Why do Russian companies lag behind the Western ones?
I want to raise the topic of management and related areas of knowledge, because I believe that they paid very little attention to Habré. Western companies spend huge sums on training their managers and developing management systems. The time has come for us to pay attention to these issues. (Be careful, a lot of text goes on).
I think every visitor to Habra at least once, but he imagined a day when Russian companies would climb the arena of global IT business and win back most of the customers and Western competitors. And it would seem that we have every chance for this: the presence of talented programmers, a large number of people keen on the IT sphere, are helped by the industry specifics, which allows them to conduct business without borders and without significant interference from officials and police, and, in the end, before the eyes Google, which no matter how cool it has Russian roots!
')
I have to upset - not a single Russian company has a chance to become at least some notable player in the world wide web. It's about building a successful company with long-term competitive advantages, not about copying American ideas with the addition of illegal content. This will not happen for a number of reasons, which, unfortunately, are characteristic of all Russian business, including the IT industry. And all these reasons relate to one generalizing word is management.
Due to famous historical events, our country and our people entered a tough competitive business war only 20 years ago. And while other countries, led by the United States, were very cheerfully developing the management potential of their companies, we were building a completely different system, which was not destined to survive. Now we have to learn business from them in order to stay alive. And studying with us is very bad. So, according to unconfirmed reports, this year the number of people who entered the MBA program was approximately 5,000 . I think everyone understands how catastrophically low this figure is for a country with a population of 142 million people. Plus, we all know the quality of most Russian MBAs.
The low level of management is manifested in everything. In almost all management textbooks, only basic management theories have already been described a century ago. The most valuable thing that can remain in the head after reading is that companies have different structures, SWOT analysis (analysis of the company's strengths, weaknesses, as well as market opportunities and threats) and that there are different leadership styles. What systemic training of top-level managers and managers can we talk about? In the people, the understanding of the word manager comes down to the sales manager, who also does not know how to smile at the buyer . Even the majority of topics on Habré on the topics of management and management are devoted to how to make TK, contracts, how to communicate with a "wild" client, etc. And such topics get high marks and are accompanied by a heated discussion, which indicates that people in general are not even familiar with the basics of business and are already grateful that someone made a “fish for TK” for them.
We face a difficult and difficult path to take a leading place in the global economy, to which we claim. Even the President constantly talks about the need for an innovative development path. First, we should absorb all the knowledge that is already used by European and Asian businessmen, then it will be necessary to build a system for creating new knowledge that will provide the necessary competitive advantages.
Then I will try to present the main range of issues on which we all have to work hard to quickly catch up and somehow overtake the Western companies in order to repeat successful examples of the Japanese and Finns.
What does a manager do in your company / project? Is the manager engaged in developing the company's strategy, shaping the vision of the future and the company's place in it? Does he attract the best people to the company? Is he an endless role model and the best adviser on any issue? Does he inspire work more and better? Is he trying to create conditions for effective work? Or does the manager only distribute tasks, communicate with the client, control the execution of tasks, explain to the client why not on time and why it will be more expensive and, most likely, he likes to have an excuse from the personnel point of view? And in general, is it appropriate to call people who deal exclusively with the distribution of tasks, control and reporting for the authorities above, managers?
How does your company do marketing? Does the company understand the needs of the consumer? Does your company master marketing partnerships and high-precision marketing? Do you use cluster analysis of historical data about your customers? Are you trying to group consumers by specific behaviors? Or did you stupidly decide that your audience is people aged 25-35 with above-average incomes, and you work on the basis of this assumption?
What is being done to continuously improve the quality of the product / service? Is someone else's experience being learned? Do you hold meetings where everyone talks about their ideas and experiences? Do you dismiss those who do not develop? Or all employees are sure that they are working at the limit and nowhere is better, and what's the point if the customer still does not understand anything.
Is there an investment in intangible assets? Does management understand why Microsoft costs almost as much as Gazprom, although it has ten times fewer employees and real capital - buildings, cars, etc.? Does the company invest in brand development, creating unique relationships with customers, developing new products, developing network relations and partnerships, gaining market knowledge? Does the company evaluate the effectiveness of these investments? Is a long-term competitive advantage formed? Or the approach is this: here's your salary, you know what to do, and as for competitive advantage, it’s enough to go to the bathhouse with the right person, that's all.
How is the communication system built? Is there a constant exchange of ideas, as well as analysis of the best practices of work regardless of the source of their occurrence with a view to their further adoption? Is the company capable and ready for changes? Or everyone does only what is required of him, without thinking about how to work even better, and even if he thinks, he still believes that his ideas are not needed by anyone. And if any changes start, they, as a rule, are a tribute to fashion (a vivid example is the purchase of expensive CRM systems by Russian companies without an understanding of the goals and, as expected, disappointment in these systems - “they were deceived again”).
What is your production culture level? How obsessed are people with their jobs? Do they value their work and the team with which they work? Can they properly resolve conflicts? Or do you all run around 10 times a day for a smoke, gossip at dinner, and the whole team has long been divided into opposing groups? When a company breaks up with an employee, does she struggle to “chop off” all the opportunities to “spoil” before leaving, or does the company try to maintain contact with the person who has left to get useful ideas, develop a network of contacts and always have the opportunity to start working again?
Does the entire team of the company know that what looks beautiful seems to the consumer to be of high quality? Are you trying to make easy-to-use and “sexy” products? Do you like and are proud of what your company sells? Or do you have to assume that all designers are homosexuals and, in general, do it in the easiest and most convenient way for you?
Does your company develop leadership? We are talking not only about the managers, but also about the development of leadership skills of the entire staff. Do you have energetic and able people to energize others? Do obsessions and enthusiasm about your work often visit you? Do managers support initiatives? Or is it all limited to empty calls at planning meetings and corporate events?
How deep is your company in finance? Is the profitability of individual products considered? Is the structure of incomes and expenses considered (what percentage and which clients bring the main income?) How are overheads taken into account? Are cash flow forecasts projected for a year, two, three? Is customer profitability considered to “dismiss” unprofitable customers? Or is finance a total profit, black tax and tax minimization?
Thus, I tried to identify the main questions, the answers to which you and your companies urgently need to learn to find in order to improve the performance of the company: from labor productivity to net profit. At the same time, it is necessary to develop a culture and level of management in order not to forget to ask such questions and to seek new opportunities for growth. The company is a complex system of various elements that influence each other. Therefore, I want to remind you that all elements must not only function correctly, but also be compatible . A simple example: strict discipline and clearly defined work procedures cannot be combined with the development of creative potential among employees.
Of course, among Russian companies there are examples of strong management and excellent products. It upsets that there are very few such companies, but I want more. Therefore, I urge all of you to publish as often as possible any of your ideas, as well as successful and unsuccessful management practices with certain conclusions and recommendations. It will be extremely useful to all of us for the fastest possible dissemination and absorption of knowledge, increasing the competitiveness of our companies.
I am pleased to continue communication in the comments.
PS if this problematics finds a response in the hearts and minds of the residents of Habr, then I will continue the struggle for improving the quality of management through the publication of further articles.
Dreams
I think every visitor to Habra at least once, but he imagined a day when Russian companies would climb the arena of global IT business and win back most of the customers and Western competitors. And it would seem that we have every chance for this: the presence of talented programmers, a large number of people keen on the IT sphere, are helped by the industry specifics, which allows them to conduct business without borders and without significant interference from officials and police, and, in the end, before the eyes Google, which no matter how cool it has Russian roots!
')
I have to upset - not a single Russian company has a chance to become at least some notable player in the world wide web. It's about building a successful company with long-term competitive advantages, not about copying American ideas with the addition of illegal content. This will not happen for a number of reasons, which, unfortunately, are characteristic of all Russian business, including the IT industry. And all these reasons relate to one generalizing word is management.
What is the problem?
Due to famous historical events, our country and our people entered a tough competitive business war only 20 years ago. And while other countries, led by the United States, were very cheerfully developing the management potential of their companies, we were building a completely different system, which was not destined to survive. Now we have to learn business from them in order to stay alive. And studying with us is very bad. So, according to unconfirmed reports, this year the number of people who entered the MBA program was approximately 5,000 . I think everyone understands how catastrophically low this figure is for a country with a population of 142 million people. Plus, we all know the quality of most Russian MBAs.
The low level of management is manifested in everything. In almost all management textbooks, only basic management theories have already been described a century ago. The most valuable thing that can remain in the head after reading is that companies have different structures, SWOT analysis (analysis of the company's strengths, weaknesses, as well as market opportunities and threats) and that there are different leadership styles. What systemic training of top-level managers and managers can we talk about? In the people, the understanding of the word manager comes down to the sales manager, who also does not know how to smile at the buyer . Even the majority of topics on Habré on the topics of management and management are devoted to how to make TK, contracts, how to communicate with a "wild" client, etc. And such topics get high marks and are accompanied by a heated discussion, which indicates that people in general are not even familiar with the basics of business and are already grateful that someone made a “fish for TK” for them.
We face a difficult and difficult path to take a leading place in the global economy, to which we claim. Even the President constantly talks about the need for an innovative development path. First, we should absorb all the knowledge that is already used by European and Asian businessmen, then it will be necessary to build a system for creating new knowledge that will provide the necessary competitive advantages.
What to do?
Then I will try to present the main range of issues on which we all have to work hard to quickly catch up and somehow overtake the Western companies in order to repeat successful examples of the Japanese and Finns.
1. General level of management.
What does a manager do in your company / project? Is the manager engaged in developing the company's strategy, shaping the vision of the future and the company's place in it? Does he attract the best people to the company? Is he an endless role model and the best adviser on any issue? Does he inspire work more and better? Is he trying to create conditions for effective work? Or does the manager only distribute tasks, communicate with the client, control the execution of tasks, explain to the client why not on time and why it will be more expensive and, most likely, he likes to have an excuse from the personnel point of view? And in general, is it appropriate to call people who deal exclusively with the distribution of tasks, control and reporting for the authorities above, managers?
2. Marketing
How does your company do marketing? Does the company understand the needs of the consumer? Does your company master marketing partnerships and high-precision marketing? Do you use cluster analysis of historical data about your customers? Are you trying to group consumers by specific behaviors? Or did you stupidly decide that your audience is people aged 25-35 with above-average incomes, and you work on the basis of this assumption?
3. Quality
What is being done to continuously improve the quality of the product / service? Is someone else's experience being learned? Do you hold meetings where everyone talks about their ideas and experiences? Do you dismiss those who do not develop? Or all employees are sure that they are working at the limit and nowhere is better, and what's the point if the customer still does not understand anything.
4. Intangible assets
Is there an investment in intangible assets? Does management understand why Microsoft costs almost as much as Gazprom, although it has ten times fewer employees and real capital - buildings, cars, etc.? Does the company invest in brand development, creating unique relationships with customers, developing new products, developing network relations and partnerships, gaining market knowledge? Does the company evaluate the effectiveness of these investments? Is a long-term competitive advantage formed? Or the approach is this: here's your salary, you know what to do, and as for competitive advantage, it’s enough to go to the bathhouse with the right person, that's all.
5. Communication
How is the communication system built? Is there a constant exchange of ideas, as well as analysis of the best practices of work regardless of the source of their occurrence with a view to their further adoption? Is the company capable and ready for changes? Or everyone does only what is required of him, without thinking about how to work even better, and even if he thinks, he still believes that his ideas are not needed by anyone. And if any changes start, they, as a rule, are a tribute to fashion (a vivid example is the purchase of expensive CRM systems by Russian companies without an understanding of the goals and, as expected, disappointment in these systems - “they were deceived again”).
6. Inner culture
What is your production culture level? How obsessed are people with their jobs? Do they value their work and the team with which they work? Can they properly resolve conflicts? Or do you all run around 10 times a day for a smoke, gossip at dinner, and the whole team has long been divided into opposing groups? When a company breaks up with an employee, does she struggle to “chop off” all the opportunities to “spoil” before leaving, or does the company try to maintain contact with the person who has left to get useful ideas, develop a network of contacts and always have the opportunity to start working again?
7. Design!
Does the entire team of the company know that what looks beautiful seems to the consumer to be of high quality? Are you trying to make easy-to-use and “sexy” products? Do you like and are proud of what your company sells? Or do you have to assume that all designers are homosexuals and, in general, do it in the easiest and most convenient way for you?
8. Leadership
Does your company develop leadership? We are talking not only about the managers, but also about the development of leadership skills of the entire staff. Do you have energetic and able people to energize others? Do obsessions and enthusiasm about your work often visit you? Do managers support initiatives? Or is it all limited to empty calls at planning meetings and corporate events?
9. Finance
How deep is your company in finance? Is the profitability of individual products considered? Is the structure of incomes and expenses considered (what percentage and which clients bring the main income?) How are overheads taken into account? Are cash flow forecasts projected for a year, two, three? Is customer profitability considered to “dismiss” unprofitable customers? Or is finance a total profit, black tax and tax minimization?
Conclusion
Thus, I tried to identify the main questions, the answers to which you and your companies urgently need to learn to find in order to improve the performance of the company: from labor productivity to net profit. At the same time, it is necessary to develop a culture and level of management in order not to forget to ask such questions and to seek new opportunities for growth. The company is a complex system of various elements that influence each other. Therefore, I want to remind you that all elements must not only function correctly, but also be compatible . A simple example: strict discipline and clearly defined work procedures cannot be combined with the development of creative potential among employees.
Of course, among Russian companies there are examples of strong management and excellent products. It upsets that there are very few such companies, but I want more. Therefore, I urge all of you to publish as often as possible any of your ideas, as well as successful and unsuccessful management practices with certain conclusions and recommendations. It will be extremely useful to all of us for the fastest possible dissemination and absorption of knowledge, increasing the competitiveness of our companies.
I am pleased to continue communication in the comments.
PS if this problematics finds a response in the hearts and minds of the residents of Habr, then I will continue the struggle for improving the quality of management through the publication of further articles.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/78576/
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