There is capacity and capability.
Capability has to precede capacity.
If not, you are just an intermediary.
You have to catch the bull by the horns. Not hope to win the bull fight by drugging the bull or fixing the empire. And this is tough. As companies get large, they lose agility and direction. Internal politics delays decision making. Independent directors get compromised in board run companies. In family run businesses, the next generation gets brain washed in B grade foreign universities that they attend. Finance rules over technology. And HRD gravitates to hiring large numbers of low quality low cost personnel. Good people leave and so on.
This is not just an Indian phenomenon. IBM could not transition to the Internet or to SaaS or make AI servers. Or anything really of any significance in the last fifty years. Coca Cola is unable to go healthy. General Electric has no direction. Rockfellor no longer rocks. Walmart struggles with e-commerce. Death is inevitable. And global leadership follows geopolitics.
The death of socialism is not the death of communism. And capitalism struggles when democracy is compromised. Liberalisation is a fictional concept and both businesses and governments are often run by hidden hands and criminal brains. Dictatorial democracies are better than dictatorships and planet is heading towards a one country rule for the first time in history.
The meteoric rise of BigTech as a controller of human attention – courtesy global handcuffing to the smartphone and ubiquitous connectivity – has reduced human beings to phone numbers. Sedentary jobs have made mankind unhealthy – in both mind and body. And mental sickness has gravitated to the very top.
When new markets and new industries emerge – new leaders are born. Family dynasties struggle in the third generation. Internal discord manifests in unexpected competitors. The fight in the Ambani family led to the emergence of Adani in energy. The discord in Tata starting with Cyrus Mistry’s removal will take the group down. The downfall of L&T is imminent – driven by a leadership vaccum and compromised independent directors. And HDFC is set to follow suit.
BigTech is actually accelerating the demise of big business. Startups can use a smarter cheaper “digital operating model” to play havoc in the market. And have no inherent fear to take on anyone. Venture Capitalists are happy to fund their fearlessness, inspite of their ignorance. Supreme ignorance leads to supreme confidence. And supreme confidence helps kill legacy players who struggle to change: in fact I don’t know of a single established conglomerate which has been able to beat a startup when challenged directly.
So big business seeks refuge in areas where startups don’t show interest. Or don’t get funding. So finally all large conglomerates focus on three areas – looting the government, grabbing public funds and exploiting real estate and loan markets.
And these mark the beginning of their end.
