The Elephant - Friend or Foe ?
There are 2 very significant books that hold the Elephant in title roles.
1. “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance” – written by Louis Gerstner jnr. the very famous CEO who during the 1990s, saved IBM from near bankruptcy & grew their share price x 10.
2. “The Elephant and the Flea” – written by Charles Handy who describes himself as a “ reluctant capitalist”, he observes the changing nature of organisations in the context of the old economy and the new.
So how does the metaphor of the Elephant relate to Westcor? - Westcor exists to serve them!
In both documentaries the Elephant metaphor is used to describe BIG business and both observe the advantages and the limitations of big business.
Gerstner compares Elephants to ants and to summarise one of his quotes, “If an elephant can dance, the ants must leave the dance floor” describes his theory that if a Big Corporation can become innovative and flexible and nimble it will dominate over smaller competitor companies.
Handy observes that Big Corporations (Elephants) face some major challenges viz..
How to grow bigger, but remain small and personal.
How to act small and fast whilst being big and slow.
How to combine creativity with efficiency.
The Elephant
Big Business is easily criticised as being cumbersome and inefficient but the world needs these corporations, they can bring - Scale, Critical mass, significant employment, R&D budgets, financial stability and social significance. But by definition, they can’t be small or nimble and quick.
The Flea
The Flea on the other hand is small and nimble but will probably never have the scale nor the critical mass of the Elephant.
So, instead of stomping on the ant or flea, could the Elephant be more effective if he developed a symbiotic relationship with the flea? We believe, absolutely YES. Business is just too complex and fast today for one species to master (rather than coping with) all aspects of the game.
The Outcome
We believe the magic is in the outcome of – The Elephant partnering with the Flea and each depending on the other’s natural DNA to complete a bigger whole.
The Flea creating and innovating without the structure and encumbrances of the Big Corporation and the Elephant bringing scale and critical mass to the market without frustrating itself by trying to be as small and as nimble as the flea.
In another book we find Goliath and David – could we reimagine a different outcome with Goliath partnering with David and leveraging both Goliath’s size and strength and David’s speed and accuracy?
Westcor (The Flea) is proud to be partnering with the best Retailers (Elephants) in SA.