Ideas that travel

(Or how to compete with global behemoths)

“Necessity is the mother of invention” is a tired and old adage. But the writer has a better than ringside view of a Bulgarian present-day version that illustrates what globalization is in pretty simple terms – or why we ought to be outward-looking.

The writer’s first introduction to the country, courtesy of the USAID/IESC, was that the country had 8 million people but 10% had chosen to become migrants. Then he met a couple of university students on (summer) work and travel visas peddling ice cream at the Statue of Liberty grounds. He was with visiting Bulgarian friends and showing them around. So they had an animated chat in their native tongue – the translation reminded the writer of Filipino students working at McDonald’s and also of our OFWs. But that’s another story altogether.

Bulgaria, to be sure, is not a mirror image of the Asian tigers where the writer also had a better than ringside view as they conquered the world – and years later was tapped by USAID/IESC (post career – in a global company) to help a couple of very young Bulgarian private companies, i.e., to equip them with sufficient competitive skills (not to wrap them with the mantel of protectionism) to go head-to-head with global companies, as the country prepared for EU membership.

It would be a classic David versus Goliath battle and so the writer opted to stick around – to nurture the one with the better fighting chance. He was encouraged by the owner’s first words, and the writer is paraphrasing: “I am learning this business the hard way: from scratch – I learned some tricks but have also messed up a few times; how do I move up to the next level? I am competing with a handful of the world’s industry leaders”.

How could an old communist facility that looked rundown and inefficient even have a chance against global behemoths? How could one invest in manufacturing, R&D, marketing, sales and logistics in a market of 8 million people? The obvious answer was to expand the market. It’s not rocket science. And Western bankers agreed.

Going into the 7th year since the writer was introduced to the company; it is now marketing (as opposed to simply exporting) to over 200 million people in 17 ex-communist states. And exporting to a couple more . . . and counting. They are still focused on key sub-regions but are geared to keep expanding their market – and they are not imperialists, not by a long shot; they are simply being pragmatic.

What about the current global financial crisis? The irony is year-to-date 2009 is the best ever for this small (by Fortune 500 standards) Eastern European company that has been doubling its size every 2 – 3 years because it is moving from strong to dominant in its home market – coupled with an elevated emphasis on balance-sheet discipline; and making its ideas travel, i.e., overseas revenues are tracking accordingly.

How? Plainly it was not inward-looking to begin with. And so it had to create ideas that could travel. The concept of focusing on ideas versus products is by design – it makes for a more productive brain-storming and feeds on the brain’s creativity – for which many years ago if not currently, we had adjudged global marketers’ efforts as ideologically- or conspiracy-driven, i.e., economic imperialism?

98 million Filipinos are a big market; but 200 million or 400 million would be even bigger? What about 200 countries? That’s what globalization is all about – not some esoteric ideological slant – and the basis of Paul Krugman’s, an economist, recommendations to the Philippines. And a small Bulgarian company barely out of the clutches of the Soviet Empire (Russia still plays games with their gas supply) is demonstrating how to go mano-a-mano in today’s interconnected world.