives and strategies and will enable us, as a whole, to continue providing a higher level of customer service through the sharing of validated knowledge management processes.
Retail has recognized the need to develop a new strategy designed to diversify its customer base by expanding into newer, faster-growing and more profitable markets. Oh, wait, wrong company board, sorry.