Is your company growing as fast as it can?

. . . or only as fast as it needs to?

In a world where ‘double-dip’ is the chasm to avoid, growth has seemingly become the Holy Grail - for continents, countries and corporations.   I say seemingly because, while common sense would dictate that this is a no-brainer, I also know that the problem with common sense is that it isn’t always common.

At a corporate level, how much growth is ‘sufficient’ to satisfy your corporate appetite?  That some companies are doing better than others is apparent.   Why is it that some companies have been able to achieve high growth rates while others haven’t?

Fundamentally, I attribute this to the level of aspiration – something which differentiates the leaders from the pack. Much of this difference is not about what they are doing but how.

When talking to companies around the world on prospects in India, this gets further highlighted.  For those companies who are still contemplating whether they should engage with India or not, hearing of consistent double-digit growth rates seems to sound like a mirage which will disappear if they attempt to grasp it. 

For those who are already in India, many are of the view that they are doing exceptionally well. Compared to their home markets, undoubtedly.  Compared to the local industry, a dipstick survey by White Owl Advisory reveals that international small-and medium-sized companies invariably under-perform the industry average on a host of performance indicators.  

I am currently reading ‘Employees First, Customers Second’ by Vineet Nayar,  CEO of HCL Technologies – one of India’s leading information technology services companies.   Early in the book, Mr Nayar puts in perspective the crossroads the company was at earlier this decade.  He refers to the fact that the company had started slowing down between 2000 and 2005.   This slow pace was 30 percent annual growth.  The journey is what the book details.  For those of you who are thinking this could have been owing to a low base, consolidated revenues at HCL Technologies were US$ 2.6 billion in March 2010. The underlying tenet of Mr Nayar’s book is that if you look after your employees, they will look after your customers who in turn look after the business.

In contrast, the Financial Times ran an article last week on the ever-elusive ‘work-life’ balance dilemma.  They asked some very eminent ‘experts’ whether the Blackberry should be switched off while on vacation.  All but one said yes. The contradicter in the pack was, incidentally, Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, the world's largest marketing and communications group, who quipped that ‘clients’ businesses do not stop for holidays’.

HCL Technologies is not unique. A slew of corporates – Indian and multinational - have recorded trail-blazing growth rates in India over the last 15 years.  Given the title of Mr Nayar’s book, I can only assume they managed to give their employees a life as well.