A transformational initiative led by Prof. Krishna Sundar as Principal Investigator and Mr. Saideep Rathnam as Co-Investigator under Mizuho India Japan Study Centre (MIJSC) that could potentially change the SME landscape in India and Japan. BET Index aims to act as a connect between Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who are looking for financial, market and technological support with companies in Japan who are looking for investment and collaboration opportunities in India. Presently, the core team members of the BET initiative have been actively engaged in building the framework for building such a platform.
India’s start-up culture has taken big strides over the past decade. Every year, Indian start-ups and small and medium industries have been registering a growth rate of 12-15%, with some of them reaching high levels of success. However, not all of them have successful stories either. Many Indian small and medium scale industries are constrained by lack of right technology, lack of funds at the right time in the growth curve, inability to find partnerships with companies on whom they can rely etc.
Though the decay rate of start-ups is high, the Indian economy is still one of the few economies which is showing positive growth in an environment where most economies are shrinking. The Japanese economy is projected to shrink by 5 to 8% in the coming 12 to 18 months. Hence, companies in Japan are looking for partnership with companies in a growing economy.
Though there are many organizations in India which are working towards bridging the gap between what Indian businesses need and what opportunities are presented by the global developments, there seems to be no systemic approach towards developing a transparent, reliable and speedy assessment of companies and their businesses. Designed to move the companies up on the ladder of business excellence, BET index focuses on a holistic assessment of the business across eight constructs. As Japan looks for investments in India as a part of its de-risking strategy for its supply chains, BET will act as a partner who is reliable and who has financial, business, and strategic capabilities.
BET is a Business Excellence Maturity Model, wherein businesses are given a maturity level score, with a clear roadmap for moving up in the maturity hierarchy.
WHO SHOULD TAKE BET INDEX?
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Indian start-ups who have established viable products and markets and are ready to go to the next phase of growth.
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SMEs in India who are looking for technology tie-ups, financial partnerships, or improved access to markets abroad and are looking for potential partnering companies in Japan.
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SMEs who need support to identify their areas of improvement in moving up the business excellence maturity model framework.
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SMEs who do not have the networking bandwidth to find technology and investment partners on a global scale.
HOW IS BUSINESS EVALUATION & TRANSFORMATION DONE?
Business Evaluation and Transformation in the BET Framework would be executed in four phases, to maximize the intended results.
Phase 1: Evaluation, where the company submits critical data, followed by AI based assessment to highlight the criticality of the areas of concern. This would be followed by expert assessment by experts in faculty / industry from the relevant sector, relevant technologies, and / or relevant business constructs. The final stage of the expert involvement would be to generate a report which would highlight the company’s strengths as well as opportunities for improvement. Companies which have got their evaluation done may decide to either pursue the improvement journey on their own or seek help from IJSC.
Phase 2: Transformation, is offered in three models of self-learning, supported learning and guided learning.
Phase 3: Partnership. Companies which cross the minimum threshold in the BET index framework would be eligible for being recommended as a preferred partner. They would be given opportunity to find a partner in Japan through networking events at periodic intervals where companies from India, Japan and other countries would be invited to come and share their approaches towards technology, partnership, business challenges etc. IJSC would also facilitate meetings with stakeholders.
Phase 4: Post-Partnership Support would be offered only to companies which need it. It is expected that during this period, the relationship between the partnership companies would stabilize and therefore direct communication would begin to happen between the partners.
Therefore, the BET model is a clear process for helping companies move up the ladder of excellence.
WHAT BENEFITS DOES BET INDEX BRING TO A COMPANY?
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Credibility of Assessment: Assessment by a Company-neutral organization working under an institution such as IIMB with its National & International stature, leading to greater chances of acceptance by a partnering company.
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Business Focus: The businesses would be getting evaluated with respect to understanding of their strengths and weaknesses as well as tuning themselves to meet the opportunities and address the threats.
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Mirror of current state: By carrying out an intense evaluation exercise across many business constructs in a phased manner, the business is benefited from an Outside-In perspective wherein an expert (from outside) is able to look at the business in an unbiased way so that the businesses could be ready to proactively meet the upcoming business challenges.
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Vision and Roadmap for future state: The BET framework defines a clear roadmap to be followed to become truly a world-class organization. The roadmap is further supported by guidance either developed through self-studies or through supported learnings or through guided interventions.
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Partnership building: Any lasting partnership can be built only on a Win=Win framework. This implies that there must be a complete transparency of the capabilities of the partnering companies. This type of transparency and openness as well as fast and efficient assessments / interventions helps the businesses to create a strong bond and therefore be the basis for a lasting relationship.
Research Opportunities: The BET framework, by design, generates live data which is a goldmine for research studies. There are many opportunities of research studies which will not only benefit Indian industry, but also help strengthen India-Japan trade and other relationships. Further, the business interventions for companies in specific sectors are a rich source for recommendations for policy-makers.