SMEs urged to lead way in business innovation

MANILA, Philippines - “Who will win? The one who is innovative and refuses to give up in this tough and competitive world,” says motivational speaker Anthony Pangilinan, in an inspiring yet practical forum that gathered some of the most successful Northern Luzon-based entrepreneurs in the Plantersbank’s SME Speaker Series dubbed “Best Practice to Next Practice: Leading the Way in Business Innovation.”

Innovation is the driving force behind the advocacy of Plantersbank itself in building a strong SME culture in the country. The Speaker Series, now on its sixth year, is just one of the many programs that provide valuable information for business growth, resource on new trends, and networking for the bank’s partners. With their triple bottom-line SME banking solution — profit with an eye toward sustainability, environmental and community causes — the bank continues its tradition of capacity building for SMEs since its early years of educating small start-ups in the local communities in the 1970s.

• A mindset of innovation

Pangilinan urged SMEs to take up the challenge of innovation, and to do away with the thought that only large enterprises can survive — much more make waves — in the business scene.

“We have to move from invention to innovation if you want your business to compete and survive. What can I create that provides impact?” he asks. “The business that constantly reinvents itself and is open to change will take the prize. In fact, today’s new business models are just a reinvention of the old. You have to ask yourself, am I pioneering or simply maximizing? Create the market if you have to,” he says.

More importantly, innovation goes beyond product. It also seeks to improve the whole company inside out — from structure and internal framework, corporate culture (even dress code), to taking a good look at the brand, and even changing the industry. “We are in the ‘experience economy.’  Therefore, we have to come up with solutions that improve the quality of life around us — that is innovation,” says Pangilinan. “Move from too much seriousness to play. Play is a multi-trillion dollar business. Everybody is playing, we just play different games,” he points out.

Clearly, an ubiquitous example on innovation that comes to mind during the forum is the electronics brand Apple, which has taken to heart the lesson on innovation — launching several versions of their products, and enabling hundreds of different Apps that meet a generation’s need for work and play.

• Know your core

However, change for the sake of change alone can be a costly mistake. There are age-old business rules that wiser companies practice. “Know who you are and what you stand for. Preserve the core and know your strengths,” Pangilinan reminds his audience. He quotes Peter Drucker’s two steps for change management: “Determine what you absolutely will not change, then open yourself to changing absolutely everything else. Know your conditions, the non-negotiable, and then be flexible.”

• Stay connected — fast

Social media exposure has changed the field for many small and medium enterprises, such that reaching their target audience has become a direct experience from company to end-user. Traditional mediums such as, television, radio, and print, are not enough to bring the market to the doorstep. The new emotional connection that speaks to the heart of the consumer is digital. Text, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and blogs, are all being used at the same time. Innovation can come in the form of communications, and SMEs cannot miss the opportunity to become part of a wider community. “The world has changed. Those who get along, go along. Talk to your customers. You must stay connected,” stresses Pangilinan.

•Best practice, next practice

“Prepare for the future. Not just for business, but social solutions. Don’t just think best practice, but next practice,” Pangilinan says. “Go beyond the industry standards. It’s not enough to benchmark.”

 At the end of the day, business owners should practice what they preach. “You can invest in the best strategies but if your culture is against it, those strategies will fail. The good news is if you have bad strategies, a good culture will overturn the negatives,” reminds Pangilinan. “Values, according to John Maxwell, drives decisions, that drive behavior, that drive results. You have yet to see how far you can go.”