Let Them Not Fade Away in Vain

Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest filmmakers of all times, once remarked, “Great nations have always acted like gangsters and small nations like prostitutes.” Companies are not too different. Most large companies try to bully their way, while most small companies often become unfaithful to the idea that they start with and deviate. Those that are exceptions (in both categories) make great companies. 

However, the large versus small debate just refuses to die. Incidentally, it is one of the most hotly debated issues the Indian BPO industry. It is also the topic of the Debate this time in bpOrbit, in which top men from two of India’s best-known BPO companies argue for and against the idea. 

I am not joining issue with either. My point, a little socialistic as it may sound initially, is about recognizing the work done by small companies, especially of those who try to be different, stay focused, and succeed, even if on a small scale. 

Shyamanuja Das

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Many small cos are doing interesting work, accumulating indepth capabilities that even well-known, larger ones don’t have. We need to ensure that these capabilities are absorbed by the industry even if these small cos die tomorrow for some reason

Let me explain what I mean by ‘recognizing’. In a market economy, many may not consider it to be very different from actual success in the market. Or for that matter, it can even be success in a function like media relations! However, ‘recognizing’ for me means ‘understanding their strengths and trying to replicate it’, even though the original companies might fail. 

Companies often fail, not because they fail in all aspects of business, but because they fail in one crucial aspect of business.

That does not mean that what they have done has no value. 

I have come across many small companies doing interesting work, work that is much more valuable than those being done by more well-known and larger ones. However, many of them are struggling to ramp up for want of funding. Others, though great in domain expertise, do not have easily scaleable robust processes. And some others cannot provide that one small add-on that would make their total offering far more valuable. 

Yet, they have great (accumulated) indepth knowledge, excel in their work and understand specific processes thoroughly. In short, they have the essential good qualities of a small company, but not those of a potentially large company. Many of them do not attract media attention, because of their extremely low profile. Some of them take corrective action, getting more VC funding to grow or get acquired, thereby contributing positively to the knowledge and capabilities of the industry. Some, alas, may not be able to do that. 

Their death will be a loss of to the entire community. Because along with them will die their unique strengths and capabilities, their specialized knowledge base. Maybe, we will even spend precious time trying to rediscover them from scratch. Maybe, we will lose opportunities….

The point here is that we cannot afford that to happen. We need a two-pronged approach to prevent it. First, ensure that the best of these small companies do not die. Two, if we cannot do the first, at least to ensure that their acquired strengths and knowledge do not die with them. 

This requires a basic change in mindset. We need to believe that not all companies that haven’t been started by big companies, ex-CEOs, or funded by big VCs, can be ignored. This is a reality that many small and medium VCs should wake up to. Chennai is just one place where there are a lot of companies that are virtually unknown to their fraternity, that have never been covered by a bpOrbit or an ET. I am sure, there would be many more in many other locations. They have to be discovered, and nurtured, if we want to achieve a high quality growth in this industry. Some of them make extremely good acquisition targets for even medium-sized companies and investment target for smaller VCs. bpOrbit has taken it on itself as a responsibility and will try to bring into limelight such companies who are doing high value work but are yet to get recognition.

Secondly, if the promoters of a company refuse to adapt and decide to die, the value that they have created in terms of knowledge should be acquired by active acquisition of the key employees. 

Let me clarify again. I do not want to say that either by being small or large, you have an advantage. For that deliberation, just turn to the Debate section. You will get interesting insights. 

I am just trying to reinforce what BPO companies practice day in and day out–optimizing on resources. We cannot keep on duplicating efforts. That is a national wastage–of time and resources. 

Shyamanuja Das