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Enterprise Tuesday Small Giants Discussion

Enterprise Tuesday
1 March 2011
"Small Giants: How to be great instead of big"

Inspired by the popular book 'Small Giants: Companies that choose to be great instead of big' by Bo Burlingham this Enterprise Tuesday featured a keynote presentation by Professor Karen Woolley, CEO, ProScribe followed by round-table discussion groups based on four 'Hot Topic' areas. The outcomes of these discussions are presented below:



Topic 1: Partnering with big business
Nigel Hall, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast
Tim Eldridge, Founder, Eldridge Marketing

• At what level would you look at partnering with big business; as a repeat customer, as a supplier or in their marketing/distribution channels?
• A common concern is: how do I partner with big business without losing control?
• The quality that sets a Small Giant apart is that they have something special that can’t be found anywhere else.
• By offering a genuine innovation or something special that no other company can offer you can gain a competitive advantage
• Big business usually have established distribution channels and customers, but lack innovation to create new revenue streams from their customers and are keen to add new innovation to their portfolio either through partnering or acquisition
• Web presence is often the first contact point big business has with small business and the quality of the presence can determine how big business is prepared to interact. Business is based on trust and the first job of the web presence is to build trust.
• Web can also lead to location independent business  footprint
• Big business is often keen to outsource key skill areas to specialists in those fields, so finding you area of specialisation and “owning” that niche can help generate a good interaction with big business.
• In-depth knowledge of the industry and the value chain within which the small business operates
• Understanding the end customer needs is key to understanding any business partners in the value chain
• Small business may be better able to maintain grass roots (community) connectivity and have the trust of the community- is this transferable to big business who want to utilise this?
• For consumers the benefit of dealing with the owner manager may be important and as such the franchise model, where you have local small business owners operating under a national, strong brand plays into the small giants arena.
• When looking for a big business to partner with it is worth considering how their business goals and ethics align with yours.
• Big business experience in small businesses can enable them to better understand big business needs, how they work and how to work with them
• Partners can be distributors, OEMs, development partners or potential equity investors.
• To effectively win distributors it is worthwhile initially penetrating their end market with a few customers to establish that there is a demand from their customer base for your product
• Understanding who the early adopters may be for an innovative product will not only enable you to target the right customers and get to market quicker, but by understanding who services these clients currently you can understand where your potential partners may be.
• Big business is often poor at innovation due to established structures and the lack of risk taking ingrained in their operative structures, resulting in slow and often unspectacular innovation results. Their investors are not risk investors but dividend return investors, therefore there is a mismatch in risk/reward profile.  This is why start-ups exist to fill this innovation gap, taking risk money (Angel and VC) to attempt difficult deep research innovation, which if successful is licensed or purchased by big business.



Topic 2: Building a virtual team
Facilitated by:
Professor Peter Bycroft, Managing Director, Corporate Diagnostics and Adjunct Professor, University of the Sunshine Coast
Genine Howard, Publisher/Managing Editor, Profile Magazine

• When building a virtual team the most important thing to ensure is TRUST.
• Developing strong relationships with partners is key to building a virtual team
• How your brand is represented by members of your virtual team is a common issue, particularly if they are working directly with your business’ clients.
• A new culture of sharing, cooperation and open source enables companies to grow their knowledge and shine in their area of expertise. A new way of thinking “the cake gets bigger when you share”
• As a small business, building a virtual team enables you to pick the people you want to work with that are the very best at what they do.
• To protect your brand you need to put the right systems in place and choose the right people to represent your company.
• A simple and cost-effective way of maintaining a work culture within a virtual team is using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.



Topic 3: Delivering great customer service
Facilitated by:
Bob Cameron, Director, Rockcote Enterprises
Christine Cameron, Director, Rockcote Enterprises

• Complaints are gems, not problems – by listening to your customers complaints these can point you to the areas in your business in need of improvement
• Talk to your customers – develop relationships and encourage open communication to allow customers to voice their opinions
• Delight your customers by under promising and over delivering
• Don’t forget your most important customers are your internal customers – staff and suppliers
• When your business faces difficult times you need to have developed good relationships with your suppliers
• The question to ask yourself is ‘would you recommend your company to friends or family’ – what would your staff, suppliers and customers answer?
• Make an effort to learn something about your customers and develop good relationships – what’s their favourite bottle of wine, what’s their birthday, etc
• Suggested read: ‘The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth’ by Fred Reichheld



Topic 4: Creating a great work culture & team
Facilitated by:
John Humphreys, Managing Director, Global Innovation Centre
Janice Humphreys, Director, Global Innovation Centre

• Leadership: what’s your leadership style?
• Promoting communication between the layers
• Collaboration.
• Trust and dignity.
• What is your company’s code of ethics? Identifying and communicating the intrinsic values that drives your company is key.
• KPIs aren’t the best motivator for staff performance – to forge great team work set stretch goals instead to stretch yourself, your business strategies and staff. These are goals that are set significantly beyond your company’s current level of performance. By reaching for what appears to be impossible, we often actually do the impossible and even if we don’t quite make it we end up doing much better than we would have done.
• Don’t underestimate the need for innovation - give your staff input and ownership of innovations and always give constructive positive feedback to foster creativity.
• Suggested read: ‘Quiet Leadership: help people think better, don’t tell them what to do’ by David Rock.

 


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