Irish small and medium businesses must explore outsourcing opportunities in locations such as eastern Europe or India if they are to survive, members of Isme were told yesterday.
Addressing a gathering of the small business group's members, entrepreneur Dr John Teeling said companies must choose between dying out or "going with" the eastern ascendancy.
Donning a Davy Crockett-style hat, Dr Teeling likened small businesses in the Republic to the 140 Texans who were defeated at the Alamo in 1836 by a much larger Mexican force.
He said Irish companies are battling against millions of Chinese and Indian workers in the manufacturing and services sectors.
Irish companies can try to fight, he suggested, by concentrating in areas such as location-specific industries or in projects that use proprietary skills. Even with this, he said, success will only be temporary.
"Establish what you can here . . . and move the rest as quickly as possible to eastern Europe or the Far East," he said.
Isme members also heard yesterday that Daniel Hickey, owner and managing director of AllinAll Ingredients, which manufactures and distributes ingredients to the food processing industry, had been elected as Isme's new chairman. He succeeds Robert Berney.
Mr Hickey is a chartered management accountant. He worked with ICC's Venture Capital before setting up AllinAll in 1993. Mr Hickey told attendees that his priority as chairman would be to ensure that owner-managers' interests are reflected in Government policy.
"The attitude of the owner-manager is typified by finding ways to fill the glass and not analysing whether the glass is half-full or half-empty," he said.
