Daily Post 1563
THE CONSORTIUM MAGIC
Given the complex nature of technological and business projects today, it become well nigh impossible for a single company to do the project. More often than not consortiums are not allowed, so at the backend it gets created. The company which takes the executing a project singlehandedly more often than does the front ending. The system integrator and the OEMs are also a manifestation of the same story. Some places the core job has to be executed by the lead partner and rest can be parcelled. More often than not to meet the turnover and work experience requirements, consortium becomes the need of the hour to win the bid and to execute big projects.
Whether de jure or de facto, consortiums has become the order of day, whether we accept it or not. From a different standpoint lots of the partners don’t even realise that they are a part of the consortium. They don’t even know where they are positioned in the consortium and for that particular reason, they don’t know where to position themselves next time round. So consortiums remain an adhoc mechanism, only on paper that to for a particular project. So many times it is only exchange of documents between them and things are done outside the so called cobbled consortium. It does not matter because the end result for the customer is the same – a half baked project.
The only other possibility is a reasonably okay project with time and cost overruns. The magic of consortium will still take a long time to be realised. Consortiums are created to fulfil requirements of the customer with the only intention to making quick money or as much as they can. The business camaraderie between the consortium partners is for sure missing. The cobbled consortium if awarded the work, work as separate business entities. Each of the consortium partners want to max on the quantum of profits putting in the least amount of effort. The major challenge comes as the final outcome of the project is based on integration, based on testing, validation and authentication. The final fulfilment is a Catch 22 situation.
How do create the Consortium Magic? The first decision is that consortium should be for a long duration, not for a single project. Not one off affair. Secondly, the roles have to be pre-decided and sincere efforts would be made to perfect it. Thirdly, the pricing can be tweaked given the likely nature profits and work orders likely to ensue. The magic of clear cut competitive pricing advantage can be created out of this. Lots of superfluous spending happens because of consortium inefficiencies. Fourthly, given the permanent nature of the consortium, defined roles, clear project execution process, smooth supply chain and robust project management, the execution time would be reduced sharply. Fifthly, the quality and quality assurance becomes easy. Finally, the project gets delivered as if by one outstanding business entity, which has done everything right.
GET THE CONSORTIUM RIGHT, TO GET THE PROJECT RIGHT.
Sanjay Sahay