As I write this piece, the Indian stock indices are at their highest levels ever. The rupee is at its highest level against the US dollar in nine years. Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance companies' market cap now exceeds $100 billion (as also Arcelor Mittal's). The new generation winners operate in a myriad and highly diverse sectors including telecom, commodities such as steel and cement, conventional and non-conventional energy, financial services, and transportation.
Yet, ironically, the poster boy of Indian entrepreneurship -- the Indian software industry -- has now joined the ranks of more traditional whiners such as the textile and clothing sector for further government support and subsidies to bail them out of the impact of a strengthening local currency. This is notwithstanding the long history of government largesse doled out to the exporting community by way of land and other infrastructure at concessional rates, foregone taxes and refunds of duties collected (or at times, such as in the case of the textile sector in the previous years, not even actually collected).
How do some companies acquire and then continue to create and accumulate unprecedented value while others seem to plateau out, stagnate, or even begin to fritter away an otherwise promising position? How have some Indian companies developed the DNA to think and act global (in terms of ambition, scale, best practices, wealth creation) while others have apparently reconciled to be just another player in their chosen sector (s)?
In my view, today's winners have a better instinctive understanding of value drivers of modern business while stragglers and the have-beens are still rooted to what were the value drivers in another era. Which are the contemporary value drivers? To start with, having a global mindset and a desire to be the world's best is a must. This does not necessarily imply a dream to be the largest in terms of revenue, profits, assets, or market share.
It is simply the desire to excel and continuously benchmark with the best of the breed and then strive to better those benchmarks. BMW, Ikea, and even India's own Kingfisher Airlines are among a diverse group that are not the world's largest in their respective industries but have continuously set benchmarks for others and are doing so.
An ability to look at the big picture first and then get down to more mundane details are the second hallmark of today's winners. Companies like Reliance Industries have first built the infrastructure needed for them to implement their gigantic business plans. This could include physical infrastructure such as ports, roads, power plants, and desalination plants; technological infrastructure (national, regional, and intra-office connectivity), and human resource infrastructure (inducting global and local talent in vast numbers, training and retraining the thousands and tens of thousands of skilled and semi-skilled work force). The laggards have been those who have relied upon others including the government to create such an infrastructure and have spent more time lamenting the poor state of affairs rather than doing something about it.
Openness to seek access to state-of-the-art know-how and willingness to spend significant money and time acquiring it are the third differentiating factor between the winners and the also-rans. Relatively few Indian businesses, and especially those that belong to the stable of the large traditional Indian business groups, have the magnanimity to overcome the "not-invented-here" syndrome in their minds and actively seek talent, know-how, and advice from those who may be in a position to offer the same, albeit at a price. Successful companies consider the price premiums paid for cutting short the time-to-learn a small cost to incur in the overall context of their vision.
Innovation (and continuous innovation) in products and business processes is another key differentiating factor. Such skills cannot be usually acquired by merely hiring a few designers or consultants. Strategic alignment with entities that have such unique skill sets is usually a more sustainable option. The laggards either disregard the importance of cutting-edge innovation or merely end up hiring a few designers and other professionals who fail to blossom in the traditional corporate environment.
The final attribute of the winners is the ability to be decisive and act at lightning speed while factoring in for the mistakes such speed will probably entail. The laggards spend more time second guessing what mistakes may happen if the decisions were actually taken and remain paralysed with the fear of the probability of such mistakes.
How does one acquire such "value-creating" attributes? Is acquisition, local or international, the right strategy? While many Indian companies have been looking at this option seriously, I am not convinced that acquisitions can change the DNA of the acquiring business to become a more potent value-creating juggernaut. Acquisitions, when sensibly done, can give enhanced scale, reach, market access, and perhaps an opportunity to move up the value chain. However, acquisitions cannot make up for feeble vision and hesitant action. Strategic and expansive partnering to create a virtual ecosystem of bubbling enterprise, cutting edge innovation, and creative energy would be a more feasible solution.
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