adminHR Column Hector Moyo
Yes, you guessed right. There was some rubbing shoulders with agriculture that occurred over the weekend, hence today’s article. The event was the Matabeleland South Agricultural Show that took place in Gwanda. I like the “Jahunda” spirit that prevailed, very resilient and progressive. Crops and livestock exhibits were in abundance despite the drought, as well as happy people. Who said great things only happen in big cities? Hats off to the show organisers, obaba u M Ndlovu labo G Chipengo, et al. I meet these gentlemen in other fora, but they seem unaware that there is serious agriculture in me!
I want to deal with an agricultural term which I came across being used in an un-agricultural setting, and I did not quite like the abridged context in which it was being used. The term is “cash cow”. You see, some people have no respect for this noble profession of ours – awu bakithi!
Cows from an agricultural perspective
Cash cows – lezi zinkomo ezochago phela, the dairy or rural farmer will acknowledge. Yes, we used to look after them, growing up. They were special in that they provided milk for the family, the surplus being turned into amasi (sour milk) or sold to generate income for this and that purpose. We knew that for the cow to give you reasonable milk yield, it had to be treated well, with respect to a number of areas. First, it was about feed, not only the quantity but also the quality. As young boys, we made it a point that in summer we looked for green pastures, and in winter we compensated for the poor pastures, by releasing the cows for longer periods in the dry pastures, so that they could forage longer. We also made sure they got clean drinking water, ad libitum (unlimited supplies). There was regular dipping, to ensure their good health. You would then see the results of this management regime in the milk yields. Names such as umhofu, uganukazi, unhlamvukazi, etc., remind me of those good old days, milking them cows.
It gets worse dealing with pure dairy cows (Holstein, Short horn or some such type, breeds), the feeding regime gets calculated not only to relate to quantity, but also to quality (nutrient levels). Where they talk of feed mix ratio in a cement plant, dairy farmers talk of feed mix ratios with respect to nutrients – it is one and the same thing, really. In both scenarios you cannot afford a high standard deviation otherwise it eats into quality and income, period!
From the above discussion it can be seen that due care should be taken in the management of the cash cow, in order to maximise on milk output, and consequently the profitability of the enterprise. Is this difficult to comprehend, dear non-agriculturalists?
Cash cow from a business perspective
I first came across the term when I was doing my MBA studies and it fascinated me. This term was in relation to how business units behave financially – the BCG matrix. I can only remember the ‘dogs’ and the ‘cash cow’, and of course the question mark (?) quadrants. Please do Google the fourth one, will you?
Hawu madoda, kuyini okwenzakalayo lapha, my inner man asked? How is it possible that someone can spend sleepless nights doing research, only to come up with such crazy names, I ended up concluding!
Just to digress a bit – the average national hates talking to matrices, tables, figures, etc, and yet in agriculture, this was our daily bread. Whenever you saw some table, graph or some such like thing, then you were assured of a full mark. Statistics should be a must in the school/college curriculum, I argue.
To cut a long story short, in the BCG matrix, the cash cow quadrant is that business unit that generates money, to the extent that it can support other business units, including new investments. However, what is not clear from these business models is what gets done in order to ensure the continued existence of the cash cow business unit. Does the mother company just harvest from the cash cow business unit without giving back for maintenance or even renewal, for that matter? I guess the majority of students who come across these models just want to pass the subject and hence have no business questioning further than what is written about the cash cow story. Further, the lack of an agricultural background, limits students’ ability to further interrogate this particular model.
Similarities and contrasts between the two perspectives?
Without belabouring the point, the proponents of the cash cow business model should learn from the agriculturalists, in respect of what is done for the milk cow, in order to enhance milk yields. You feed it, and feed it proper. Not doing this, is a sure way of seeing the milk yields diminishing over a period of time.
Workers as cash cows?
Is there merit in stretching one’s mind that far? I think so, really – it’s a question of applying principles here. Workers (managerial and non-managerial) in companies are exchanging their labour (productive capacity), for returns (remuneration and benefits). There are certain factors (good management, good salaries, improved conditions of service, etc.), that will make the workers excited about exchanging their labour, in a focused/determined manner. On the other hand, if some or all these factors are removed or are scaled down, this is bound to affect how prepared the workers are willing to trade their labour.
How nice it would be, if companies appreciated the deep inter-relationship between production levels and employee contentment! This is why it becomes imperative for leaders to be on a continuous learning regime. I once said it, literature, agriculture and Bible Knowledge, for me are the pillar type subjects for later life experiences. Let institutions of learning realise that leadership is what is going to drive the productive capacity of our nation and offer appropriate skills to future leaders, irrespective of discipline being pursued by students. This is my considered view, dear reader!
Take home this week
They say little knowledge is dangerous, we learnt it from the Student Companion book of yesteryear. Our grandparents used to advise that ‘nxa ugqoka isudu, yifake lamathumbu ayo’, meaning that if you are putting on a suit, do not forget the waist coat – otherwise the story is incomplete. Incidentally I do not see many of these waist coat based suits these days – could it be a lowering of standards in the garment industry?
In short the take home becomes; if a discipline is to borrow from another, let this be done in totality, lest a lot of things get compromised!
Time to rest my case for this short working week.
Send your views to e-mail address hecandbe@ gmail.com or sms 0777556081.
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