Entrepreneurs in the small and medium businesses talk of issues relating to HR, marketing and technology and take home some valuable tips to deal with them
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| Dr Chukka Kondaiah, Director General, National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NIMSME); Chetna Manglik, Head - Operations, plugHR; Anil Srinivas, Head – Marketing, SMB, Dell India; S Nandakumar, President, Vnvision Holistic Management Consulting |
It is said that only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. And no one knows it better than those who run small and medium businesses. Despite contributing heavily to India’s exports and employment generation, the SMB sector is still in doldrums. The issues that haunt them are not alien but still could pinch them badly, particularly when the economy is in doldrums. To talk about them and more, the SMB Mentorship Forum was held in Hyderabad on November 10. It was the sixth leg of the event after a highly successful gathering in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Kochi.
As an important center of both manufacturing and services businesses, Hyderabad and its sister city of Secunderabad is dotted with a number of small and medium businesses in diverse sectors, more significantly so in pharmaceuticals, electronics and IT. The panel at the event comprised S Nandakumar, President, Vnvision Holistic Management Consulting; Dr Chukka Kondaiah, Director General, National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NIMSME); Chetna Manglik, Head - Operations, plugHR; and Anil Srinivas, Head – Marketing, SMB, Dell India.
The panel discussion focused extensively on HR related issues such as getting the right talent on board, the need for training, and retention strategies. The other issues was a blend of marketing and technology. The panelists talked of how technology can come to the rescue of SMEs and help them reach out to their target customers.
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On HR, some participants felt if it was worth spending money on training the staff, given the high attrition. Most SMEs feel that heat as they always have a bigger player out there who can poach talent from them offering better money. The panelists, however, stressed the need for creating the right environment and culture within the organization to try to retain talent. They focused on giving a certain level of independence to their employees so that they can try out new things. This could help employees stay back but they got to see that they will grow too as the company grows. On the marketing front, the panelists talked of how social networking could help them connect with new customers and can be quite helpful in building their brand.
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written by African Music, April 01, 2010
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