Milton Friedman said, "The business of business is business" and essentially he was correct. You may not agree with some of his beliefs but those six words remind us of the commonality of all businesses.
When it comes to large versus small business, they do at least have one thing in common; both have a reluctance to learn from the other.
Executives from large companies need to understand that the real innovators are SMEs. They have to create and adapt to survive; if they don't, corporations will rumble them. Consider how quickly and based on how little information good decisions are made and acted on in the SME sector. Look at their margins in the absence of substantial economies of scale.
SME owners and managers need to understand that corporations are made up of people trying to make a living; just like them. Except some of those people have substantial resources to call on and can often afford to make mistakes that would cripple a typical SME. Smart managers monitor what the giants are doing but do not try to emulate them; rather they apply the learnings that are relevant to their businesses.
The best ways to monitor company policy and activity:
- Attend seminars that have speakers from the corporate or SME sectors
- Read newspaper business sections
- Watch business programmes
- Join your industry association and take part
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