To know How to achieve it, read the article bellow.
A Business Owner Looking at BRICS
Imagine a mid-sized Indian pharmaceutical exporter.
His company manufactures and exports medicines to Russia, Brazil and South Africa. At the same time, several important active pharmaceutical ingredients and other key inputs are sourced from China.
For years, he has managed these relationships as separate business activities:
- Chinese suppliers provide important inputs.
- Indian operations manufacture and package the products.
- Russian, Brazilian and South African customers purchase the medicines.
- Banks, logistics providers, regulators and other service partners support the transactions.
One morning, while reading about developments within BRICS, he begins to look at his business differently.
He realises that his company is not merely an Indian pharmaceutical business selling to a few overseas markets. It is already connected to a wider network of countries that have different economic priorities, political interests, business environments and expectations.
He starts wondering:
Could greater cooperation among these countries improve the prospects of my business?
Could it make trade easier? Could it create better supply-chain opportunities? Could it improve access to new markets? Could it encourage more collaboration among businesses, financial institutions and service providers?
He also realises something else.
The countries involved in BRICS do not have identical interests. They may cooperate in some areas while competing in others. Yet, they still need to find sufficient common ground to move forward.
That is not very different from what he faces in his own business.
Different Interests, One Common Direction
The Chinese supplier wants reliable orders, timely payments and a sustainable commercial relationship.
The Indian pharmaceutical company wants quality inputs, competitive costs, dependable delivery and business continuity.
The Russian, Brazilian and South African customers want medicines that meet their requirements, arrive on time and remain competitively priced.
Banks want proper documentation and payment security. Logistics providers want clear schedules and predictable processes. Regulators want compliance with applicable rules.
Every stakeholder has a different role, interest and priority.
Yet, for the business to succeed, they must work towards a sufficiently common direction:
The right product must reach the right customer, at the right time, under commercially workable conditions.
This is where the idea of consensus becomes important.
Consensus Does Not Mean Complete Agreement
Consensus does not mean that everyone has the same interests or agrees with every decision.
It means that the parties are able to reach a workable understanding about:
- What they are trying to achieve.
- Which issues require cooperation.
- What each party is willing to contribute.
- What each party expects in return.
- Which differences can be managed without stopping progress.
The BRICS example provides a useful way of understanding this.
The participating countries have different economies, political systems, development priorities and strategic interests. They are not one country and do not operate as one company. However, they may still identify areas where cooperation is useful and express a common direction.
The agreement does not remove their differences. It creates enough common ground for them to explore cooperation.
A business operates in much the same way.
From BRICS to Business
The pharmaceutical exporter begins to see that he is regularly involved in his own form of consensus-building.
When negotiating with a Chinese supplier, he may need to agree on:
- Product specifications.
- Quality standards.
- Minimum order quantities.
- Prices and payment terms.
- Delivery schedules.
- Responsibilities when there are delays or quality issues.
The supplier may not accept all his demands. The exporter may not accept all the supplier’s conditions. But both may still agree on a workable arrangement because both benefit from continuing the relationship.
The same process happens with overseas customers.
A customer may want lower prices and shorter delivery times. The exporter may need sufficient margins and realistic production schedules. The final agreement must balance both sides’ interests.
The company may also need to align internally before making these commitments.
The promoters or owners may focus on growth and profitability. Senior management may focus on risk and cash flow. The production team may focus on capacity and quality. The sales team may focus on customer commitments. The finance team may focus on working capital and payment security.
If these internal stakeholders are not aligned, the company may make commitments externally that it cannot fulfil.
This leads to an important sequence:
Internal Alignment → External Consensus → Cooperation → Implementation → Common Outcomes
Internal Alignment Comes First
Before a company can build consensus with external stakeholders, its own key decision-makers must have a broad understanding of the direction.
This does not require everyone to think alike.
The owners may want aggressive expansion, while the finance team may prefer a cautious approach. The sales team may want to enter a new market, while operations may be concerned about capacity. These differences are normal.
However, the organisation needs clarity on fundamental questions:
- What are we trying to achieve?
- Which markets or customers matter most?
- What risks are acceptable?
- What commitments can we realistically make?
- Where are we willing to compromise?
- What must not be compromised?
In this sense, internal leaders are similar to the leadership of countries participating in a major international discussion. They establish the broad mandate within which negotiations and cooperation can take place.
Without internal alignment, external consensus becomes difficult and sometimes dangerous.
External Stakeholders Are Independent Parties
External stakeholders are not employees. They have their own businesses, objectives, pressures and alternatives.
They may include:
- Suppliers and vendors.
- Major customers.
- Logistics and service providers.
- Consultants and technology partners.
- Banks and financial institutions.
- Government authorities and regulators.
- Strategic business partners.
A company cannot simply instruct these parties to follow its preferred direction.
It must understand their interests and create a reason for cooperation.
For example, a supplier may agree to better delivery terms if the buyer provides more accurate forecasts or commits to a longer-term relationship. A customer may accept a realistic delivery schedule if the supplier provides better visibility and quality assurance. A logistics partner may offer improved service when volumes and schedules become more predictable.
Consensus is therefore not merely a discussion. It is a process of making cooperation commercially and practically acceptable to the parties involved.
How Consensus Becomes Practical
A useful consensus-building process generally involves five activities.
1. Understand the Interests
The company must understand what matters to each stakeholder.
A supplier may be concerned about payment delays. A customer may be concerned about product availability. A regulator may be concerned about compliance. A service provider may be concerned about unclear responsibilities.
Without understanding these interests, negotiations may become a contest of demands.
2. Identify the Common Objective
The parties must identify what they can achieve together.
The common objective may be:
- Reliable supply.
- Consistent product quality.
- Faster market access.
- Reduced total cost.
- Better customer service.
- Lower operational risk.
- Long-term business continuity.
The common objective does not eliminate individual interests. It gives the parties a reason to work together.
3. Negotiate the Differences
The parties must then discuss the areas where their interests do not match.
This may involve prices, timelines, responsibilities, quality standards, payment terms, risk-sharing or performance expectations.
The objective is not to defeat the other party. It is to reach an arrangement that is workable and sustainable.
4. Clarify Commitments
A broad understanding is not enough.
The parties need clarity about:
- Who will do what.
- By when.
- To what standard.
- At what cost.
- What happens if conditions change.
- How problems will be escalated.
Many business relationships fail not because there was no agreement, but because the agreement was too vague to implement.
5. Review and Adjust
Business conditions change.
Costs may increase. Regulations may change. Demand may fall. Supply chains may be disrupted. A customer’s priorities may shift.
Consensus must therefore be maintained through communication, review and adjustment. A previous agreement may need to be revised without abandoning the overall direction.
Consensus Is Only the Beginning
Reaching consensus is valuable, but it does not automatically produce results.
The BRICS example also highlights this distinction. A common declaration or shared direction is only a starting point. Actual benefits depend on the ability to convert the understanding into cooperation, systems, commitments and implementation.
The same is true for a company.
A supplier and buyer may agree to improve supply reliability. But the result will depend on whether forecasts are shared, production is planned, quality is monitored and delivery performance is reviewed.
A company may agree with a government authority on the requirements for a project. But the project will still require documentation, approvals, resources and execution.
Therefore:
Consensus creates the possibility of cooperation. Implementation creates the business result.
What This Means for Business Leaders
The pharmaceutical exporter’s reflection on BRICS leads him to several practical conclusions.
First, business success depends on relationships beyond the company
A company may have good products and capable employees, but its performance can still be affected by suppliers, customers, regulators, logistics providers and other external parties.
Second, different interests are normal
Stakeholder differences should not automatically be treated as obstacles. They are a natural part of business.
The task is to understand these differences and find areas of mutual benefit.
Third, internal disagreement must be managed before external commitments are made
A company should not promise customers something that its production, finance or supply-chain teams cannot support.
Fourth, consensus requires preparation
The company must know its own objectives, limits, alternatives and priorities before entering important discussions.
Fifth, cooperation needs structure
Clear responsibilities, timelines, review mechanisms and escalation processes are necessary to convert agreement into performance.
A Wider Business Perspective
The BRICS example is not a perfect replica of a company. Countries are sovereign entities, while companies operate within legal, commercial and organisational structures.
However, the underlying lesson is relevant.
Independent parties can have different interests and still identify a common direction. They can cooperate without becoming identical. They can preserve their individual priorities while working together where their interests overlap.
That is exactly what companies must do with their stakeholders.
The Indian pharmaceutical exporter may continue to face challenges involving input costs, regulations, currency movements, logistics and market demand. BRICS cooperation alone cannot remove these risks.
But if wider cooperation creates better conditions for trade, finance, supply chains or market access, it may improve the opportunities available to his business.
His real advantage will come from being able to recognise those opportunities and build the necessary consensus with the stakeholders who influence their success.
Conclusion
Every business is connected to a network of parties with different interests.
The question is not whether these differences can be eliminated. They cannot.
The real question is whether the company can:
- Align its internal decision-makers.
- Understand the interests of external stakeholders.
- Identify a workable common objective.
- Negotiate differences constructively.
- Convert agreement into clear commitments.
- Coordinate implementation and review results.
BRICS offers a useful reminder that cooperation often begins with consensus among parties that are not identical and do not always agree.
For businesses, the lesson is simple:
Common direction does not require identical interests. It requires sufficient understanding, negotiated commitment and disciplined implementation.
And in an increasingly interconnected business environment, the ability to build that consensus may become as important as the product or service a company offers.
How well does your organisation build consensus—internally and with external stakeholders?
Are your key stakeholders aligned on a common direction, or are different interests slowing down execution?
At ZPS, we believe that sustainable business progress begins with clarity of direction, stakeholder alignment and disciplined implementation.
If your organisation is navigating growth, diversification, strategic change or complex stakeholder relationships, let’s start a conversation.
📩 Connect with Rahul Madhiwalla by sending email to connect@rahulmadhiwalla.com or write to ZPS to by sending email to connect@zoomplussystems.com to explore the way forward.
Very good article.