special issue fountainhead of excellence congratulates the winners of 4th cavinkare-mma ......

Vol . xxxxi No.4 SEP-oCT 2015

FOUNTAINHEAD OF EXCELLENCE

SPECIAL ISSUE

Winners of14th MMA Award for Managerial Excellence 2015

Contents

Managerial Excellence

Vijay Sankar

You are the Innovation; Everything Else is What You Challenge & Create

Nilakantasrinivasan J

Aerospace and Defence Industry – the next frontier for India

N Shekar

Innovations and Brand Management

Sameer

Public Speaking and Leadership

Nina John

Strengthening Corporate India’s Innovation Eco-system

Dr Rekha Shetty

Approach to Organizational Training – Re defined...

A Geethan

CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards 2015

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EDITORGp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM (Retd)

LAYOUT EXECUTIVED Rajaram

SECRETARIAL ASSISTANCEK Pandiarajan

Designed and Published byMADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

No.21/11, 3rd Cross Street, Seethammal Extn.(Opp. SIET College), Teynampet, Chennai 600 018Phone: 2433 3757 / 2431 3757 / 4207 4220e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], www.facebook.com/mmachennaiPrinted at Shree Balaji Printers Pvt Ltd

Gp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM (Retd)

Fifty nine years ago, the MMA was founded with the objective to propagate management movement in this part of the country. Fifty nine years hence, we at MMA rededicate ourselves to the Vision of MMA “To be the Fountainhead of Worldclass Management Excellence in India”. We will take forward our Vision guided and supported by the new Managing Committee headed by the President, Mr T Shivaraman, Managing Director & CEO, Shriram EPC Ltd, Senior Vice President, Mr R Srikanth, Jt.Managing Director, Brakes India Ltd. The new Managing Committee consisting of experienced professionals and new entrants with vast corporate background would immensely contribute to take MMA to greater heights.

MMA pays tributes to Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India.

Dr Kalam will remain one of the finest human beings to have ever lived. He lived an illustrious and successful life and his legacy will continue to inspire all of us and people around the world in the coming years. As a mark of respect to Dr Abdul Kalam, MMA organized a talk on “The Immortal Legend Dr A P J Abdul Kalam – Principles to Guide and Inspire Modern Leaders” by Mr V Ponraj, Advisor to Former President of India, who shared insights on his long association with Dr Kalam. An inspiring and memorable evening, if you missed it, watch it now through the link - www.liveibc.com/mma or listen to i-radiolive.com.

As you are aware, MMA All India Management Students Convention, from its small beginning in the year 2002, has grown into a mission for translating dreams of young men and women into reality. This year’s Management Students Convention focuses on the theme “Winning Strategies of Strong Brands”.

Mr K S Ramesh, Chairman, MMA Students Convention Committee has conceptualized and put together a Convention to provide an insight into some of the winning strategies employed by Strong Brands to reach the top of the charts and stay there.

I urge upon management students to participate in the two-day Management Students Convention scheduled to be held on 15 & 16 October 2015 at Kamarajar Arangam to develop a broad understanding of the determinants of brand success and also understand how to create a personal brand and leverage it for success in their careers.

Innovation is the key driver of growth in an economy. We firmly believe that in the Indian context the focus on

innovation must follow a special path of inclusiveness – involving everyone in the country, not just those who produce and consume at the high end.

We at MMA believe that it is always important to reiterate that the focus on inclusive innovation is not solely a matter of improving society, although it is that too. Innovation is also the way in which businesses can find growth in a country of more than a billion people, many of whom are poised to enter or move up within the middle class.

Innovation is not only a matter of iPads and Cool Apps such as Google etc., it is also about the small jugaads that the common man in India devises to solve his day-to-day problems. We need new and better way to make sure that small but important innovation don’t get lost – that the process for capturing ideas becomes, in effect, institutionalized and they have the furthest possible reach. In this regard, MMA joined CavinKare at its 4th in the series – The CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards to honour those who have invented breakthrough changes in the Indian context and can become role models for others to emulate.

A unique and scientific methodology of selection was followed duly supported by Ernst & Young LLP as the Process Advisor. The winners for the innovation Awards for the year 2015 were selected by an eminent panel of jury. MMA congratulates the Winners of 4th CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation 2015. They went through hectic process of selection to emerge as the Winners. Once again our heartiest congratulations!!! We are also privileged to present to you interesting articles on innovation in this special issue of Business Mandate for the benefit of our members.

In conclusion, what inspiration can we draw from Mahatma Gandhiji’s life and work that will help us create a major shift in innovation in today’s India? It is the recognition of the emergence of “Gandhian Engineering” i.e Getting more from less for more and more people of the world.

Let me know what you think about everything that’s happening at MMA. It is what inspires our work. Send me an email at [email protected]

We hope you enjoy the issue.

Dear Members,

From the editor

Fountainhead 0f Excellence

BUSINESS MANDATE | SEP-OCT 2015

Managerial Excellence

I would like to thank the Madras Management Association for giving me this opportunity to speak at the MMA Awards Function.

Having grown up in a household with two past MMA presidents and having worked all my life in an organization with another two past presidents, and having attended many of its programmes, it is an especially proud moment for me to be asked to speak today.

I was asked to speak on ‘Managerial Excellence’ – this is a very wide field and one can drill down and talk for hours on any sub topic. However I have developed some views on Managerial Excellence based on my own experiences and I will talk about these.

This audience would have heard past speakers talk on Managerial Excellence at the earlier years’ award functions. As many of you may know, it first gained prominence with Tom Peters’ landmark book over 30 years ago. A lot has changed since then. Many of the companies referred to in Tom Peters’ book have fallen by the wayside and many more have continued to underperform, while some like GE, 3M, Emerson and IBM have thrived.

General Electric (GE) which has featured in many of Tom Peters’ books and in many other books on Managerial Excellence has had a tough time for the last couple of decades under Jeff Immelt. They have shed some of their iconic businesses, including GE Plastics, and are now talking of spinning off the entire GE Financial Services business - financially they have had a difficult time with market cap down and growth stalling. However, I would still like to think that GE epitomizes many aspects of Managerial Excellence.

This brings me to my opening remark that Managerial Excellence and short term Financial Performance (Financial success) has to be segregated. In my view, Managerial Excellence has a lot to do with the belief in strong managerial processes and process orientation over a 30 to 50 years’ time frame.

My own experiences stem from the Chennai context. I think many leading member companies in the MMA from

Chennai (and Tamil Nadu) - fit this definition. These companies have constantly reinvented themselves and continue to be relevant in today’s changing environment. They have been very successful for over 30 to 50 years. Most important is that they follow a value based management style and have symbolized professionalism. TVS, Murugappa, Rane, Sanmar, and many more Groups from our State fit this definition. There is perhaps something about being in Chennai – Family businesses here believe in the long term and have an ethical reputation. Sustenance within a value based framework and professional practices over a very long period of time, in my view, is one of the most important aspects of Managerial Excellence.

SANMARWhile many of these other organizations are very good examples, the one I am best placed to talk about is Sanmar which is the organization I have been a part of for almost 17 – 18 years now. For the purposes of introduction to the audience, Sanmar was founded by my father, Mr Sankar in the early 70s from a zero base. Today, Sanmar is in over three continents, in four business segments with a turnover of over Rs. 5,000 crores. We have over 20 plants and employ around 5000 people.

I have also had the good fortune of working with many other well known organizations - as joint venture partners or as customers and suppliers - many of them well run and well renowned for having excellent managerial processes. I have worked at Emerson, as partners and suppliers,

Mr Vijay SankarDeputy Chairman, The Sanmar Group

A Summary of the Special Address by the Guest of Honour Mr Vijay Sankar during the MMA Awards Function & 59th MMA Annual General Meeting held on 3 July 2015 at Chennai

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for many years – they are well renowned for Managerial Excellence and are mentioned in Tom Peters’ book. Our association with them has helped us imbibe many of their ‘best’ practices as well.

I would like to talk about the evolution of professional management in Sanmar. I have had the opportunity of working under an outstanding professional leader – my father, who truly believes in professional management. My father started business on his own earlier, but Sanmar really started with the Engineering business in the 70s. He started from a clean slate and built good managerial systems and processes on that. There are always clear policies and procedures set down, and a very high level of delegation. This has evolved over time, but the fundamentals are solid. I am going to talk about Managerial Excellence from the context of ‘Four Pillars’ namely, People, Processes & Governance, Management philosophy and Ethics & Reputation.

We have written manuals on People Philosophy, Management Philosophy and Policies on Ethics which codifies these approaches.

PEOPLE PHILOSOPHY (1st pillar)One of the critical imperatives for today’s successful organization and one of the most important characteristics of Managerial Excellence is the need to have a culture of attracting and retaining high quality people.

Mr Sankar very strongly believed early on that to succeed in a diverse platform, one needs to attract and retain high quality professionals. It was important that the professionals recognize that they are working in an organization that treats them fairly and gives them an opportunity to grow; where there is no favouritism in the form of hidden perks or payments; an ethical organization which adheres to the laws of the land; where they would have the freedom to operate within set guidelines; where decisions can be taken and mistakes made without fear as long as the logic for having taken the decision can be clarified. This requires people processes which are open and objective.

Employees must develop confidence in the process of appraisal that the organization practices. In Sanmar, we went to a ‘full cash based system’, almost 20 years ago, and we are convinced more than ever today that it was the right thing to do. People have had the room to grow and I am proud to say that ours are amongst the best.

We have also got a value rating system for people with a potential to grow as well as a unique deferred bonus system to facilitate retention.

I was told very early on when I joined that professionals had to be respected and this is something that has stayed with me ever since.

I would say that I have been very fortunate to work closely with many of the long standing senior professionals - two of them have incidentally been past presidents of the MMA - Mr M S Sekhar and Mr S Gopal.

The term ‘professional’ is used with different connotations. The classical definition of ‘professional’ is - ‘somebody certified by a professional body, and whose competence can be measured under established set of standards’; or ‘somebody who has achieved an acclaimed level of proficiency in a calling or trade’. Though this is the classic dictionary definition, it has come to represent people who are not from promoter families. Many people from promoter families take it amiss, when we say that this term can be used in such a manner because many owners today are professionals in their own right. I can certainly say that my father is one of the best professionals around in the classic sense of the term. In fact, other senior professional managers who work with me always say that my father would have done even better in a non-family run organization than in his own.

Processes and Governance (2nd pillar)Belief in strong management processes and good governance is something that is part of our DNA and is very closely linked to Managerial Excellence.

When I had just started out at Sanmar, I used to wonder why so much time was being spent on the development of the processes, logic, levels of authority, written down manuals, etc., but later I came to realize the value of this.

While business freedom was delegated to different business managers, the Corporate’s focus was on having a ‘one Sanmar’ approach to people issues, facing the external environment, dealing with financial institutions, accounting policies, etc. We believe in Sanmar that there are no exceptions to rules. Exceptions, if any, will have to be taken all the way upto the top. When I say top, what I mean is that we have, at the apex of our decision chain, a policy making body called the ‘Policy Review Group (PRG)’. This group comprise of some of the corporate heads and senior business managers of Sanmar. The group constantly relooks at policies and procedures based on internal feedback.

Group Corporate BoardAgain in Sanmar, we did something unique. More than 12 years ago, we set up a Group Corporate Board, probably the first of its kind in this country. Though we are a private company, we have a Corporate Board with eminent external personalities. The Board has more external members than internal members, even though there is no compulsion to do so. This Corporate Board meets regularly for rigorous reviews focusing specifically on governance and internal audit, and I can tell you that this is all due to the belief that it is good for the organization and not because it is needed by any statute.

MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY (3rd pillar)Our Management philosophy represents core values that drive all our actions and policies. As I said earlier, this is codified and we feel that it is very important for us because it drives who we are.

We also believe that the spirit of the policy is more



important than the letter and we discourage attempts to find loopholes. 100% implementation is our ethos. It guides other things including decision making, accountability and communication.

Decision MakingGiven that we were always diversified and had high level of delegation, we believe that individual decision making should be recorded. There are many occasions, especially in capital intensive businesses like ours, where reasons for earlier decisions are later forgotten and nobody would know what happened and why. These may be decisions with long term ramifications and we would like to know why such a decision was taken earlier; the circumstances for taking such a decision – both positives and negatives. These decisions have to be supported quantitatively and most importantly highlight the second view.

Our decision making process always calls for a second view. This can be tricky at times, especially so, when you have strong independent leaders. Getting second views from their sub-ordinates would mean getting their sub-ordinates in front of them. It may take some time for such a culture to evolve.

AccountabilityWe always believe that delegation should be followed strongly by accountability.

We have had strong levels of authority at all times which have been codified. Interestingly, our levels of authority are people based and not position based - we have codified this into SAP. For example, when a particular individual leaves the organization, we don’t necessarily give the next individual the same authority. Strong emphasis on a single point of accountability as well.

CommunicationOur philosophy does not lay down a standard and uniform style of communication, but there are simple rules such as – be crisp, make communication clear, etc.

A Sanmar Twist – We always believe that information has no hierarchy – both downward and upward, but we are very particular in that if I go and ask a sub-ordinate for any information, it is his duty and responsibility to keep his superior informed. The channels have to be kept appraised. This is once again easy to state, but very difficult to put in practice, but we have kept at it.

The other Sanmar angle which both Mr Sankar and I believe strongly in is that in this day and age the emailing or the impersonal communication style has tended to dominate. I have heard Richard Branson say this on a number of occasions and we strongly believe this as well - if we talk to somebody, or call someone over the phone, it sorts out the clutter over email exchanges and saves a lot of time.

From our own Chemical Industry, Mr Jon Huntsman Sr. has written a wonderful book titled ‘Winners Never Cheat – Even in Difficult Times’ – an excellent read which made the Wall Street Journal best sellers’ list.

But first, a little bit about Jon Huntsman Sr. – Jon Huntsman Sr. was the Chairman and Founder of Huntsman Corporation, one of the largest Chemical businesses in the world with revenue of close to USD 12 billion. His son Peter Huntsman now runs the business. His other son Jon Huntsman Jr. was the Governor of Utah, Ambassador to China and was also one of USA’s presidential candidates.

While this book has a lot on ethics and value systems, and also giving, it is also about Management philosophy. I have been influenced a lot by this book and I have also noticed a lot of similarities with Sanmar. I will give you a few of them – When Jon Huntsman Sr. was an Officer in the South China Sea, his Commanding Officer had put him in charge of the deck and had gone down. He was given the responsibility of directing the formation of 40 other ships. When he communicated to the helmsman to turn right to 335°, they had responded as 355°. Jon had not heard this and there was dangerous disarray when some of the ships turned and others didn’t. The Commanding Officer came back in his bath robe and took charge, and many hours later, the 40 ships realigned. When Huntsman apologized to the Captain, the Captain said that Jon had learnt a valuable lesson and that he would communicate clearly and stay on top of every order, follow through and execute the system. However if the ships had collided, then it would have been he (the Captain) who would have been court martialed and not Huntsman.

This is what we believe in Sanmar as well – you can never delegate your responsibilities downward. Delegation is of authority, not of responsibility. As the CEO, you are responsible for your plants even if they are many miles away since you are responsible for putting the Heads there and the organization culture in your units.

Jon Huntsman Sr. speaks about keeping lawyers away from commercial negotiations and our philosophy is also very similar on that front.

ETHICS & REPUTATION 4th pillarWe, at Sanmar, believe in strong ethical foundation and values and in fact, ours is one of the first companies in the late 90s, to come up with a formal ethics manual. We have built upon it further and conduct an online ethics test for our employees on a regular basis.

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We have an ombudsman in the Group to whom people can raise their dilemmas and concerns.

ReputationReputation matters a lot. It is like a balloon. It takes a lot of hard work to build it up, but one small prick and it can easily collapse. So we have to work doubly hard to protect one’s hard earned reputation.

We, at Sanmar, think reputation is very very important. Everybody will tell you this, but I can tell you from my own practical experience that this is probably the most important. I practically realized this.

EgyptWe invested a huge amount in Egypt. We went there when it was one of the fast growing countries in the world. With the same Government in place for 30 years, this had many advantages in our industry to make PVC and Caustic Soda – great market, great natural resources.

However, within a few years, things dramatically changed. We had to put in more resources; our people faced physical threats and it was a very very tough time.

Anyways, that is a story for another day. What I wanted to say here is that one’s ability to hold on to one’s values is tested most during tough times and let me assure you that in Egypt it was tested on a daily basis for many years. Now, things are in a much better shape and are on an upswing.

EnvironmentWe have a very old plant in Mettur which dates its root back to the 1930s, on the banks of the river Cauvery, in the Mettur dam. More than ten years ago, we had decided to improve our environmental systems by a significant factor. Mr Sankar actually helped coin the term ‘Zero Liquid Discharge’. We could not find technologies to help us with our diverse waste stream, to move to zero liquid discharge - we had to go to many countries and companies to find out what worked. I am happy to say that this now has become a part of environmental lexicon and today not a drop of liquid is being discharged from that facility. I would say that our environmental standards are ahead of most of the Western European companies.

Let me assure you that all of these come at a significantly higher financial cost, but we have taken a call that we need to be ahead of the curve as far as the environment goes.

Joint VenturesSanmar has a very successful philosophy of joint ventures. We have had joint ventures dating back to the 70s – a very unique case of five current joint ventures and over a dozen previous JVs, lasting for a combined period of over 250 years. While we have a strong joint venture philosophy and good joint venture track record, again, it is built around our joint venture philosophy that has developed over time, which includes living upto one’s word, transparency with the partner, not profiting at the expense of the joint venture, etc. While we have five running joint ventures, we have ended our many other joint ventures with either of the partners buying the other out, in a friendly and peaceful

manner. We are proud to say that even now if somebody goes and asks them about their past partner Sanmar, they would still say positive things about us. When we exit a partnership, we are very particular that the partner thinks positively not only on the day of the exit, but 10 years later too.

Jolly Rovers - 50Finally, I would like to come to the subject (a sport) that is close to this audience - Cricket.

Our Group has supported cricket in a big way for the last many decades. We run the most successful sports team in Chennai – Jolly Rovers and we have been doing this for 50 years - in fact, we celebrate 50 years of running Jolly Rovers this year. We promote this entirely out of passion for the game and not for any financial benefit or recognition.

Our success and approach in running our cricket team is based on similar principles as we have applied in managing our businesses – we have invested in very strong leaders, provided them facilities and given them freedom to operate, and have thought long term.

I am speaking at a function organized by an institution which itself is managed very well. The MMA has a history of being run according to professional standards where governance is of the high order.

I was talking with Gp Capt Vijayakumar the other day and he was mentioning about a possible new building for the MMA. My father was the president of the MMA in ‘81 – ‘82. He had spoken in ‘86 at the AGM about how well the MMA was managed and also about the new building at that time. Times have changed, but two things are constant – MMA continues to be managed well and grow; and looking at another new building as well after 30 years. There are different management associations and I think amongst the many, MMA stands out as probably the best.

I also would like to place on record my sincere appreciation to the MMA for keeping up this tradition of Managerial Excellence for so many years. I would like to congratulate the President, the Vice President, Secretary and the Committee Members of the MMA, both past and present, for this remarkable feat.

I would like to congratulate the winners of the MMA award for Managerial Excellence – a very impressive set of winners and wish them all the very best in their future endeavors. Cochin Shipyard, Shriram Life Insurance Company, Spincotech and Sri Sairam Engineering College – they all symbolize Managerial Excellence and I do hope that they continue to symbolize Managerial Excellence not just now but also over the next 50 years.

I wish to once again thank the MMA for giving me this wonderful opportunity to speak to this august gathering of eminent personalities.

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Strengthening Corporate India’s Innovation Eco-system

Dr Rekha Shetty

Author of five bestsellers on Innovation

Innovation turns problems and inconveniences into profitable elements of a business. The mightiest of modern organizations has been built in a few short years through the power of information and the human mind. Helping to manage human imagination to develop creative solutions will be the secret of winners in the future. Innovation can be seen in every field and every sector. When the first pre-paid telephone cards were released in Japan, it was heralded as the best innovation of the year. It was an example of a simple innovation offering tremendous benefits, both to the consumer and the telephone companies. There are no limitations to the possibilities of the human mind. “Microsoft’s only factory asset is the human imagination,” wrote Frank Moody. Corporations that adopt innovation as a way of life never need to compete. Theirs is the path where no one has gone before; the path which leads to untold success.

Here are 10 ideas to create the eco system of innovation in companies.

Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid“I consider constraints as a source of innovation. I believe in the ‘Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’ says Ravi Venkatesan, Former Chairman of Microsoft India. Look at the seemingly insurmountable obstacles: The big challenge is cost. In rural schools, we have created computers with 5 mice instead of one mouse, per computer which reduces the cost of access. 10 people can share a single computer and there is the additional benefit of team work. A split screen makes it easy for people to work on different problems.. Many do not speak English so Windows is available in 14 languages.

Let’s dream, big dream. Let’s go change the world. Have a high tolerance for failure.

Fear for failure discourages people from trying. Here we have no limits. People are free to explore. Curiosity has no genetics, nationality or gender bias.

India today, is focused to be the innovation capital of the world

Create Incubators for InnovationMr. Harsh Mariwala, Chairman Marico Industries believes his corporate social responsibility is spreading the message of innovation as the practice of innovation can build the

Nation. He believes that innovation flourishes in an open, empowering culture, a prototyping culture. “We give a new business idea to a team and empower them to implement it. We then remove the escape button”. How like the Greek leader who burnt all the boats and bridges once his army was on enemy territory. This meant that the commando force was infused with a do or die attitude. There was no way back. The only way was forward to victory.

“The idea is first incubated in an Incubation cell. They report directly to me for 2 years. It is dismantled once their role is completed. Today, for example, the Kaya Skin Clinic is a flourishing new business”. Each of my product teams identifies their innovation agenda as part of strategic planning”.

“We are driven by our concern for the environment, and preventive natural good health”. To us a customer is a person with constantly rising aspirations. Our suppliers are our partners in business.

“We believe in orbit shifting innovation”. To be acceptable, innovation should translate into cash flow. We have experienced that in our company.

Build the Young Executives SystemWhen Mr. Ramaswamy Seshasayee, the CEO of Ashok Leyland, found that young executives in Ashok Leyland felt alienated at times by the legacy system and red tape he came up with a comprehensive Young Executives System (YES). Championed by that redoubtable team of Shekar Arora, Director, HR and Kalpana Ganesh, they created an efficient youth organization with its own website to share ideas, sometimes directly with the CEO. They were given actual responsibility to come up with a budget. They were also involved in creating a model truck. Both tasks were concluded with massive benefits.

Transform spectators into participantsTata Steel in Jamshedpur, which after economic liberalization, saved Rs. 700 crores merely by turning the whole population into participants. Mr. Muthuraman, MD speaks about their programme ‘Manthan ab shop floor se’, which means churning up the energies of the shop floor. ‘Every few weeks workers from different departments get together for a 3 hour meeting, with no one from management, except facilitators’. These worker

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driven gatherings have spawned a hundred innovations which are rewarded at the ‘Innovation Exhibition’, where the workers get to talk about their work to Mr. Ratan Tata himself.

Make your product exciting to customers and employeesFeatured as one of the most powerful women in corporate India, Naina Lal Kidwai predictably says “Innovation is the key!” The cheerful HSBC Bank branch at Bombay’s Flora fountain, seems a hot spot for out of the box thinking. Visually, it is bright and full of activity – a real hi-fi market place. The 35,000 strong workforces with an average age of 30, crave change and innovation. “The worst thing we can do is shut them out. They believe in themselves, they are so passionate about their ideas. They need to know where the idea is going. Just generating ideas is not enough!” says Naina.

Her ideas on innovation are interesting. “One needs to be able to generate ideas, grow them and finally disengage from them when the time comes!” It reminds me of good parenting. Nurture the baby, help it grow and finally, Let go! The last may be the toughest!

“The New Employee Induction Roadmaps, also called the Jungle Book, helps integrate new employees into the family. Archana Chaddha a winner who has attended every convention for the 4 years except when she was expecting her baby says, “This is my family.”

There are a lot of employee fun activities: the Treasure chest, Holi, Dilwalla, A bell to record a Wow! Experience, Leaders Day Out! Town Hall, Heroes Day. Employees are urged to play the lead, play to win, think beyond the possible and speed forward, together further.

Customers too can look forward to an unusual experience. The Bank is not a branch but a Mall. There are Saturday surprises which include food and ice-cream for visitors. There is a charity sale. NGOs sell their products at the Mall. All festivals call forth decoration and celebrations. There is a May I help you Desk and a special lounge to give high net worth individuals an extraordinary experience. This is presided over by a relationship manager.

Focus on markets ignored by others‘Empowering people is the most effective way to create profitable companies’ says Mr. Thyagarajan, legendary founder of the Shriram Group of Companies in Chennai. He brought workers into management, spent a lot of face time with them. ‘They made it happen,’ he says. His methods are simple.

9 Cut out all non value added activities

9 Engage each one of the workers, including the contract labour, by uniting them for a common cause.

The company decided to focus on truck operators whom no one wanted to deal with and considered them as financial partner. They collect no collateral. ‘We help them

develop the business, because we are co-creators of value.

We give truck operators a vision of themselves. We treat

them with respect. We support schools for drivers. We

support AIDS prevention with the Melinda and Bill Gates

Foundation. We try to deal with their total credit needs.

We are rewarded with total loyalty!’

The company’s volume of business is Rs.27,000 crores.

They have 1,000 offices dealing with all areas of finance.

‘We have an emotional bond with 20 lakh customers over

the years.’

Be a good corporate citizen

Mr Rana Kapoor, focus is on Knowledge Banking.

Industries have financial products created by industry

experts. An agricultural expert with core knowledge of

the field helps the Bank create financial products for this

core sector. The whole banking process has an unusual

sustainability model, with the business focus being

people, planet and profit, instead of profit, profit, profit.

The Bank believes in Responsible Banking. Their model

for sustainable investment banking has resulted in the

creation of a bank for the poor. Their motto People, Planet

and Profits, rather than profits alone!

Do not benchmark: Be the benchmark

A start up with five people and an investment of

Rs.10,000, Infosys is now a US$3 billion company with

90, 000 people. Mr. Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Infosys, has

the peaceful air of the corporate yogi. ‘Infosys needs to

innovate to meet the needs of the new emerging markets

in our own backyard - India and China, with two billion

people whose rising expectations have to be met. Products

have to be created for this market. We can leapfrog over

the mistakes of the developed, mature economies. We

can start on much higher platform, without repeating the

mistakes they have made!’

The barriers to innovation? ‘Indians are content with small

improvements. They are afraid to think global or about

the quantum changes that innovation is all about. We are

restricted by the modesty of our dreams. The poverty of

our aspirations. It is this lack of confidence that stands in

the way of our becoming a world power’, says Kris.

He echoes the words of the German CEO of the Indian

business in Alcatel. ‘Indian engineers do not have the

confidence to differ with their European clients, to go

beyond the brief to question status quo. That is why their

products lack the originality which only confident dissent

can create’.

Simplifying, simplify simplicity is key

The usual tendency is to always move towards greater

technological complexity. However, the Kirloskars used

simpler methods and technologies and replaced multi-

nationals.

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Originally the Kirloskars were buyers of outdated technology from multinationals, two decades later they are today one of the most successful players in a global survival area – water management. With a company that started in 1888, they are now stars on the Indian corporate scene.

Today they hold the key to food security by providing pump sets for water irrigation projects across the world. Replacing metal pumps with practically unbreakable concrete pumps they have created systems that would last forever. To illustrate their contribution to the complete agricultural operations of a country, the youngest of the clan, Alok Kirloskar, recalls ‘six years ago the rice economy in Laos was bad. In comparison, with a unique system of pump sets mounted on boats, Laos had a surplus of rice in 2005-2006.’

Slimmer than the best – the competitive edge‘It cannot be done!’ said the Swiss watch makers. In the watch industry, the Swiss are the ultimate court of appeal. The way the Titan Edge, the world’s slimmest water resistant watch was produced, is a lesson in persistent and patient problem solving, innovations. It was an example of an Indian company’s refusal to give up.

What were the challenges?1. To instill self confidence in the team.2. Ensure buy-in from key people.3. The engineering challenge. When everyone heard

that the Swiss could not-do it, the virus of self doubt was rampant. This was overcome by the infectious confidence of top management.

Watch manufacturers in the past had been copy-cats. Since the 1950’s Indian companies had never manufactured a watch all by themselves.

Titan attempted this from 1992. The Edge was an answer to the reigning lifestyle mantra, verbalized by a famous Hollywood queen who said ‘You cannot be too rich or too thin!’ It was a close collaboration between manufacturing, technology and research. Marketing took three years to embrace it. Between movements, cases and assembly, the challenge was to create a delicate watch, which was tough enough for the challenges of daily wear.

It is one of India’s major product innovation, putting us on the world map!

These 10 ideas can create an eco system and a culture that can make innovation thrive in your company.

It takes 90 days to build a solid foundation for the culture of innovation in a company. This is a culture where wild ideas are tamed and implemented to create consistent innovation. It is a space where everyone operates in a wildfire of enthusiasm and spirit. It is full of problem solving commando teams.

When everyone is thinking the same thing, then obviously no one is thinking. So first we need to energize everyone to think. Here is the six step process:

Install the positive field: Create a forest fire of enthusiasm for the goal by involving everyone in setting goals. The environment of creativity is a supportive and nurturing environment, where everyone feels free to play, to be intuitive and bold.

Problem statement: Identifying and formulating the problem is the most difficult part of creative problem solving.

Generate Ideas: Ideas can be generated in a number of ways. The atmosphere required for such idea generation should involve creating a positive field. It should be nurturing and supportive. The group should build ideas and be open to breakthrough thinking.

Incubation and Analysis: During idea generation, a list of alternative solutions are generated, seeds are sown.During incubation the seeds are allowed to sprout, to grow unobstructed.During analysis the plants are pruned and weeds are removed, till only the usable alternatives remain.

Implementation:Implementation involves choosing the final solution, planning, developing a detailed roadmap, communicating it to the teams and finally acting on the blueprint. The ‘reality test’ should now be ruthlessly applied. Once implementation starts, every move costs money. This is the last step in the thinking process and all ideas should be carefully studied.

An ounce of action is worth tonnes of e-mail, paper and speeches. Implementation is the key to innovation. Implementation is best done by well trained small, commando teams.

5W1H

Install the Positive field

Problem statement

Idea generation

Incubation

Analysis

Implementation

1 3 6 1 5 month months months year years

WHEN

WHAT

WHY

WHERE

WHO

HOW

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“Management tends to ignore workers’ suggestions about

jobs. I have seen engineers ignore comments from workers,

which would improve the productivity of an individual job.

At one point, I noticed hot air holes were crossed, creating

a potentially dangerous situation. When I suggested they

be altered, the foreman said they had been designed that

way by engineers who clearly know better than I, how the

plant works.

Management obviously is effectively cutting off creativity

from a large group of employees who are most likely to

make worthwhile suggestions on jobs they are doing.

The whole situation carries from a lack of respect for the

creativity of the individual. It arises from the view that

people ought to be as identical as the cars they make.” ―

John F Awacies

An innovation can change the fate of your company.

Its impact can be clearly read in your balance sheet.

Customers will respond positively and employees will be

engaged and interested.

Thinking tools

◊ Boundary-less Thinking

‘Boundary-less’ thinking has brought me face to face

with the fact that there are no limitations to corporate

or personal growth. One of the interesting experiments I

conducted was on the second P of Marketing, Place. One

of the hospitals I consult for has a major problem with

the “place” component, since it is far from the city. We

made an exciting assumption that changed the situation

dramatically. We said “place” is where our patients are.

Our doctors, our equipment, or facilities could go wherever

the patient needed it. So we set up a home health program,

which takes doctors to the homes of patients. A school

health program takes the concept into schools. Companies

all over the country could benefit from this concept. We

are no longer constrained by lack of space. Distance is

telescoped by good transport. Our services are offered at

faraway places, by training and appointing associates. An

individual can be highly creative when he has the right

beliefs about his true, unique nature.

The following exercise was carried out in a creativity

laboratory for a real estate company:

Men

Material

Machineries

Methods

Markets

Money

The Resource Map

◊ Tent Thinking vs. Marble Palace ThinkingA bank wanted to rapidly open branches at a minimal cost. They were not sure which locations were most likely to succeed. An I Lab came up with the idea of using existing organizations such as schools, petrol bunks, and panchayat halls to set up branches. This solution has two advantages:

1. It was inexpensive

2. It could be easily dismantled or closed if not successful.

Today, the speed at which corporations are required to grow, involves experiments. An experiment should be inexpensive. In fact, in an experiment, there is no success or failure; there is only feedback. This essentially is Tent Thinking. A tent can be put up, change shape, it can expand or reduce and it can be put up elsewhere.

Marble Palace Thinking involves a fascination with permanence. Permanent structures, people and systems are expensive and difficult to dismantle. Permanent staff is a fixed overhead, which cannot be reduced as a swift response to falling demand in a recessionary market. This is the Marble Palace mentality.

Success in today’s scenario goes to those who are swift, dynamic and able to respond to mercurial changes in the environment. Adaptability is the most important quality this millennium demands. Marble palaces become fixed overheads, which are difficult to adapt to any other use.

Step 1 - Impossible Wish.

Step 2 - Write down the attributes of a

salesman.

Step 3 - Apply the attributes of a

salesman to a customer

We want customers to be our salesmen.

1. A salesman visits customers.2. He sells our product and is rewarded by incentives.3. He helps us to build a database of those interested in our product.4. A salesman is well-versed in all aspects of the product.5. He travels extensively to sell our product.

1. A customer visits other customers. Every customer vis-its his friends who are customers and tells them about our product.

2. A customer helps sell our product to his friends and is rewarded by a gift or a discount.

3. A customer gives us a card index of his friends who would be interested in the product.

4. Training programmes are conducted for customers.5. We provide paid holidays for customers where they

have the influence to make presentations to help sell our product.

www.mindspower.com, http://innovation90days.blogspot.in/

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BUSINESS MANDATE | SEP-OCT 20151 4



You are the Innovation; Everything Else is What You Challenge & Create

Nilakantasrinivasan Janakiraman (Neil) Principal, Canopus Business Management Group

One day I woke to the news (it is old news now) of Google glasses. I fell laughing. Companies are like individuals; they go nuts, get depressed and so on. I dismissed Google glasses as one such pursuit.

In reality, did Google get its innovation strategy wrong? Consider Google to be a technology company specializing in internet related services and you will conclude that they got it all wrong. But consider Google as a non-traditional technology company and you will realize that well demarcated boundaries of any traditional industry is blurring very fast. Thus the opportunity and threat horizons are much wider than the way traditional industries view them.

You will agree that innovation is not always about developing jazzy products that are out of box. A good innovation is one that delivers disproportionate value to consumers and society; one that generates immense wealth to shareholders.

Consider the first product of CavinKare, ‘Chik Shampoo’. Shampoo wasn’t a new concept in 1983, but packaging it in sachet was. At that time, and even now, a large part of rural India can’t afford to purchase a 100 ml shampoo bottle at one go but a sachet is well within their reach. For those who could afford a bottle, a sachet gives an opportunity to try out before buying a full bottle, like we do in sweet shops; a consumer behavior that is deeply rooted in India. Further, sachets made shampoo travel friendly. Thus just by challenging the generally accepted industry practice of packaging shampoo in bottles and moving to smaller unit size provided disproportionate value to consumers. So ‘Value’ to a shampoo consumer isn’t always about price, foam, cleansing, smell, etc.

Successful innovators consider several dimensions such as simplicity, size, convenience, consumer productivity, fun, image, environmental friendliness and risk to enhance value to consumers than merely relying on their creativity.

Business Model Innovation solely focuses on providing disproportionate value to customers by challenging value proposition, pricing and cost models, with or without alternating the product features. Like Chik shampoo, email service, Google Adwords and time share models have delivered disproportionate value to customers with or without fundamental change in product.

Most of us wish to confirm to generally accepted industry practices. A realtor confirms to selling flats in per sqft rate basis, an employer confirms to norm of paying salaries every month and so on. But the core of Business Model Innovation is to challenge the existing boundaries of one’s industry and find out how to deliver more value to customers and stakeholders. We look to few real life examples to understand this in detail.

Vodafone (Industry:Teleco): In India Vodafone launched ‘M-pesa’, a money transfer service in 2013. It enables millions of people who have access to a mobile phone, but do not have or have only limited access to a bank account, to send and receive money and make bill payments. In a country like India, where banking inclusion of rural population is the biggest priority for Government and Central Bank, telecos like Vodafone and Bharti have a significantly bigger role to play as the penetration of their money transfer service increases. M-pesa is a success story in many developing countries like Kenya and Tanzania.

Thus telecos are competing with banks. In the past, a bank would have never imagined telecos as their competitors. The strong boundaries of traditional industries, in this case banking & telecom, are steadily expanding and overlapping with each other.

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Apple Inc (Industry: Technology) : Usually grouped under consumer electronics or personal computers, Apple’s watch is a direct competition to traditional watch manufacturers. Its not just Apple, but a suite of technology firms are posing serious threat to a very traditional industry for which brand, precision, fashion, etc. are the key factors to compete. Smart watch incorporates fitness tracking and health-oriented capabilities as well as integration with other products and services. Thus they support the evolving lifestyle needs of the consumers, which traditional watches don’t.

Immaterial of whether traditional watch manufacturers recognize this or not, a potential buyer today considers smartwatch as an

option. Interestingly, smart watches are displayed in electronic gadgets and not in the traditional watch section of a retailer.

Google (Industry: Technology): Google driver-less cars are certainly taking automobile industry by surprise. While traditional passenger car manufacturers have been experimenting with new technology including IOT (internet of things) to provide disproportionate value to their customers, Google driver less cars are a reality now.

While Google has been partnering with Toyota, Audi and others to develop their autonomous car, they are well positioned to roll out a fully developed Google brand driver less car. Moreover Google’s investment in electric car poses a double threat to struggling passenger car segment. This by no means is good news for traditional passenger car manufacturers who meticulously match price & features to position their new cars in apt segments such as ultracompact, city cars, supermini cars, etc.

WhatsApp (Industry: Internet mobile applications): When WhatsApp introduced the facility to call, it was a big news for youngsters around the world. Over-the-top (OTT) players like WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, etc., have been the favorites of Telecos. The growth in data based revenue was fuelled by the penetration of smart phones and the addiction to mobile applications like WhatsApp.

What was a great opportunity for growth of data revenue is now a serious threat of voice revenue. There will be a net loss to Telecos if consumer behavior shifts in favor of third party applications like WhatsApp instead of traditional voice services.

These cases bring to light the new reality of competition in this century.

• Dissolving boundaries of traditional industries: The mindset of strictly operating within the framework of one’s industry is a recipe for failure now. Organizations that fail to recognize the changing landscape are bound to have a rough ride.

• Threat from Alternatives: Traditional players are used to sharing a slice of pie with non-traditional and niche players. In fact many traditional players have found successful strategies such as low cost models to keep them on shores. But the threat in today’s market comes from how the customers find alternatives for traditional core products and services. Alternatives often exist in different form and shape and hence the risk of missing an evolving trend is higher.

• Purpose overrides Function or Feature: Products and services are usually designed to provide differentiation. This often comes in the form of differentiated features. Customers now want products and services to fulfill a ‘purpose’, rather than a ‘function’. So when a customer asks for a drill, all he needs is a hole! If you are in the business of making drills, then better stay focused on the hole(the purpose) rather than the drill(the function)!

Thus, organizations that wishfully think of alternatives for their current products or services may gain an edge over traditional industry leaders who are bound to limit their strategy to traditional competing factors of Porter’s principle.

Technological innovations fuel disruption, but something more is needed to sustain that disruption. Organizations should challenge their business model, they should have a courage to challenge the basic paradigms that govern their industry such as:• Which industry do we belong to? • Why our industry defines customers this way? • Why our industry is using this revenue model? and so on. Business Model Innovation is also a way to sustain technology disruptions and create new ones.

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Madras Management Association presents

14th MMA ALL INDIA MANAGEMENT STUDENTS’ CONVENTION

15-16 OCTOBER 2015 - 9.30 AM - 5.30 PM | KAMARAJAR ARANGAM, CHENNAI-18

WINNING STRATEGIES OF STRONG BRANDS

Inaugural Session | Business Sessions: Brand Stretch as a Winning Strategy

Transforming a Commodity into a BrandEnhancing the Service Brand Experience

Building a Successful Digital BrandSpecial Session | Management Quiz

The Big DebateGrand Finale of Chanakya - The Mastermind

Valedictory & Awards Ceremony

There is only ONE Chanakya.The “one & only” Winner gets a Cash Award of ` 100,000 !

Grand finaleChAnAkyA - ThE MASTErMInD

ThE BEST MAnAGEMEnT STuDEnT oF ThE yEAr 2015

Member Non-MemberPaper Presentation Competition Per Team ` 1,800 ` 2,500Business Plan Competition Per Team ` 1,800 ` 2,500The Big Debate Per Team ` 1,800 ` 2,500Management Quiz Per Team ` 1,800 ` 2,500Delegate Fee Students ` 800 ` 1,500 Faculty ` 1,000 ` 1,500 Corporate ` 2,000 ` 2,500The fee includes lunch on both the days and delegate kit. Delegate fee to attend the

convention is waived for the participating teams in the Competitions.

Registration Fee (including Service Tax @ 14%) Prize Paper Presentation Business Plan Debate Management Quiz

First ` 25,000 ` 25,000 ` 25,000 ` 25,000

Second ` 15,000 ` 15,000 ` 15,000 ` 15,000

Third ` 10,000 ` 10,000 ` 10,000 ` 10,000

For registration please contact:MMA, Tel: 044-24333757 | 24313757 | 42074220 Mobile: 96770 77700 / 94440 58176 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Web: www.mmachennai.org www.facebook.com/mmachennai

PAPER PRESENTATION COMPETITIONEach Competing team (two students) will submit a brief abstract on the theme: WINNING STRATEGIES OF STRONG BRANDS not exceeding 500 words in three copies.

Date of submission: On or before Wednesday, 23 Sep 2015

Selected teams will be invited for Oral Presentation at MMA on Wednesday, 7 Oct 2015 before a Panel of Judges.

ThE BIG DEBATE ¾ Showcases the communication and logical reasoning

skills of Students. ¾ A team of two from each institute will speak, one FOR

and one AGAINST the proposition. Any number of teams can be nominated from the same Institute.

¾ Topic for the preliminary round is “The Indian Consumer gives greater importance to Price over Performance in their purchase decisions”.

¾ Best six students will be selected to take part in the Grand Finale on the topic “In Today’s Intensely Competitive World, Sales & Consumer Promotion Spends more than Branding & Advertising Investments, contribute to building Strong Brands” scheduled to be held on 15 Oct 2015 at Kamarajar Arangam, Chennai-18.

Selected teams will be called for preliminary debate at MMA on Saturday, 3 Oct 2015 before a Panel of Judges.

ThInk TAnk: ThE MASTEr BrAInMANAGEMENT QUIZ COMPETITION

¾ This inter B School quiz tests the Knowledge of management students on the World of Management and Businesses around us.

¾ A team comprises of 2 student participants from the same Institute. Any number of teams can be nominated from the same B School. The Top 6 Teams will be selected for the On-Stage Grand Finals on 15 Oct 2015.

The eligible teams will participate in the preliminary Round of Quiz at MMA on Saturday, 3 Oct 2015.

BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITIONEach competing team (two students) will submit a write-up on a Commercially Viable Business Idea on any industry/service of their choice not exceeding 1000 words in three copies.

Date of submission: On or before Wednesday, 23 Sep 2015

Selected teams will be invited for Oral Presentation at MMA on Thursday, 8 Oct 2015 before a Panel of venture capitalists.

There is no enrollment fee to the MMA Chanakya Award 2015For entry login at www.chanakyathemastermind.in

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Remembering an innovator

When Mr. Chinnikrishnan pioneered sachet packaging, his philosophy was simple -“Whatever the rich man can enjoy, the poor man should be able to afford.” Today, his innovations are seen in every shop bearing testimony to his dream.

Since its inception in 2011, the Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards have stood out in its steadfast support of innovative ventures started by small and tiny industries, young business men and women. This year the award gets bigger and stronger, partnering with the Madras Management Association. 4th in the series, the CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Award felicitates entrepreneurs who have embodied the ‘dreamer’, ‘innovator’ and ‘ideator’ qualities of the late Mr. Chinnikrishnan (father of Mr C.K. Ranganathan, CMD of CavinKare).

This award is a platform that celebrates & showcases innovation. The mission of this award is to identify and showcase innovative organisations that have introduced breakthrough changes in the Indian context and can become role models for others to emulate.

CavinKare & MMA intends to reach out to every innovative mind in the country, not only those who produce and consume at the higher strata.

The award will be presented based on three major criteria:1. Uniqueness – Any business product or service being

the only one or first of its kind2. Benefit to people – Any business product or service

beneficial to end consumers in a real time scenario and not just in theory or thesis

3. Scalability – Any business product or service that is capable of positive growth in due time and can hence be replicated at a bigger level

The award not only recognizes the best, but also offers the awardees the benefit of knowledge pool – one that supports entrepreneurs with guiding & mentoring their business with no commercial stake / conflict of interest by both Cavinkare-MMA.

Shri. R. ChinnikrishnanFather of Sachet Revolution

Embodiment of Innovation To encourage, support & mentor the spirit of innovation, Cavinkare P Ltd has instituted a CSR activity to drive entrepreneurism. The CSR initiated in 2011 embodies the vision that our Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is currently driving – ‘Make in India’ & creating value for fellow Indians.

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Ernst & Young LLP have been the Process Advisor for the Award laying down stringent process to eliminate conflict of interest & that awardees are selected in an unbiased approach as part of this CSR. Eminent Jury comprising leaders from industry have been identified as part of the award process to determine the final awardees.

Winners – 4th edition of CavinKare - MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards 2015

IIT (M) 1971 graduate who specialized in instrumentation have been employed with Agfa Gevaert’s Medical X-ray Division and trained in Germany. He quit Agfa Gevaert in 1981 to follow his

heart into vending machines and automation devices that substitutes import.

It was a necessity that inspired him to develop a Sanitary Napkin Destroyer, when there was a continuous blocking of the main drain on the street in front of his residence and the scavenger from the corporation was fishing out used sanitary pads that had clogged the drain. The hapless scavenger was also berating that he has to manually scavenge similar blocking of drains everywhere and that the major cause of clogging of drains is people flushing used sanitary pads down toilets.

Sanitary Napkin destroyer has been designed and developed with an optimal thermal efficiency / c o m p a c t n e s s . It fits compactly inside the washroom. Also, the safety of the equipment is ensured i n n o v a t i v e l y keeping in mind that it is handled by playful girl

children and much harried ladies alike. The innovativeness also lies in the electrical power that this machine consumes – It is provided with a startup switch which need to be pressed at the time of dropping the napkins and only at those times the heaters will remain switched ON and once the burning of the napkin is completed / and no further napkins are dropped, the machine will go to automatic STANDBY. This arrangement saves on electricity. An innovative NANO model of the sanitary napkin destroyer that has been developed that has the potential to find its way into millions of households due to its compact size – this largely aids women’s hygiene & is considered eco friendly.

Hailing from a weaving community from Guruvarajapettai near Arakkonam, Vellore District. He studied only up to the 7th standard because of the poverty that his family faced. But that did not stop him from giving

vent to his scientific bent of mind that would lead him to invent mechanical marvels. These machines will help his weaving community to weave more and earn more and thus come out of the p e n u r i o u s condit ions that always p l a g u e d them.

T h e innovative & unique proposition in his innovation on handloom machines is that it helps increase earnings manual vs mechanised process: viz. one person x Rs 60/- per skein = 180/- per day assuming he/she can produce a maximum of 3 skeins per day in the manual way. Now in the mechanized way, the same person can produce up to 15 skeins per day and earn Rs 900/- per day. This machine thus serves as a boon & helps many underprivileged weavers improve their livelihood.

Mr. V.Ramachandran Innovator of Sanitary Napkin destroyer

Mr P.A. Sekar Innovated handloom weaving machine that improves productivity

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A Phd, IISc, Associate Professor from Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, Prof. Mannivannan hit upon an unmet need in the human fraternity. People die in an emergency - when someone is experiencing a cardiac arrest there are people right beside him and yet they are wringing their hands because they don’t know how to clasp the patient’s hands and administer a simple CPR procedure effectively.

With knowledge of Haptics or Kinesthetics - this is nothing but a tactile feedback technology that recreates the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations or motions to the user interface via a computer and allows the CPR person to train his or her own motor system in a dynamically reciprocal way.

Thus as one administers CPR, he/she hit an optimal reciprocity vis a vis the chest’s compliance since sensory and cognitive perceptions are already pre-trained and primed on the dummy mannequin and the patients are thus revived and saved from certain death !

Prof Manivannan M Innovated a unique non-linear CPR Mannequin Simulator

The first of its kind CPR mannequin indigenously designed in India is the only real chest mannequin in the world. All other mannequins do not physiologically simulate the human chest cavity close enough to the real thing. It is tuneable with the help of a small built-in bicycle pump to mimic various chest compliance conditions. These CPR mannequins are made affordable wherein more people can be trained and

therefore more lives can be saved.

Winners of 4th CavinKare & MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards 2015 are being felicitated at a grand gala function in Chennai on the 9th September 2015 in the presence of eminent industrialists & business community.

We take this opportunity to once again thank all our partners who made the CavinKare - MMA Chinnikrishnan Awards 2015 a grand success and for their support in reaching out to innovative entrepreneurs & people at large:

¾ The Hindu Business Line - English Newpaper Partner

¾ Puthiya Thalaimurai - TV Media Partner

¾ Nanaya Vikatan - Tamil Magazine Partner

¾ Big 92.7 FM - Radio Media Partner

¾ Stoppress - Communication Partner

¾ Ernst & Young LLP - Process Advisor

Mr C K Ranganathan, CMD, CavinKare Pvt Ltd welcoming the Chairman, Panel of Jury - CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards 2015, Mr Raju Venkatraman, Founder Chairman & CEO, Medlall Healthcare Pvt Ltd during the Jury Meeting on 18th August 2015

(L to R) Prof Jayshree Suresh, Dean-FoM, SRM University, Prof Prabir K Bagchi, Vice Chancellor, SRM University, Gp Capt Vijayakumar, VSM, ED, MMA and Mr Vaidya Nathan, Founder & CEO, Classle during the launch of new Post Graduate Program - Master of Management Studies (MMS) on 26th August 2015 at SRM University

Registering Memories

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Approach to Organizational Training – Re definedInnovation in learning and organizational development work

A Geethan

Founder Director, Nibbana Institute for Organisational Development

I am trainer in organisational development. I can say this with a rare conviction born out of exploration, experiment and experience in developing methods that nourish and sustain goals and visions long after my workshops are over.

After many years of research I have been able to arrive at a training method, which will suit any organization or industry. I will be explaining this in detail in this article. I dare say my methods are an innovation in training and development. The focus of this training method is on developing employees, enhancing performance and also on creating a learning space within the organizational framework. The learning space created in the training sessions, weaves within it a culture that nourishes and sustains organisational health and growth.

The methods that are adopted include Small Changes which can result in enormous positive impact on the overall development of the organization.

First the question, - Why should new methodology in training be introduced?

Let us familiarize ourselves with the current challenges in training and development process.

Often, the learning and development department says, “we organize training but the employees don’t come for training, we have to beg them to attend the training program.” I have also heard department heads say, “we always send such employees who are less productive, so that we don’t waste time” . There is also another side of the story with respect to training, - some of the department heads have requested me to give a feel good factor during the training program by using games and play. Here training becomes an entertainment. These are evidences that training is not seen as a part of organizational developmental activity.

Green House effectIn a Green house with its controlled environment plants grow well. However once the green house effect is removed, often the plants die. Similarly when the employees are in the training room they are happy promising to deliver result. Once they get back to work, their old habits continue and what was learnt in the training room does not get transferred to work.

People get back to their old habits after the training program

Setting a measure for everythingSome organizations believe in setting a measure along with the learning of employees performance improvement process. This may include scorecards and 360 degree feedback system or using psychometric analysis using MBTI\DISC or any profiling system and giving feed back to employees. The negative side to this is, employees do work on what they are measured on.

The employees miss developing a systemic perspective on what will benefit the organization as a whole.

Learning and applying psychological modelsOne more method in training is that the experts from the fields like NLP, TA or psychodrama teaching the employees their model and helping them use this as a frame work to understand the organizational situations. The underlying assumption is, if the employees add these models to their working frame it will help them to generate more options at work. The limitation I see in this process is, the expert who teaches these methods would have gone through years of experience to gain the competence, but expect the employees to learn in few days and apply to their work. One more difficulty is when the work context has to be fit to a particular psychological model it can be like

“cutting the feet to fit the shoe”.

What is the way out?

This is a where “Our Innovation - Building a Learning culture for organizational development comes into play. By helping build a learning culture, we impact the organizational health and development.

This raises the question what is culture ? How do we build this in an organization?

“Culture is not seen in the balance sheets, but it has great influence in the organizational balance sheet”. - A Geethan

Every organization has its own distinct corporate culture. Culture is made up of the different ways that people communicate with each other, the ways that people lead, the physical environment of workspaces, the ways that organization evaluates its performance, and the methods through which organizational knowledge is managed and shared. Hence, culture of any organization is shaped by all

2 1



its members, and the products they produce or manage. And in between the products, people and organization are the invisible threads that bind the organization. These invisible threads contain the organization’s attitudes, traditions, personal willingness to cooperate, written and unwritten rules about how to deal with one another, how to cooperate with each other, who can be given which job, who can be a distributor etc. In short, the invisible threads hold the key to the corporate culture in the organization.

The invisible threads play an instrumental role in shaping the outcome of decisions and the fruition of the organization’s goals. The threads determine and reflect the creativity and flexibility of the organisation when responding to stress in times of crisis.

It is therefore important to understand these invisible strands of binding culture that influence the path of an organization towards its future. No intervention, change or training can produce results if it is not aligned with the organizational culture.

Here is where we come in. We weave the learning culture into the existing culture of the organization.

Along with the existing invisible strands, that make up the corporate culture we help weave in a learning culture. A learning culture consists of organizational values, systems and practices that support and encourage both individuals and the organization, in increasing knowledge, competence and performance levels on an ongoing basis. We have developed many innovative tools which will bring to the surface how responsibility is shifted rather than owned, how discomforts in the organization are pushed under the carpet, the time wasters, inter departmental and intra departmental co-ordination issues and many more such invisible issues.

Also as the employees in the vertical and horizontal positions are part of the learning space, the following processes take place effortlessly.

� Measuring of Performance � Leadership Coaching � Organizational Coaching � Mentoring � Peer Learning � Supervision

All the above will happen as a dialogical process as an ongoing process and are a by product of building learning culture. This eliminates separate training intervention.

Since the learning is a part of work and is dialogic, every individual and the resulting group energy create a compelling change. The employees show involvement and motivation as they directly benefit by stressing themselves less at work and producing more in such a supportive culture.

Once set, the learning culture in organizations paves the way for a refreshing approach to training. Some of the methods we use are

� Content memory vs context memory � Individual or group perspective vs systemic perspective � Moving from Diagnostic to dialogic � Integrating External monitoring to self monitoring � Aligning Personal competence with culture competence

¾ Content memory vs context memoryThis is about bringing the work context to the training room. The usual training model is to go through a training on soft skill methods (like leadership or team or time management and many more similar topics) and asking them to apply this learnt content to work. Here the employee’s learning is oriented to content memory of what is taught in the training room. The limitation in the process is employee who go through training may or may not transfer this content to the work context.

Hence we have made an innovative approach to bring the work context to the training room. In this way the learning is based on the work context; “how does the team work together? What is done at work which is productive/non productive ? or how time is utilized ?or How the leadership is demonstrated etc?” All these questions are processed but always aligned to their real examples from the work context. Since the learning is with respect to the work context the understanding are associated as context memory than content memory. When the training is oriented to context memory then the chances of transfer of learning is very high.

¾ Individual or group perspective vs systemic perspective:-Bernd Schmid (Dr) a pioneer in organizational development always insisted on building a systemic orientation for the employees through the workshop. Theater can be used as a metaphor to understand what is systemic perspective. An individual can be a part of the play and enact his role without even knowing the story. When every participant enacts his role but does not have an orientation to the whole story, one can imagine what will be the outcome of such a play.

An example of non systemic approach in an organization context “A manager was watching a huge amount of wastage happening in the production floor but the employees continued to focus on their routine duty and were not willing to look at how to reduce the wastage. When the manager shared his observation about wastage of raw material and checked with the employees why they are not addressing it, the employees said, “We have not been told to look at wastage.This is not part of our SOP.” This shows how employees are not oriented with the systemic view that they are part of the whole organization.

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When there is systemic orientation people play their roles but also align with the whole story and not focus on individual performance only. When a systemic perspective is built and learnt, the employees can focus 70% towards their SOP or to their roles and 30% towards the overall benefit of the organization. When the organization culture has a space and accounts for employees’ responsibility towards the overall growth of the organization the productivity multiplies beyond imagination. You can read case studies uploaded in our website www.nibbanaindia.com

¾ Moving from Diagnostic to dialogic

“………in our work as consultants, we do not focus on changing how things are done in an organization but our focus is to change the mindset with which things are done”

Dialogical Organizational Development or DOD developed by Mr Garvase Bushe as the name suggests has its focus on dialogue instead of being diagnostic. As a consequence the focus lies not on changing how things are done in an organization but to change the mindset with which things are done. Since this OD is dialogical in nature, it satisfies the prerequisite of engagement amongst employees. In the dialogical climate the patterns to be addressed emerge and the dialoguing group energy compels people to redefine their approach at work. In our training we have developed several models that will help frame dialogical situations for various organizational requirements.

¾ External monitoring integrated with self monitoring:-

There is a limitation in measuring everything and every one in an organization. Certain measures are necessary so that the organization has a control system. Along with that if the organization can weave a self monitoring culture then the set measures can become meaningful for the employees.

This is done by creating a � Mistake friendly culture � Control through dialogic environment

Often, many employees are scared to tell that they made a mistake or they are scared to take an action when they foresee a possible mistake. Petruska Clarkson in her book Fear of Failure mentions, “every employee how much ever competent or in higher positions always have a doubt on their core expertise. However they are hesitant to admit that they don’t know certain things”.

If the culture is supportive employees can be open about their concerns and admit if they have fear of mistakes or have made a mistake. Also, if no one takes responsibility / or owns up for the mistakes committed, then the organization may spiral towards chaos.

Hence in our training sessions, these explorations about mistakes or fear of failure are done with the support of dialogic control. The subordinate and the management dialogue through “why they can or should do certain things

and why they are not supposed to do certain things in an organization”. Going forward with the experience of the workshop the employees learn to dialogue through, with their managers before making a decision and thus the risk of failure or mistake gets minimized. The learning is maximized since all learnings are linked to the work context.

By practicing mistake friendly and dialogic control a self monitoring culture can be developed. A story to depict of self monitoring culture. An individual who was interested in learning how to sculpt and he found a master sculptor. The master agreed to teach and asked the student to watch the way he sculpts. The student saw a similar statue next to the one the master was sculpting. Admiring the work of the sculptor the student asked, “ what is the reason you are making this statue similar to the first one”. The sculptor said the first one is broken. The student could not believe as the statue looked perfect. The student asked, “where is it broken? I am not able to see any broken part”. The master said there is small crack on the nose of the statue. The disciple asked “where will this statue be placed”?. The master showed a high pedestal where the statue will be placed. The student asked, “who will know that the statue is broken when placed at such a height.” The master replied, “It does not matter who will notice whether the statue is broken or not, I will know there is a crack in the statue”. This is an example of self monitoring can work in employees .

¾ Moving from Personality competence to culture competence“In an organization the leadership culture is not about who is running well in this organization it about how well all are running the organization together”.

Organizations expect team performance but they measure individual performance. This leads to a culture of individual competence rather than a culture competence. When the organization focuses on individual competence then it becomes dependent on personalities. When the organization builds a learning culture it eventually lead to a cultural competence where the employees complement each other’s strength and handle situations.

An evidence for a mature culture competence is when employees dialogue and

� Share a common reality � Share responsibility responsibly � Share strategy � Share performance � Share leadership

In such a sharing the productivity is maximized with existing resources. Once such a competent sharing culture is built, then this culture will help in the organization facing market demands and also sustain its health and growth.

This is what we mean by “Build a culture that will build your business”.

Author can be contacted at: [email protected]

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Aerospace and Defence Industry – the next frontier for India

N ShekarPresident – Aerospace and Defence Industry Association of Tamil Nadu (ADIAT)

Over the last 15 to 20 years, India has emerged as an important destination for Automotive OEM manufacturers. A lot should be credited to the building of the domestic automotive manufacturers like Maruti who built reliable, cost-effective cars and created the market in a country that was starved for better transportation solutions. The earlier license raj led to the artificial scarcity which resulted in making people wait for years to buy their first car even though could afford it all along. This domestic growth made global OEMs look at India as an attractive market with substantial opportunities. Now India – with two large eco-systems around Pune and Chennai – host over 15 different OEMs that manufacture cars in India not just for the Indian market, but manufacture of cars for the developing markets in the region and even for developed markets. This was possible because the ecosystem was consciously developed over 2+ decades and huge amount skills available for the manufacture of globally competitive and cost effective cars in India. We can all feel proud of such a fantastic success story in a completely new segment within just one generation.

A similar story is emerging in the Aerospace and Defence sector in India. While India has done extremely well in the indigenous development of satellite launch vehicles, nuclear technology and support for imported airplanes for defence deployment over years, there has not been any noteworthy or significant success in commercial or military aviation industry through our public sector enterprises such as HAL, NAL and ADA. The private sector industry has largely been absent except for the last few years.

The Indian GDP has been growing above the global average and has been catching up with the growth rate of that of China. It is commonly known fact that the aerospace industry grows matching the GDP growth rate – this is true globally and also locally in various countries. Today the global aerospace and defence market stands at in excess of US$ 750B in 2015, with Asia Pacific at 33% of the global market.

Over the last 20 years, the commercial aviation market in India has seen new private players like Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and other regional players emerge serving the rapidly increasing customer traffic for travel – both for business and for pleasure. The aircraft fleet has increased to over 400 planes currently in the Indian skies and poised to grow further with over 500 planes on order. Boeing recently estimated that India would need over 1740 planes - more than 3 times the current number of aircrafts in India, over the next 20 years – most of these will be aircrafts in the 90 -200 seater single/double aisle aircraft types. While Boeing and Airbus do dominate the global market for these types of aircrafts, new competition from Bombardier (Canada), Embraer (Brazil), COMAC (China) and Russia are emerging as alternates.

With the advent of globalization and the emerging markets for

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A & D products being highly cost competitive, the global OEMs have been under severe cost pressure to find other alternative solutions to reduce their product cost. This has lead to the OEMs, predominantly from USA and Europe, redistributing their supply chain to global suppliers and developing new suppliers in lower cost markets. Availability of technologies that enable global collaboration, availability of skilled resources at locations other than home country, and the emergence of the emerging economies becoming the fastest growing customer all contribute to this trend of vastly dispersed supply chain.

Over the last decade or so, ever since the renewed strategic co-operation with US over the last decade, India has relooked at its defence needs and has embarked on a massive acquisition of various type of aircrafts and armaments to equip its vibrant military. Now India is one of the top 5 buyers in the world. Like in any other country, India also has used its massive buying power, to acquire these products at our terms. One of the requirements is that OEMs supply products for our defence requirements under the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) that has been in place since 2008. The DPP based purchases require OEMs to create India based revenue through collaboration with Indian companies – Defence offset obligations – sometimes amounting to 30% of order value.

India has placed some very large orders for defence aircrafts – combat fighters as well as cargo aircrafts for use by defence and also deployment during civilian emergency situations. By some estimates, over the next 5-10 years the likely offset obligation for the OEMs could be as high as US$ 30-40B. This presents a once in a lifetime type of opportunity for the PSUs and private players in the aerospace industry to invest in providing Manufacturing, Design, Testing and Maintenance services for the global players – many private sector companies in India have recently emerged with huge investments in this sector and collaborating with global OEMs. The government, for its part, has also revised the FDI limit from 26 to 49% thus incentivizing the global companies to invest in JVs with Indian private and PSU companies.

Many opportunities are emerging –first is increased Engineering Services Outsourcing (ESO) to Indian IT and engineering focused companies that provide these services similar to the IT services that India pioneered and grew to the global force. This ESO trend started a little over a decade ago and is gathering significant momentum in the last few years. Of course, this is not just Aerospace sector specific but across all industry verticals. The second is the increased involvement of

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the overseas suppliers in the Indian Defence Industry through collaboration and technology transfer.

Through 2017 alone, these purchases will yield at least US$ 10 – 20B in offset opportunity and it is up to the Industry players to leverage this opportunity through investment in capital, machinery, people and skill development. Of course, the skills required by the aerospace industry is not that widely available in India, to match the potential growth in the market, and thus efforts need to be spent by the various participants in the

ecosystem – academic institutions, private skill training academies, R&D institutions, and the various companies in this sector.

India, as a destination country, is very attractive for global OEMs, to use the resources available here due to its cost effectiveness and also to discharge their offset obligations in country. Across both engineering services and component manufacturing areas, talent is available at 50-60% discount compared to the developed markets. With significant experience in component manufacturing for both automotive and aerospace sectors, the components can be produced at significant discount in India. India produces one of the largest set of engineers in the world, and with a little training, they can be made ready for access by the global OEMs. Though the manufacturing sector has less number of skilled engineers in aerospace, significant efforts by government and industry bodies are being put in place to improve that situation. Global OEMs stand to benefit from shorter time to market, cost effective products while fulfilling offset obligations.

On the Engineering Services Outsourcing (ESO) front, India has already provided significant benefits to global OEMs over the last decade and a half. OEMs such as Honeywell, GE and UTC Aerospace have

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invested time, money and significant efforts in developing capability within their own in-house competency centers as well as partnering other Indian service providers. Between just the three of them, they employ over 13,000 engineering professionals. They follow a policy of 80% in house resources and 20% partner resources at their facilities. Boeing and Airbus have predominantly used partner resources while they have started investing directly in the last 5+ years through in house centers. The ESO is becoming the next wave of growth and expected to reach over $40B by 2022, according to NASSCOM estimates.

Across the manufacturing sector in Aerospace also, some success stories are emerging within last 5 years. Sikorsky, the military helicopter manufacturer from the USA, has partnered with Tata Advanced Systems Limited, (TASL) in Hyderabad, for manufacturing full cabins for their S92 model helicopters. While the initial set of first articles took a couple of years to get done, they are very successful in delivering 4 full cabins every month and have already supplied in excess of 60 cabins till date. Similarly TASL has partnered with Lockheed Martin for the C130 aircraft for the manufacture of empennage and center wing box. HAL and Dynamatics Technologies Limited (DTL) have partnered with Airbus and Bell Helicopters to manufacture parts for their programs. Important thing to note here is, that most of these programs have no offset benefit for the OEM and still they

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m a n u f a c t u r e in India to be globally cost competitive. This is indeed a very good sign.

A key r e q u i r e m e n t for the industry to grow is the abundant availability of e m p l o y a b l e skilled workforce – engineers and p r o f e s s i o n a l t e c h n i c i a n s . The need of the hour is for the eco-system to work together to create this supply of skilled workforce to the industry. Most of the participants in the A & D sector are likely to be MSMEs and they would need readily deployable engineers and technicians, as they have no bandwidth and investment capability to train raw talent. The government through its support mechanisms via various MSME support organizations and policies should drive development of these key resources for the industry to employ and provide jobs towards fulfilling the “Make in India” initiative of the central government. Industry associations like ADIAT are working with its member organizations to prepare a list of important skills and curriculum that is required to be imparted via academic institutions like engineering colleges/universities and also training institutes and provide necessary certifications to the employees trained through this program.

The early opportunities will be in component manufacturing at lower cost, special processes, jigs and tools (both for manufacturing and transport of parts), supply of standard parts for sub systems. There are huge opportunities for UAV/Drone manufacturing as the Indian government is looking to deploy them for reconnaissance, crowd control, and disaster management and also along borders for intrusion detection and control. India has a unique opportunity to be a leader in the Drone market by having a huge vision to be a white label supplier of Drones, like what Acer has done in the laptop market. 3D printing can also play a huge role in Drone manufacturing.

Another emerging opportunity with India being a huge and growing market for commercial aircrafts is the ability to provide maintenance services for these aircrafts in India and also for the region. Currently there are a few MROs in India that have minimal capability to service up to single aisle aircrafts. Most airlines fly to either Singapore/Malaysia or Dubai for major services/overhauls. The tax structure in India for MRO services is making these services expensive. There also needs to be an increased availability of trained workforce in MRO for this activity to take off in a major way in India.

The types of aircraft MRO are classified into 5 different categories – Airframe, component, engine, line/field and modifications. Some level of work is being carried out in India, specifically by airlines themselves, and also by MROs like Airworks, in some of these categories. Still we have only scratched the surface in term of opportunity for such services. Availability of skilled labor, parts supplies on demand and type certification are some of the key elements that need to be in place for these MRO services to take off. India has the geographic advantage to not only support the domestic MRO requirements but also be a regional service provider.

There are a few areas in MRO services wherein labor cost forms a significant component – for e.g. component and line maintenance – these are specialized skills but can be easily developed in India and we need academic institutions and industry to work together to create vibrant workforce available for deployment. Airframe maintenance work also has significant labor component, but that is a very specialized skill set and follow on FAA/EASA/regional certification would be necessary before the flight can be put back in service.

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In general, with the demand for aircrafts, both commercial and military moving out of USA and Europe the earlier dominant countries, the OEMs are rethinking their globalization strategy. Boeing in the USA has worked closely with Canada and Mexico in developing suppliers across the border. Japan has been a key partner to Boeing in airframe and other structural parts development. Over the last 10 years, Boeing has been aggressively developing its supplier base across the globe and has developed suppliers in India as well. Airbus, which has been predominantly Europe based in their supply chain, has also spread its wings to develop suppliers across Asia and in India.

In all this, China, as a country has benefited significantly over the last couple of decades. China has become a manufacturing powerhouse across industries and has done very well in the Aerospace and Defence space as well. Boeing and Airbus have used Chinese suppliers to develop and deliver major subsystems and structural parts for their 737, 767, 320, 330 programs. China created an aggressive aerospace policy over a decade ago and invested aggressively in developing that sector. They sent hundreds of engineers to be educated and trained at world-class institutions like Cranfield University and also recruited back Chinese engineers working at global OEMs back to China in creating a highly competent workforce that could serve the global market. With such focus, many OEMs such as Boeing, Airbus, Honeywell, Safran, Goodrich, Rolls Royce, Pratt and Whitney and others have established direct Joint Ventures or deep partnerships with Chinese companies to develop cost effective parts and components leveraging the manufacturing competencies

and lower labor cost in China. So much so, that China, over the last 10 years established its own state owned aircraft manufacturing companies, such as COMAC, to develop and deliver single aisle aircrafts – completely designed and developed in China with Chinese engineers. Very soon, within the next couple of years, they would start flying at least in the Chinese skies.

In all this, India has a lesson to be learnt. If we want to succeed as a nation, in the A & D sector, we need significant government focus in developing the sector at policy level and providing the necessary support and significantly large investments. While the automotive sector did not probably need such thinking, A & D sector definitely needs the same. India should use its buying power to negotiate strategic arrangements to work with global OEMs to bring technology to India to enable the industry to grow. The private sector companies should invest in identifying partnerships

with the global players and have a 20-year outlook in approaching this opportunity. A long-term thinking is critical to succeed in this market. We have proven that we can launch satellites and build nuclear capabilities with no global support – it is time for us to raise our hand to develop this new Aerospace and Defence opportunity to make India the manufacturing powerhouse.

ADIAT – Aerospace and Defence Industry Association of Tamil Nadu, is a newly formed association by the members of the A & D supplier base in Tamil Nadu and aims at promoting the A & D sector by working with the supplier base (both existing and new), the state government, and the academic and training institutions to create the necessary infrastructure, skill base, certification, quality standards and create new opportunities through promotion of the state as a preferred destination in India for global A & D OEMs. As a start, one of the initiatives is the development of “Chennai Aero Park” near Sriperumbadur on a 250 acres land area (with expansion to 700 acres), which will house manufacturing, design and engineering companies in this Aero Park. This will be the showcase to show the prowess of the strength of Tamil Nadu as a preferred destination. The Tamil Nadu government is very keen on promoting the A & D industry and is looking to develop the same via cluster approach by setting up manufacturing and MRO clusters across the state. A new aerospace policy is being drafted for the state, in collaboration with the industry, and will soon be announced and is expected to boost Aerospace investment and industry development in the state.

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Innovations and Brand Management

Branding is more than just giving your product/service a name and announcing your arrival to the market place. It has always been and will continue to be a strategic, continuous and long-term process. It has to register that a brand has a long-term vision, a set of promises to keep and well-defined objectives. All this holds true for the brands that have succeeded across the world. These brands evolve with changing consumers across time and geography.

A decade ago, when I was in a business school, we were told that strategic brand management in India was in its nascent stages. Home grown brands were in the process of becoming ‘strategic’ in approach to structure their brand management from a very random way of doing things. The concept of the USP was almost dead as very little product differentiation was possible - especially when it came to the FMCG segment. The biggest challenges companies faced were in marketing and brand positioning to occupy the consumer mind space. This automatically drove companies to become strategic, align their goals and set objectives. The consumers were still evolving and the Internet hadn’t happened in a big way. The products and services that were being branded were still in a sense conventional. For instance, Televisions from a box became flat. It later became an LCD and consequently LED, but they were still branding TV’s. The consumers, however, began becoming a lot more active, well-informed and aspirational.

At present, with internet taking over our lives – it is a whole new story. With brand management simply in its preliminary stages in India, the technology boom has made everything a lot more complicated. But at the same time, there are great advantages. Thanks to the Internet, the consumers have become extremely active. Their expectations have augmented. Likewise, companies today have access like never before to interact with their consumers which enable them to bring out great products, brainstorm ideas within brand communities and also position their brands effectively. There has been a phenomenal rise in product innovations. Services that have never been heard of before are actually adding value to the consumer. For instance, the innumerable apps that are being used day to day by consumers – The functional ones like car services (brands like Uber) or a social photo sharing app like Instagram. It is extremely critical to note that for every successful app like Instagram or Uber, apart from the innovation in its basic sense, what actually drove the success was strategic brand management.

Branding is the most important thing you can ever do to your innovation, which will help the innovation in multiple ways. Primarily, it helps own the innovation and allows you to differentiate with the competitors. As it is very easy for any competitor to replicate or match the attributes of your innovation, effective brand management is key in establishing ownership by means of branding the service/product. If you are the first mover in that category, if your branding is strong, you will end up owning the category and be credited for innovations that happen on that front. There are many me-too’s in the photo sharing app category of Instagram but no other brand has been able to own the category like it has or the consumer base that it has managed to build. Now, every innovation that happens in a category by someone else wouldn’t be noticed by the consumer - but if Instagram is able to match the same attributes in its updates, it would be given the credit by consumers.

Strategic Brand Management will also help in improving visibility and brand recall for your innovation. There is a common misconception that branding means investing heavily in advertising campaigns in mediums like Television and Newspapers that have been traditional mediums. The truth is, larger ‘Share of Voice (SOV)’ doesn’t guarantee ‘Share of Mind’ or brand recall. Many of the new age dot coms which spend their money realise that it takes a lot more than just mindless spending on advertising.

It is a crowded market place. Technology and Internet offer great advantage if you have identified your consumers and positioned your brand right. Once you have done that, you don’t have to go via traditional mediums of advertising. The smarter your branding is, the more economical and easier it will be to reach your consumers.

Brand management like said before is a long term process. That is why it is strategic in nature and not tactical or short term. It’s about building a long term vision and a strong brand identity with purpose and a consolidated set of values. The Apple Corporation or even Google are great examples. They have a strong brand positioning of being innovative as companies. As a result, whenever a product is launched by such companies, the market place looks forward to them with great expectations and anticipations. When these companies live up to the consumer expectation, their job is done.

In short, strategic brand management is what will make your innovation into a successful marketing idea/product or service. Brand strategy should go hand in hand from the beginning and if due investments on time and resources are not allocated on brand management, you may probably even lose the innovation. It is an overcrowded market place and the consumer environment is a dynamic.

Sameer Director, BrandMuni Consulting

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Public Speaking and Leadership

Nina JohnPast District Governor, Toastmasters InternationaI

“You can be a good communicator without being a good leader, but you cannot be a good leader without being a good communicator.”

Look at the world around you – we are surrounded by so many mediocrities posing as leaders, who can deliver great speeches without delivering on those promises. We have a whole host of performers from the media – cinema and television, who can deliver superb dialogues, but that’s it; some even need teleprompters or notes to deliver their Thank You speeches at award functions! From sportspeople, we expect performances without speeches – let the bat speak for itself.

In the corporate field, how do we become the kind of leaders who can inspire and lead others? We cannot sit back and say “Let my work speak for itself.” At every level above team lead, where there is any supervisory element, communication is important. Communication, in this case, is essential because it is a two-way process: the supervisor or team leader must understand clearly the task requirements, and then transmit these clearly to the lower levels or team members. In a manufacturing, brick-and-mortar organization, there may be specific jobs, skills, roles and responsibilities; in a technology–based firm these may be more fluid in nature; in a multi-skilling environment tasks may be assigned on a rotating or needs basis. Each organization may have different requirements and different ways of transmitting that information, but it is the efficacy of that transmission, and the higher productivity of that output that shows which supervisor or team leader did a better job.

One of his juniors quotes the example of Dr. A.P..J. Kalam joining an organization and, like any other junior, just doing the work allotted to him. It was not until his supervisor taught him the importance of focusing on work, and work towards a goal, that his perspective changed.

If communication is important, which aspects – reading, writing, speaking or listening - are more important than others? Each and every one of these, in different ratios, has a part to play.

There are some simple rules of public speaking that will tremendously improve your productivity. The first of these is to understand what your objective is: are you presenting a report of some kind, seeking funds or resources to be raised, or trying to persuade those present to acquiesce to your

point of view? For each of these, the preparation is different. If you are presenting a weekly, monthly or quarterly report, gather your data together. Be sure you have your data current and accurate; the larger the amount of data, the better to convert into a visual graphic form such as a pie chart for easier understanding. Use the visuals to walk your audience through the report, with your words adding details or background. Make an adequate number of handouts ready for handing out during or after the meeting.

If you are looking for more funds or more people for your team, make sure you have the details of what the overall organizational objectives and targets are, and then specify what you need in your team to help achieve that goal. Be clear about the resources you have and even what you are willing to negotiate. Bring facts and statistics to the table - leave the egos out and you will be surprised at how much you can achieve.

Be willing to listen. Let all those at the table have their say: when you listen with an open mind and reply coolly and calmly, half the battle is won. Rushing in to cut off other people is rude and ill-mannered and just raises their hackles. Think about what the others are saying, understand the implications and the consequences and then frame your answer in the most appropriate language. If you want to know how not to behave in a meeting, watch the noisiest panel discussions going on television every night.

When you are objecting or disagreeing with anybody else, do so in a polite, respectful manner. How well you behave is a direct outcome of the organizational culture. If you are not going to stand up in front of a mike and say all sorts of things, there is no need for them at a simple meeting either. Are you willing to be quoted in somebody else’s conversation or in a newspaper? Then use words and sentiments that can be

3 1



quoted. Politicians can always claim to be misquoted: in an office this is not possible. Keep disagreements professional; let the others know that your objections are objective, and they will appreciate your stance. Go out for a cup of coffee together afterwards, maintaining the camaraderie and keeping office morale intact.

Learning to listen to your colleagues during the meeting as well as the coffee breaks gives you a better understanding of their personalities. Be friendly without being too intrusive and your relationship will improve tremendously. The same applies for clients and others you interact with.

Above all, reading widely and often helps build up your general knowledge of life outside your cubicle, keeping you

abreast of advances in your field and the different industrial sectors. You never know which development is going to affect your industry the next: the advent of the mobile phone and the internet has knocked out cameras, alarm clocks, even ball-point pens, notebooks and newspapers!

Learn to be relevant regardless of the technology; the principles of good communication will help you gain that competitive edge always.

All these together will help you at every step of your career. If you are a newbie, understanding the organization and the orders, tasks and instructions given to you let you execute your job properly. At the management level, you need to be able to direct and delegate effectively, ensuring organizational goals are met or even exceeded. At the top level, you have to conceptualize and envision the future, understanding current trends and gearing up accordingly. ITC for example diversifying from being a purely tobacco company, or ICICI betting on technology as a driver for the banking industry, or e-commerce companies becoming purely app-driven.

Any start-up entrepreneur will tell you how difficult it is to monetize the dream, and to make it an enterprise that runs on a day-to-day basis: the leadership qualities in action, the spoken word and the written making all the difference.

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Registering MemoriesMAME Award 2015 & MMA 59th AGM

Winner - Manufacturing Sector, Cochin Shipyard Ltd, Cmde K Subramaniam, Chairman & Managing Director making presentation at the Seminar on “Managerial Excellence”. Mr R A Sridhar, Whole Time Director, Amco Batteries Ltd chairing the session

Winner - SME Sector, Spincotech Pvt Ltd, Mr Arvind Thyagarajan, Director making presentation at the Seminar on “Managerial Excellence”. Mr R Venkatakrishnan, Director, Value Added Corporate Services P Ltd chairing the session

General Bikram Singh, Chief Guest and Mr Vijay Sankar, Guest of Honour releasing the Special Issue of MMA Business Mandate on “Managerial Excellence” during the MAME Award Function & MMA 59th Annual General Meeting

(L to R) Gp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM (Retd), Ms Kavitha D Chitturi, Mr Raju Venkatraman, Mr T Shivaraman, Mr R Srikanth and Mr L Ramkumar during the Business Session of MMA 59th Annual General Meeting

Winner - Services Sector, Shriram Life Insurance Company, Mr Manoj Kumar Jain, CEO & Managing Director making presentation at the Seminar on “Managerial Excellence”. Mr K Suresh, President & CEO, India Cements Capital Ltd chairing the session

Winner - Educational Institutions, Sri Sairam Engineering College, Dr C V Jeyakumar, Principal and Dr Maran, Director making presentation at the Seminar on “Managerial Excellence”. Mr K M Padmanabhan, Director, Prerana Educational Media (P) Ltd chairing the session

General Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd), Former Chief of Indian Army & Chairman, Chiefs of Staff delivering Keynote Address during the MAME Award Function & MMA 59th Annual General Meeting

Mr T Shivaraman, Sr Vice President, MMA presenting memento to outgoing President, Mr Raju Venkatraman during the MAME Award Function & MMA 59th AGM

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Registering Memories

Dr S Narayan, IAS (Retd), Former Finance Secretary & Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister during the talk on “The Implications of Greek Crisis”. Mr R Raghuttama Rao, Past President, MMA and MD, ICRA Management Consulting Services (IMaCS) chairing the session

Mr S Seetharaman, Chairman & Managing Director, Super Auto Forge Pvt Ltd addressing the members on ‘Success Stories – How it was done!’. Mr R Srikanth, Sr Vice President, MMA and Jt Managing Director, Brakes India Ltd chairing the session

Mr Gopinathan CP and Ms Ritu Vinayak, Co-Founders of 361 Degree Minds during the talk on “White Leadership”. Mr C V Subba Rao, Deputy Managing Director, Chemplast Sanmar Ltd chairing the session

(L to R) Mr N Shekar, Dr Mrs Elizabeth Verghese and Mr B Elangovan, during the 3rd Dr K C G Verghese Endowment Lecture on the theme “Chennai Aero Park – Indian Aerospace Industry - Immense Opportunities”

Dr R M Anjana, Jt Managing Director, Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre and Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis during the Panel Discussion on “Technological Advances, Innovation in Healthcare Industry”

(L to R) Mr C Siva Kumar, Dr M Rajaram, IAS, Mr V Ponraj and Mr D P Padmanabhan during the talk on “The Immortal Legend Dr A P J Abdul Kalam – Principles to Guide and Inspire Modern Leaders”

Professor Prabir K Bagchi, Vice Chancellor, SRM University addressing the memebrs on Country’s Competitiveness: Whither Are We Wandering – Effect of Supply Chain Competency. Mr T Shivaraman, President, MMA & Managing Director & CEO, Shriram EPC Ltd chairing the session.

(L to R) Mr M Subramanian, Prof R Sridharan, Ph.D., Brigadier B Narayanaswamy, EME (Retd), Dr Prafulla Agnihotri, Mr K Sudhakar, Mr R Rajamohan, Dr R Subramanian, Mr K Shankar during the installation of Office Bearers of MMA Trichy Chapter 2015-16

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special issue fountainhead of excellence congratulates the winners of 4th cavinkare-mma ......

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