by
RUSSIAN EMIRATES
68
ÍÅÄÂÈÆÈÌÎÑÒÜ, ÁÈÇÍÅÑ, ÈÍÂÅÑÒÈÖÈÈ
to renewwhen youmake your own decisions
even though theymay be hard but leading
you to positive changes, rather thanwait until
the situation becomes painful.
Generally speaking, at this time consultants
are ready to cooperate andmanage business
on a high level: acquire and sell businesses and
get business out of crisis. And this is a different
level of management consulting. The demand
for suchmanagement consulting teams
focused on such tasks will increase soon.
Comprehensive consulting is a priority
direction in consulting, including its primary
element: strategic planningmanagement
consulting. In any case, the root cause of
any company’s problems is in its failure to
realize the goals of the company, inwrong
interpretation of such goals or lack or
misinterpretation of the company strategy.
Experiencewitnesses that similar
consulting servicesmay be priced differently
and the differencemay be huge – by order
of magnitude. Thismargin is hardly justified
although if our managers don’t know how to
manage their ownmoney onemay decide
to just go for it. Usually, these are foreign
consultants who overprice their services.
And their interest to themarket is well-
explained because Ukrainian consultingmarket
estimated cost is $70million per annum.
Naturally, a good consultant would cost
more than a staff consultant or someone you
just happen to know. On the other hand, such
consultant could help you savemuchmore
than he costs. Also, outsourced consultants are
not pressured by “boss – employee” paradigm,
they have no internal interest in the company
and have no reasons to lie. He is paid to tell
the truth theway he sees it.
WhileWestern consultants are gradually
winningUkrainianmarket, our domestic
consultants go East and cooperatewith
Russian companies. This tendency has become
apparent. There is a question, then: what their
neighbors could know that they don’t know
themselves? In fact, there are no Russian or
Ukrainian technologies – they are all Western.
More accurately saying, there are only the
specifics – the insights based onmentality.
Themain difference between the businesses
of the two countries is the administrative
leverage thatmattersmuch in Russia. If you
have administrative controls you can just sit
and do nothing and still be themarket leader.
InUkraine, administrative levers work only
when the business is started to get the initial
benefits. And that’s it! Then the companies get
into the purely technological “combat” with
competingmarketing, distribution, logistics
and other strategies trying towin and become
leaders. That is why Ukrainian companies
usemore sophisticated technologies, due to
the existing environment that differs from
the one in Russia. Still most of them are not
comparablewithmultinational corporations
capable of covering any target areawithin
a year or two and ensuring 70-80%market
representation.
Ukrainian consulting operators went down
South. Recently, Ukrainian Trade Center for
Gulf Countries opened inDubai, the United
Arab Emirates. Themain objective of the
Center is the promotion of national products
on themarkets of the said region. The Trade
Center in fact is to provide consulting services
toUkrainian companies wishing to develop
their business in theMiddle East. Actually,
Ukrainian companies have no experience of
successful operations, in particular, in selling
their goods inGulf countries. This is not
because they have no suitable products but
due to the lack of knowledge of how to do
business in Arab countries. Every company
now has to look for new customers rather
that rely on centralized export of products to
“friendly countries” as it was back at the Soviet
time.
One can request consultations on
government relations from the Ukrainian
Trade Center (advice on business activities
taking into account government rules
and regulations; maintaining liaisons with
appropriate government agencies); financial
management (profitability and cost analysis;
evaluative consulting; economic research
andmarket surveys); business development
(finding partners for joint ventures;
finding suppliers and end consumers);
projectmanagement (industry consulting;
confidential inspection of companies;
project implementation supervision; strategy
development for competitive advantages); HR
management (HRmanagement andHR policy
formation; hiring topmanagement staff);
