A lot has been spoken and written about the warfare in the markets. So much so that experts have compared the competition to the military warfare. Few call it the clash of the titans and few name it as the battle for survival. Organizations in almost all sectors since time immemorial have waged war against competitors, for just one single thing……CUSTOMERS and CUSTOMERS. For instance, telecom industry now realizes that its impossible to convince someone to buy their network services, hence the idea of mobile number portability. These players know for a fact that incoming calls and messages cant run their shops , so now they have been seducing customers with value added service and war of applications . On the other hand the consumer durable sector has also been trying to find out some share of our pockets by offering us eco friendly air conditioners and energy saving lighting solution. Even the retails players through their predatory pricing and thin line margins want to enter every household. In amidst this entire race there is an indispensable point which our India Inc seems to ignore. Every innovation or creativity is important so is its commercial viability but there is something which is even above all this. The so called battle will not be won by better products or better innovation or spending more on research and development. The point which all of us seem to ignore is that the external customers have been and will remain the same. The same set of customers for telecom, the same set for retails and consumer durables. However what differs is the internal customer. Each organization today has its own set of internal customers. These internal customers define and decide what is to be sold and how it is to be sold. For all said and done they are the fabric of the organization. In such an ecosystem, every employee leaving is like a customer in the market buying your competitor. Not only that along with him two other also will buy your competitor that means, leave your organization and serve someone else. The battle out there can be only controlled (not won) by making new products, offering new solutions, new value adds and better services. For those organizations who have to win the war and hoist their flag up and high, they need to build a strong force of internal customers. Before they worry about their dwindling sales, they should worry about the workforce movement. They need to understand that for a sustainable growth and unbeatable competitive advantage, an organization’s internal customers have to be their first priority. An internally bleeding organization will never be able to win over the external customers. The differentiating factor more than anything is the respect an organization gives to its human capital.
Any war can be won in two ways. Make a huge dent in the army of your opponent or have the best army yourself so no one dares to fight with you. What organizations have been doing is trying to make a dent in the opponent by fueling the competition day in day out .However, its very simple, make the best army and create a sustainable advantage for yourself for the longest time you can imagine. Even the numbers state the fact: external customers can be anywhere between 5lacs to 50 crore, on the other hand internal customers will not be more than 50,000. Just ask yourself, is it easy to manage 50 crore or 50,000. I Say just manage the 50,000 and they shall manage even 500 crore for you.
Thus the battle is not just external but internal as well.
To come out and fight it hard the way goes from within deep down inside.
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