Posted on 18 February, 2021
“Even if a company has the best
employees, a negative culture can influence worker morale, increase employee
turnover, and decrease organisational productivity,” writes Pankaj Raina,
Managing Director, Research and Investments, Zephyr Peacock.
Click here to read the full article on “The Hindu Business Line”
Below is an excerpt from the post
that first appeared on The Hindu Business Line on 18 February 2021:
“Culture eats strategy for
breakfast,” said Peter Drucker. This is a timeless lesson in building great
organisations. One of the key growth drivers for India’s economic prosperity is
start-ups. In the early phases of a start-up, all that matters is the team and
its execution capability. However, not all start-ups survive, but some
resilient and determined ones become great companies.
An important criterion driving
this journey to greatness is “culture”. Start-ups must find a way of creating a
flexible, innovative culture and encourage individuals to take ownership. It is
not easy to build the right culture, as different members ascribe to it
different meanings. However, a simpler way to define it is — what a start-up
and its constituents believe? How they operate and live? It is not about
building fancy office spaces or colourful walls, but rather about people, how
they respond to challenges, how they work together as a team, and what they
believe is good or bad for the start-up’s success in the long run.
Research has proved that culture
also affects the bottomline. Even if a company has the best employees, a
negative culture can influence worker morale, increase employee turnover, and
decrease organisational productivity. For many first-time founders and
entrepreneurs, defining and creating an optimal culture is an afterthought.
They are busy sorting out licences, registrations, and figuring out revenue
models, targets, and margins to survive. As founders, it is crucial to realise
the building blocks of culture that can foster prosperity and innovation.
Visualising culture
Competitive advantage, unique
value proposition, differentiation are words synonymous with start-ups raising
PE-VC money. Moving beyond the tangibles, many intangibles make a company
unique. The frequently documented ones are brands, service, quality, recall,
etc. But the essential ingredient to building a competitive advantage is the
culture.
It all starts with the employees (knowledge, skill, resources) and how they engage and respond to various situations. The right culture can help identify the right people and build a resilient organisation. More often than not, people are the organisation’s most significant differentiator. The pandemic has already reinforced the need to build resilient business models, and human resilience is an essential ingredient of these resilient start-ups.
Build an agile system
Covid-19 has already proven the
need to be amenable and adaptable to change. Start-ups are deemed to be more
“agile”. Founders can set the right expectations and behaviour from the start
with a smaller team while being nimble enough to adjust and adapt quickly to
business demands.
Change agility gives a clear
competitive advantage to organisations and makes companies more resilient.
Teams can build resilience and agility by clearly defining the need for change,
its impact, controllable and uncontrollable factors, visualising what
successful change would look like, identifying steps to work towards that
change, and defining the top priorities.
Flexibility, an important
virtue
As changes are inevitable in a
volatile and dynamic business environment, organisations need to ensure their
workforce possesses a “mindset” that allows them to view change positively and
take actions that facilitate effective change.
Click here to read the full article on “The Hindu Business Line”
Zephyr Management is a global emerging markets investment manager, specializing in the creation and management of highly focused private equity funds
Since its inception in 1994, Zephyr has sponsored and/or managed 26 investment funds in both public and private securities markets representing approximately $1.2 billion in combined commitments and assets under management
Emerging Markets Focus
The firm has initiated several private equity funds investing in several African countries, South Korea, Mexico, India, and Sri Lanka since its founding. Zephyr's funds serve medium size enterprises that are often ignored by larger private equity players. Zephyr funds provide growth capital to established companies with proven business models and sustainable competitive advantages.
Investment activities are currently focused on India, Sri Lanka and Africa.
Zephyr Peacock India
Zephyr Peacock India provides equity financing for fast growing, small to medium sized companies led by strong entrepreneurs and management teams.
Read MoreEmerald Sri Lanka Fund
Emerald Fund provides equity financing for fast growing, small to medium sized (SME) Sri Lankan companies led by strong entrepreneurs & management teams.
Read MoreZephyr Acorn provides equity
Zephyr Acorn provides equity financing and business support to innovative early-stage companies in East Africa.
Read MoreActive Portfolio Support
The firm's special expertise lies in bringing global best practices to medium-sized growing companies by assisting them in conceptualizing sustainable business strategy, management development, compensation, ESG, expansion outside of their home country, capital structure and positioning for stock exchange listing or trade sale.