The focus of bringing multiple companies together for a common objective

Projecting an old adage into today’s fast paced economy, it can be expressly said that no business is an island. Even the biggest business rely on an ecosystem of customers, suppliers, partners and competitors to survive. Navigating through the complex web of global economy is a task that is best attained with collaborating, partnering and creating strategic alliances with like minded companies or businesses. 

It can be surmised that perfecting collaboration with partners is a key factor in successful business of the present. It is, hence, essential that organisations focus on working with one another for mutual benefit, determine what value they will derive from it and how that value can be increased.
One of the most important reasons of coming together of companies is to gain access to knowledge and/or resources. Each partner helps in addressing the gaps in vital resources and uses the partnership to extend its skill set into new areas. Companies can also decide to join hands to develop new products or to enter a market that they could not enter alone. It creates a tremendous impact in industry when it is possible for related products from different manufacturers to work together. This can unlock customer value and boost the revenue potential of both or more of the products. For eg., consider a microprocessor company coupling its product with a smartphone producer or a screen manufacturer. It can lead to an increase in profits for companies and value for the customers.
Another crucial facet of coming together of businesses is the economic advantage. You can reduce costs and risks by distributing them across the members of the alliance. Sharing R&D costs and facilities is economically conducive, while sharing expertise can be invaluable in speeding up the processes. It stands to reason that this will help the production volume to increases, causing the cost per unit to decline and helping to increase profits. Strategic global business alliances are effective ways of entering new foreign markets. Partners can provide established marketing and distribution channels, as well as knowledge of the local markets making it easier to break into unfamiliar territories.
Another category includes utilizing strategic advantages. Co-operation instead of competition with your rivals, tapping each other’s potential will help you keep the system function productively. You can also cofunction to create vertical integration where your partners are part of your supply chain. Strategic alliances, in many cases, may be useful to create a competitive edge by the pooling of resources and skills. The association can also lead to future business

opportunities and the development of new products and technologies. These kind of partnerships may also be used to gain access to new technologies or to work on joint R&D.
An alliance between companies should create an improved and profitable situation for all the stakeholders or it will not last. Partners should commit to developing and building a positive alliance. The best way to reach out to potential strategic partners is to start networking. If you are a small business owner, you can research other business in the nearby market area and try to find products or services that compliment your brand and share your vision. Companies need to have a certain harmony with each other for the partnership to work. Trust is perhaps the foundation of any strategic alliance or collaboration between companies. It also requires commitment from all partners to give it the needed longevity.
An alliance between two or more businesses enables each to achieve certain objectives neither would be able to achieve on their own. Today and in future, as the world starts getting more and more tightly linked, the boundaries of the companies are getting quickly blurred and businesses are forced to cut across organisational frontiers. It is essential that you strategize to engage in this trend and join your hands with others in your entrepreneurial journey. Business of today does not stop at the company borders, but rather start to take wings from there to newer avenues as it pushes to improve cross organisational processes.

Business is about team building with the right people.

"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." --Helen Keller 

It is that togetherness that drive a good business to its pinnacle of glory. The distinction between triumph and failure in an enterprise is the team that forms the heart of its dynamics. A group of strangers, with diverse backgrounds, different personalities, disparate perspectives come together with the common goal of working towards the success of a business. Channeling the best in each of those individuals and to form a cohesive group that will help the business reach its true potential is the pivot of every business ecosystem.
Building a team demands matching jobs to people's strengths. You have to give people responsibilities according to their skill level. Hiring employees is not all plain sailing. It takes practice, patience and understanding to build the right team. At times you promptly get the suitable candidate. At times it just doesn’t work out. Yet another time, the best candidate isn’t the one actively looking for a job. There will be hits and there will be misses. But along the way you will develop the acumen of what to look for in people which will foretell that they’ll be the committed employee that you need. Some of the key elements while building the right team for your business -

• The first step is identifying what are the gaps in the current talent that need to be filled. Look at your employees. What is that you are missing and what are the inadequacies that have to be addressed? Also, make sure to consider your hiring options and available resources before the process.
  
• Develop relationships with recruitment agencies to leverage their resources. Scout the talent pools using social media job sites such as LinkedIn. A hiring strategy should be an integral part of the business plan. Create a standard procedure and checklist for hiring to review candidates objectively.
  
• The person with the best qualifications isn’t always your right choice. You should look for team members who adhere to and build the values and culture of the company. You should hire someone who will merge seamlessly along with other members as well as the working environment of the enterprise.
  
• Once you have hiring process is done, the real work begins. The role of each team member must be defined. Mentoring helps give guidance to the new recruits. Partner your new employees with someone senior on the team. Get
  

them engaged right from the start. It is imperative to clearly specify the team goals. If team goals are not specified and agreed upon by all team members, you run the risk of the team wandering without direction.

• Successful teams are made up of members who trust and respect each other. Building and fostering a team culture is vital to the positive work environment. Make sure all the employees get along and work together. Team building activities, weekly team meetings, team outings etc help improve the cohesiveness of the team structure.
  
• Most employees crave feedback for the work that they do. Acknowledge their effort. Sincere praise for a job well done can go a long way toward building a relationship of trust between the employer and employee. It is also important to challenge them and keep them excited about the work they are doing.
  
• It is not the people with the same set of ideas that will make your business go miles. You need people from diverse backgrounds, with varied perspectives, and with various skills. They should bring to the table an asso-rted mix of competence and expertise. They should debate, discuss, deliberate and yet at the end concur with each other to take the organization forward.
  
• If good teams boost businesses, under-performing employees can break the morale of an enterprise. If there’s anyone on the team who is hampering the growth of the business, you should not hesitate to let them go.
  There is no place for ‘I’ in successful business. Your team is your most important asset, the cog of your business structure. Make them a part of the company, of your struggles and your successes. Include them in your vision for the future. Inculcate in them a sense of belonging. It is on the wings of your employees that your company is going to soar to the skies of accomplishments. It is your job to make them fly unitedly and effortlessly.
  

Healthcare market growth in this decade

Among the many conquests of society during the past century, the dramatic increase in average life expectancy of humans remain its greatest. As the life span of humans took huge leaps so escalated the ageing population. The baby bloomers became the generation of ‘silver tsunami’. Earnings increased, lifestyles got modernized and technology became integrated into the daily routines. 

The thrust of healthcare market over the past decade has been driven by these factors like an ageing populace, urbanization, increase in disposable incomes, higher demands for quality care, increased incidence of chronic diseases and lifestyle-related diseases.

As the population and their needs increased, so increased the demand for quality healthcare. Some stats about the growing healthcare industry in GCC countries, according to Alpen Capital are-

• The GCC healthcare market is projected to grow at a 12.1 percent compound annual growth rate from an estimated $40.3 billion in 2015 to $71.3 billion in 2020.
  
• From $24 billion in 2015, the outpatient market is forecast to reach $42.4 billion in 2020 while the inpatient market is foreseen to grow from $16.4 billion to $28.9 billion.
  
• 101,797 in 2015 to 113,925 in 2020 is the growth estimated for the demand for number of hospital beds in the GCC region.
  
• Among the GCC countries, Saudi Arabia is the largest health care market and will continue to be so, followed by UAE.
  
• Qatar and the UAE are expected to have the fastest growth during the next few years in the field.
  
  These rising needs compel the governments of GCC to explore newer and improved options. The existing infrastructure needs to be expanded. Onus should be on initiating new strategies to enhance current health care systems through the use of new technologies, modern medical care systems and collaboration of public private partnerships. Foraying into the modern world of healthcare technologies like remote visits, robotic surgeries, telemedicine, digitization of healthcare records and patient management systems will help the countries keep up with the demands with quicker services. Shifting focus from treatment to prevention by using accountable care models will ensure high-
  

quality care and wise spending of health care dollars. Along with big hospitals, focus should also be on improving smaller clinics and ambulatory centers that serve the needs of the patients in residential areas. These centers, besides its low investment, generate quick returns. 

 

Over the past few years inbound medical tourism is on the rise in GCC and it can be expected to maintain its increase in the coming years. The governments are realising that this is a potential resource for growth and providing initiatives to support the trend. However, there is a continued shortage of health care professionals across the GCC. Unequal access to health care facilities remains an obstacle in the area. Health care costs are on the rise with the adoption of newer technologies. All this points to the simple fact that across the Middle East, there is a need for private sector to supplement the efforts of the government to meet the demands. The governments across the GCC should put into effect public-private partnership models to help reduce financial risks, increase the quality of services and encourage innovation.

As the governments implement improved health insurance solutions, it can be predicted that the healthcare industry will continue its growth as more people are able to afford and use medical care. The coming decade is going to see the health care industry flourish into a full fledged market and an attractive sector for investments. They will have to partner, collaborate, innovate and keep pace with the needs of society. Governments should gear up for this challenge by encouraging private sector growth, optimizing the existing operations and embracing technological advances to raise the quality as well as the reach of health care services in GCC countries and beyond.

Why start-ups fail in general?

It starts with the dream, the compelling aspiration of accomplishment. The passion to do something on your own. An envision of being your own boss and large checks at the end of the day. The reality is, however, harsh. It is estimated that 9 out of 10 startups fail. A statistic that a would-be entrepreneur or investor should mark distinctly in their mind. The autopsies of the businesses that failed should be imprinted in their focus. Not to discourage their foray, but a caution to be wise, astute and shrewd as they step into an unpredictable venture.
The passion is there as well as the devotion. But it takes much more than an ardent interest in an idea to be successful. Every year, umpteen businesses are started with nothing more than the entrepreneur’s interest in a particular area. 

Converting that passion into a product or service, marketing, addressing customer concerns, sustaining the growth, revenue production are all distinct tasks which requires acute business acumen. There is a need to be consistently good in tasks across the spectrum of a business, deficit of any would adversely affect the start-up.

The postmortem of many of the floundered businesses point to the simple fact that most startups aren’t built on the foundation of viability. From the initial phase of startups which is deciding on the focus of the business, to the second stage of development there is a long and tough path to trudge. The second stage may require less of creativity and ingenuity, but it calls for meticulous execution of various activities. Lack of experience, skills, or insufficient funding are the major stumbling blocks in this stage of the start-ups.

Start up owners find it easier to raise capital than to continuously sustain the flow of cash. How much ever initial cash you raise, without revenue generation, investors will stop knocking at your door and you will eventually run out of cash. Ventures spend money on products without allocating the needed for sales and marketing which ultimately affect the returns. Many startups run out of cash because of their budgeting errors, poor product management, over-hiring, their burn rate is too high, bad accounting or some combination thereof.
The markets may fluctuate, products may fail or take off and ideas may flame or simmer, it is the fickle nature of business. But what holds the company together and take it forward day after day is the team that forms it. Selecting a group of smart people, a team of strangers who will learn to work together is a cardinal element to the longevity and productivity of the company. The performances of employees should be evaluated and competency rewarded. At the same time, you should remember that carrying dead weight with less

competent people will do serious damage to the company’s prospects. It is also important that the company has the right management team to attract, inspire and retain the employees.

Finally and most importantly, companies must develop a product that meets the market need, at the right price, at the right time. From simple execution flaw to not being to achieve product/market fit, the reasons for product failure can be many. Understanding the target market and moulding the product according to them are essential for successful businesses. Your product should attract your customers. It should surprise them , satisfy them and give them much more than they expected. Not being able to build according to the customers fancy can be a recipe for failure.

With high risks come higher rewards. Startups with all its uncertainties, reap rich benefits when succeeded. From the moment the seed of business is planted, the entrepreneurs must exactly know what they should do at each and every step going forward. In todays volatile world of entrepreneurism, an exit strategy is a must which will help you capitalise on your hard work even when the business fails. If your startup fails, a clear post mortem analysis will point you in the right direction next time. There will always be a next time. And at that point, proper planning, business acumen and dedicated hard work will carry forward your business to the high rungs of desired triumph.

Social innovation and benefits

Exactly a decade ago, the Nobel Prize committee awarded the year’s peace prize to Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur together with the Grameen Bank. The world, through the prestigious honour recognized their contribution of pioneering the concepts of microcredit and micro finance. It had helped and continues to help a huge percentage of population out of poverty by making them economically self sufficient. A brilliant social innovation, it breathed in a new air to the existing social entrepreneurship system.
Social innovation involves creating, developing and implementing new practices where the beneficiaries are not just the company but society and its people as well. Today, these innovations are helping to untangle the problems around us with new solutions. From United States where President Barack Obama launched the Social Innovation Fund, to Japan, where, following the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, social innovation is serving the country’s rebuilding efforts, the world is waking up to the role of social innovations in making prosperous societies. Closer home, Arab World Social Entrepreneurship Program (ASEP) pioneered by Ashoka is focusing on enhancing social innovations to create and enhance social entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE and the Gulf region.
A truly prosperous society is one with interwoven strands of economic prosperity and social prosperity. Societies with economic opulence are truly prosperous only if those benefits are availed by everyone in the society. Social and economic schemes have to work in concert for sustainable prosperity and self-reliance. This requires active participation of the organisations along with other stake holders. Many companies, realising the importance of social entrepreneurship are now investing heavily in social innovations. The fundamental steps to take the plunge are -

• Social initiative should be the expression of the company’s mission. Determine the social action that are in tandem with the company value system, that your product or service can aid.
  
• Establish frameworks like conditions and time frame. Work with the various stake holders as you build prototype and implement the pilot programmes in the society around.
  

• Incorporate social innovation into the company’s ecosystem so that the employees get involved. Organisations achieve the best results by allowing the stake holders inside and outside the company to collaborate and innovate.
  
• Social innovations should grow to match the needs of the society they serve. Scaling up and scaling out the innovation to solve social problems can also lead to new business opportunities for the company.
  Social innovations should be applied from margins to mainstream and to every strata - health care, education, nutrition, environment, sanitation, knowledge, social inclusion, housing among others. From self-help health groups to Wikipedia, microcredit to consumer cooperatives, zero carbon housing schemes to community courts you can witness the examples of social innovation where new ideas immensely improve peoples’ lives.
  Social enterprise can be a key aspect of economic diversity and development too. Many companies use social innovation, as a double-edged sword, to not only improve the world but to gain a competitive advantage too. Instead of just focussing on profit maximization, spreading out the business to the realms of social innovation can help you to impress a positive influence in the minds of your customers and employees, which in turn will help in revenue growth. Companies can get maximum results from social innovations when they operate it as a part of a system including employees, competitors, NGO’s, customers, investors and policy-makers.
  Unfortunately, not many countries have a decent action plan for social innovation that is equivalent to the strategies for innovation in business and technology. There is a long way to go for social innovations to be treated on parity with commercial innovations. Across the GCC, social and environmental needs have at times been drowned in the frenzy of economic surge of the past two decades. A pinch of creativity, innovation and goodwill would go a long way in ensuring the area’s forward march, along with the world’s.
  

Community focus - the need of the hour

The times are ever so changing. Communities that once provided the cohesiveness with its support, protection, cooperation and the camaraderie, have slowly waned into alienated individuals. The change in jobs, life styles and technology have shrunk the life of people into the four walls of their houses. But technology, with its global connectivity, has also ensured that people are, today, aware of the problems faced by humanity around the world. Of late, more and more people are becoming increasingly cognizant of the pressing social issues of their communities and are eager to engage with them.
This changing environment has urged the companies and businesses to interact with the communities, locally and globally. People, today, demand that businesses actively take up an extended role in solving the social problems. Awareness of the relevance of corporate social responsibility(CSR) has been growing in the GCC over the last 10 years. But survey reports and studies by Dubai Chamber of Commerce indicate that, in the organizations of the area, there is significant gap between organizations’ acceptance of CSR and ability to implement these initiatives.
At this juncture, the traditional approach to community engagement by businesses will no longer be adequate. The companies must force themselves to explore new and innovative CSR strategies to replace traditional philanthropic programmes. The programmes also must advance, adapt and appeal to the local needs of the communities. There are various ways for businesses to collaborate with communities. These include sponsoring a community event, offering company products as gifts, mentorship programs, employee volunteer programs, scholarship programs, environmental initiatives and many more alternatives by which they can reach out to the people around
The effects of focusing on communities are multifold. It includes-
Customer loyalty and building customers base : Many studies on the subject hint that customers tend to purchase products/services from businesses that are supporting the causes that they believe in. A solid customer base, crucial to any business, can be developed by getting involved in community-based activities. It will, over a period of time, help in establishing customer rapport and loyalty.
Sales growth and increase in revenue : Harvard Business School research found that companies with efficient CSR practices outperform their counterparts over the long-term, in stock market as well as accounting performance.

Many factors like customer loyalty, brand visibility and networking are directly associated with increase in sales and revenue. 
 
Brand awareness, credibility and networking : Brand awareness, marketing, increasing the visibility of your business and building its credibility among the customers are some of the key aspects of sustainability in this highly competitive world. Getting involved with the local community is an excellent way to achieve this. Interacting with people help in creating new opportunities and giving you feed back about your business. Ideas to create effective promotion strategies, improve product/services, increase customer retention and much more can stem out of these interactions.
Employee satisfaction : Volunteering in the local communities is credited with having positive effect on the lives and careers of the employees. Employees of companies with CCI (corporate community investment) initiatives are committed to their employers, according to a University of Bath study. Encouraging employees to be part of the community engagement programmes stands to help in employee retention.
The time is always right to get involved in community linked activities. Many programmes like ENGAGE Dubai (which is part of an international network of businesses and community organisations that collaborate to develop healthy and sustainable communities by facilitating employee volunteering in their local communities) are already in place to promote the connect with the local communities. The end results are increased revenue, loyal customers, happier employees and stronger communities. It is a win-win situation, gratifying to all involved. Along with impressing the socially empathetic consumers and employees, you will also be the change the present-day world needs.

Will this bubbly fly or fizzle? An investors perspective

Bubbles are interesting, and have an element of mystique…till poof, they go bust. 

No doubt, it’s a question of timing. The world over, all classes of assets—be they stocks or bonds, late-stage financing of tech firms, easy funding for companies with no obvious revenues, or real estate—are pricey. Riskier investments are not just the result of low interest rates but also because central banks the world over have been pumping capital into the global economy. 

With valuations allotted to technology companies getting huge, in came the start-up baby boomers. The tech investment scene could be described as youth-obsessed. Apart from being extremely profitable at a quick turnaround, these companies and their stocks are getting richer and richer. The under-four publicly traded firms are trading at nearly nine times their sales, as per Nasdaq data.

The scenario is thus one where:

·      companies are growing at amazing speeds;

·      they are stretching their horizons beyond imagination; and

·      the winners are appearing way too soon in the market, are way ahead, and are easy to spot.

More firms are being valued at and exiting at over $1 billion, and large sums are pouring in, from Asia too, into private technology companies. Yet, there is increased dilution, higher cost of entry, and changing preferences, all indicating that big business is costlier than ever before. When it comes to venture capital funding, investors are paying more for stakes in private tech firms than they would for publicly traded ones. But what keeps firms going is the ever-increasing investor pool of money.

The returns from major assets in 2015 show that investors should have made good money in the past five years. Global stock markets were up by nearly 50 percent, and the numbers better these in the developed markets. Global bonds and commercial property funds too did well, at 21 and 43 percent, respectively. All these have led to the bubble talk, of the same telltale signs of 2000!

However, the fear of history repeating more often than desired still looms large. The latest shocker is the plunging oil prices, which is having quite an impeding impact on the GCC economy. The GCC countries have responded with resilience, but with the slump not showing any hope of improvement second year in a row, evidences of economic stagnation are surfacing. The risk of another possible economic slowdown is slowly taking firm roots and so have the dangers posed by impulsive investments in the baby boomers and the "next best innovation" multiplied.  

Opinions are divided. However, given the ever-unstable market conditions posing sudden threats to seemingly well-established economies, experts are right in warning against chasing the big bubble mindlessly when it comes to making investments, especially in disruptive innovation. Maybe this baby bubble will take time to pose a problem, if at all, but some prudence will definitely go a long way.