Micromultinationals – Small business being global
by Andrew on 06/06/07 at 10:13 pm
2 comments
From Thomas Friedman’s "The World is Flat":
If you were to approach venture capital firms in Silicon Valley today and tell them you wanted to start a new company but refused to outsource or offshore anything, they would show you the door immediately. Venture capitalists today want to know from day one that your start-up is going to collaborate with the smartest, most efficient people you can find anywhere in the world. Which is why in the flat world, more and more companies are now being born global."In the old days," said Vivek Paul, the Wipro president, "when you started a company, you might say to yourself, ‘Boy, in twenty years, I hope we will be a multinational company,’ Today, you say to yourself that on day two I will be multinational. Today, there are thirty-person companies starting out with twenty employees in Silicon Valley and ten in India… And if you are a multiproduct company, you are probably going to have some manufacturing relationships in Malaysia and China, some design in Taiwan, some customer support in India and the Philippines, and possibly some engineering in Russia and the U.S."
These are the so-called micromultinationals, and they are the wave of the future.
In South Africa we have the same opportunities to make use of global resources. Fred’s company World Wide Creative already has an employee based in India! If you are thinking of employing, contracting or outsourcing someone to perform a role in your company, have you considered that person not coming from South Africa?
On the flip-side of this – have you thought about which skill you and are company can offer to the world because you’re the best and most cost-effective option?
Andrew Smith is the pedantic systems guy behind Live Alchemy, a SA e-commerce company. Andrew writes for Ideate in an attempt to make the world a more efficient place. View more articles by Andrew.
Fred
Jun 7th, 2007
Nice one as usual Andrew. The India connection has been like a door opening to a world of possibilities for us…
It gives Mike and I hope for creating a truly ‘E-Myth’ company. As long as the roles are clearly defined, and there are systems in place, you can slot someone from anywhere in.
Tebogo
Jun 11th, 2007
I echo the sentiment.It’s strange how a lot of visionary stuff like this sounded like management guru drivel when it first surfaced.A lot of stuff that came out of the Tom Peters’ of this world is really actualizing.The business landscape is becoming increasingly complex and interesting.What is exciting is that we are all now learners again.Grey suits don’t rule the boardrooms anymore,or at least not for much longer!