Small and medium enterprises need professional management support to grapple with the changes that come with participating in the global marketplace, in order to keep themselves afloat and poised for growth, feels Dhruv Sharma, senior consultant, Consultancy for Change And Growth.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Sharma has worn many caps throughout his career. After heading the Travel and Financial Services wing of eastern India of American Express Bank for five years at Calcutta, he started a management consultancy firm in 1990 aptly named Consultancy for Change And Growth with Kasturi Roy Choudhury, a product of IIM, Ahmedabad.

After a one-year break as chief executive officer, 123india.com from April 2000 and a recent three-month assignment as executive director, Caltiger.com, Sharma is back again working full-time for his firm. Having worked with 34 small and medium enterprises in Calcutta, he spoke to indiamarkets in detail about the current trials and tribulations dogging this sector and how best SMEs can survive in a fast changing world.

indiamarkets: Why have you focussed your services mainly on the small and medium sector?
Sharma: SMEs are plagued with lack of professional management talent. Better quality managers opt to work for large corporates thereby creating a void of talent in the SME sector. There is almost no presence of any specialised consultancy body providing management support services to this segment. Identifying this opportunity and also fulfilling my self-actualisation needs, I decided to start this consultancy focusing totally on the SME segment.

indiamarkets: What kind of help and support does your firm provide for the SMEs?
Sharma: We provide manifold services to our clients. These include:

• Strategic review of the organisation & marketplace.
• Development of a 3 to 5-year plan for the company.
• Develop and build an organisation, which would be needed for meeting the 3 to 5 year objective.
• Monitor and support implementation of plans.
• Provide key functional supports for a defined period of time in areas like marketing, project evaluation and human resource development.
• We do not stop short at spouting management mantras. We also ensure that these are implemented.

indiamarkets: What are the skills required for providing consultancy to this sector?
Sharma: The skill sets required are rare and need to be nurtured over a period of time. Our four-member team of highly qualified professionals are creative, analytical with strong communication skills. The skill sets also include enterprise, high risk appetite, leadership qualities and conflict management capabilities. Above all, the ability to put together an organisation in diverse environment that ensure performance against competitive pressures!

indiamarkets: What are the challenges dogging the SME sector at the moment?
Sharma: SMEs in India are grappling with fast changes at the market place that is transiting from a controlled economy to a free market set-up. Technology upgradation, quality mission efficiencies, new product development, value-added services are a "must to do" in order to survive the competitive pressures.
This segment like all corporate houses are under huge pressure to perform or perish with little or no forgiveness from the market place. They have two options before them: Re-engineer existing businesses or re-invent themselves by diversifying into synergistic areas of high growth. Their woes are not a function of economic downturn but of outlived businesses or business practices. Once the economy turns around, only those who have contemporised their business will survive.

indiamarkets: What is your message to this sector for keeping pace with the times?
Sharma: SMEs today need to objectively assess the strategic strengths of their businesses and unhesitantly invest to build long-term equity in their business through technology upgradation, judicious diversification and introduction of value-added services. It is an era of alliance and partnerships & they should not attempt to re-invent the wheel but tie up with other business partners to build on the synergies between the two organisations. Rediscovering the business platform by entering into the high growth industry is a very lucrative alternative since they have the proven expertise of an entrepreneur.

We plan to hold a series of workshops to spread this awareness about the survival and growth strategies of SMEs in India.