Development of Agribusiness Enterprises - Asian Productivity ...

Tools for a Purpose
Simplistically speaking, the options available to a small business when confronted by
heavyweight competitors are to: (a) battle it out head on; (b) enter “niche” markets;
(c) collaborate as a business partner; or (d) liquidate the business.
Q&P improvement programs are just tools and interventions used to bring an enterprise
up to fighting form in order to face the challenges. However, many of these programs have
been short-lived, costly in terms of wasted resources, demoralizing to employees, and
counterproductive for some companies. However, they have been successful for others. So
what makes the difference between success and failure? It is “doing the right thing, and
doing it right”.
Harder the Second Time Around
Those who have tried and failed can say that re-launching Q&P programs (either old
or new) is much harder the second time around. Rebuilding and picking up the pieces from
a recent setback is an uphill struggle. Yet, with proper planning and the correct execution
of the right interventions, these difficulties could be avoided or minimized.
FRAMEWORK
This paper discusses relevant considerations and takes as practical an approach as
possible in suggesting recommendations for helping SMEs to survive and grow in today’s
rapidly changing business environment. To begin with, the simple “doctor-patient relationship”
is used as a framework for discussing the salient points of this paper; hopefully, this
will make it easier to relate to, and internalize, the principles. First, let us define the “doctor”
as the leaders, policy-makers, decision-makers and managers of our organizations; second,
the “patient” is the companies, businesses and industries for which we are working or
serving. This parallelism fits nicely, since companies, enterprises, organizations and
industries can also: (a) be viewed as “living organisms” that grow (through expansion or
acquisitions); (b) multiply (joint ventures, mergers, diversification or franchising); (c) become
sick (lose money, become insolvent or lose market share); (d) fight with others (competition);
(e) struggle to survive as well as dominate; and (f) die (close or go bankrupt).
The role of a doctor can be divided into three categories:
C Treating and curing the sick – “get him out of the hospital”
C Keeping a healthy person fit – “keep him out of the hospital”
C Helping a person to reach his peak/optimum performance – “make him a champion”.
When dealing with a patient, a doctor follows four basic steps:
C Diagnose – find out what is wrong or needs to be done.
C Decide what to do – select what intervention/treatment to use.
C Treat – implement the required treatment/intervention.
C Control – keep stable and healthy.
Step 1: Find Out What is Wrong or Needs to be Done
1. Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Solution
Whether it be a stomachache, a technical problem on a farm, or the loss of a major
customer, knowing what happened, pinpointing the cause and how it should be corrected will
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