Friday, August 12, 2011

SMEs: Mittelstand and Chuken Kigyo

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An interesting article in the Economist drew my attention back to Small & Medium Enterprises and to the combination of factors that makes them world class players in Germany and Japan, but not in India.

The article titled GERMANY'S MITTELSTAND - BEATING CHINA (Economist 5 Aug 2011) takes the example of KSB Pumps to describe the unique industrial ecosystem in in Germany where  universities work hand-in-glove with manufacturers; of suppliers clustering around big manufacturers and of owner-managers' rubbing shoulders with workers.

In Japan, such companies are called chuken kigyo (strong, medium-sized firms), and they serve more than 70% of the worldwide market in at least 30 technology sectors worth more than $1 billion apiece. Their niche areas are mostly at the high-end of electronics, engineering and materials-science.

Israel, Taiwan and South Korea have also managed to replicate similar models for SMEs.

What prevents Indian SMEs from building a similar reputation for world-class quality?
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REFERENCES / LINKS:

GERMANY'S MITTELSTAND - BEATING CHINA (Economist 5 Aug 2011) URL - http://www.economist.com/node/21524922

Venohr (2010): "The power of uncommon common sense management principles - The secret recipe of German Mittelstand companies - Lessons for large and small companies", 2nd Global Drucker Forum Vienna 2010, URL - http://www.druckersociety.at/repository/2010/day01/15%2730-17%2700/Venohr_101118_PPT_Beamerversion.pdf

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