The era we are living in, is very different than the era we were born in. Our character, personality, thoughts and mindsets that shape us and our organization, are indeed under severe stress.

I have been working in the corporate world for the last 30 years. I have seen lot of changes, led many, failed in few, but mostly cherished the outcomes. While I see virtues of change, I am seeing a big difference between the so-called ‘old world’ and the ‘new world’ era. The old world changes were gradual, less intense and infrequent.

The new world changes are radical, more intense and frequent. In fact, as they say, the old world changed, but the new world transforms. This has an enormous impact in the way we are leading and running our own MSME business operations. The greatest challenge that startups and MSMEs face is not in running operations and making money today but is to stay competitive and relevant in future.

On a recent flight to London, I was sitting with a business tycoon and asked him the biggest difference he sees in today’s competitive landscape.

He said, “we have entered into the phase of discontinuity. The future is snapped from the past. Linearity is gone. This is what is rewriting the rules of business models, success and winning strategies”.

If the future is not an easy extension of the past, then our playing field is a big leveler. Experience and size of organization will hardly matter. Resilience and change quotient is beginning to matter more. Is this music or fright to the ears of MSMEs of India?

It depends on how we view this. This is a huge opportunity when MSMEs look outside especially since the old and large corporates are on a shaky ground. However, for MSMEs who have not considered changing, this is a huge threat.

Many of us often, do not recognize that the ‘change and transformation’ is not a concept that is limited and relevant to large enterprises only.

This wind, like any other wind, encompasses all and will not bypass MSMEs either. In fact, storms lift lighter objects and churn them more. While leading strategy practice in the South and South East Asia region, I realized that there are five aspects that the entrepreneurs are constantly rejigging.

The first and possibly the most important is examining and reexamining the process of value creation. The question what business we are in, is not relevant. What values are we creating, how are we creating and how best can we create the same value using alternative ways etc are the right questions for change.

The second is the business model that we deploy. Experts say there are 55 models that all businesses of the world fall into. Extending to businesses that follow same business model is a good change charter, or, sometimes rearchitecting our business on a different business model to grab next opportunities is the right course.

Thirdly, identifying and reformatting our competitive edge to make it sustainable and to ensure no one pushes us out of business. One such ‘change’ aspect gaining ground for differentiated edge is ‘Customer experience’ (CX in short). There is so much to change in this domain in India.

Fourthly, reconfiguring the workplace resource optimisations to enhance productivity and lastly readying our organization with essential missing capabilities whether for people, practices, processes, partnerships and propositions. In short, there are many compelling reasons to be an author of the book where each change is a turning page in the script.

In one of my visits to Japan, I explored what changes small companies do. I was pleasantly surprised when told to pick up from the menu card. There are eight kinds of ‘change’. Each of them having peculiar relevance in “change” or “transformation” from a different approach. The debate is not whether or not, but which approach is most appropriate.

As MSMEs get ready to face the new business order, you should look in the mirror and ask “what changes have I brought about in my enterprise since I started”.The mirror will give you the answer.

Reimagining the future is the very first responsibility for a leader-entrepreneur in you. Go ahead Script the change agenda. I will help you in building thoughts in the next episode by presenting “7 good questions that MSME leaders must ask themselves to keep change momentum on”.

( By – Alok Bharadwaj )

Source: The Economic Times