Emerging market players are a match for anyone
There is a view that big European and US operators have a management expertise which will enable them to enter emerging markets in their chosen sector be it hospitals, elderly care, rehab or labs. That isn’t true.
On the contrary, we are seeing Emerging Market operators who are better, faster and cheaper than anything Europeans and Americans can offer. This much is clear just from reviewing the entries for this year’s HBI Innovative Business Models Awards. Where in the developed west would you find a dentistry chain developed from the ground up to educate a nation about what good care looks like and to deliver top quality care? Yet that is what Clove Dental has achieved in India.
Or look at the quality of training on offer from Dal Ben (domiciliary homecare in Brazil), Nephroplus (dialysis in India) or Salus (homecare in Mexico). These companies are systematically setting out to upskill often poor and disadvantaged women.
The level of management competence in some emerging market operators is really striking. Often that reflects the age of these businesses. Most have been launched in the past 20 years (Devi Shetty at Narayana is the shining example) and many in the last 5-10, often by local entrepreneurs who learnt business and medical skills in the developed world. The real hub of these ideas is India, but there are plenty of companies in SE Asia, some in Latam (particularly Mexico) and a few in the Middle East.
Contrast them to their larger European rivals – businesses which are often second or third generation owned or run by big listed groups which look for marginal gains, rather than big ideas and blue sky. They are used to stable conditions, regular state payors and established relationships with the medical profession.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Max Hotopf or call 0207 183 3779.