Change Magazine March - April 2013 by Godrej

‘Integrity’ has been at the very foundation of G&B since its inception about 115 years ago. All along these years, Integrity has remained our defining value. In the year 2000, Integrity was formally adopted as one of our core values to underscore the way in which our businesses ought to be conducted and the way in which our people ought to conduct themselves. Integrity is like an iceberg, a little of which is visible over the surface but the bulk of it remains unseen and unaddressed. Financial integrity, which is often the visible part of the integrity iceberg, tends to be looked at and attended to leaving the bulk of the integrity iceberg unattended and not cared for. A large ignored portion of the Integrity iceberg leads to lower exploitation of the power of integrity, which compromises the ability of our organisation to win in the marketplace. The two basic dimensions at the level of financial integrity are to do with the way in which our customers get treated and the way in which employees carry out financial dealings on behalf of the Company. Our customers are entitled to receive what is promised, perhaps a little more but never less. All promises made have to be clear, unambiguous and devoid of any unpleasant surprises. No attempt must be made to take unfair advantage of them. Suppliers too, should be treated with trust, clarity, specificity and promptness. Employees must display high integrity behaviour in terms of expenses and costs

they incur for the Company. Every expense or cost incurred must be genuine, judicious and in accordance with the Company’s policies. Every rupee spent should be considered as one’s own and hence the same care that one would accord to one’s own funds should be accorded to the Company’s funds. This principle is also applicable to the Company’s assets entrusted to employees for business purposes. Also, the laws of the land have to be complied with full involvement of everyone, both in words and spirit so that G&B always stands tall as a good corporate citizen. In today’s hypercompetitive world, when our people continue to do what we’ve always done, making no significant improvements, then they compromise the ability of our Company to win. People with a high level of integrity would voluntarily put in best of their efforts and would walk that extra mile to delight customers. Flawless and speedy work is expected. This dimension of integrity, rarely considered, is of great importance for staying competitive. And yet, at a deeper level integrity has a dimension of intellectual honesty. This would mean saying whatever is in the best interest of the Company and persuading others to buy into it for the greater good. But, more of this can happen only when people feel assured that they will not be punished for speaking their minds. Managers at all levels must be open to the dissent and should ensure that disagreements are never taken personally. In all our interactions, we must be transparent. There must be no hidden agendas. There is an old adage – “If you have hidden something, then you must have had something to hide.” Transparency goes a long way in building trust in relationships. But, it takes courage and must be supported by a system that values the truth. Uprightness is another overlooked facet of integrity. Upright people own up the consequences of their actions, learn from their setbacks and resolve to do better. Here, managers need to be fully engaged in the work being done by their teams and lead from the front by co-creating solutions. Finger-pointing and blaming are to be avoided. Managers need to develop into coaches and not judges! To bring best out of our people, we must focus on the hidden parts of the integrity iceberg, making it visible to create a culture where people are encouraged to perform honestly and to the best of their abilities. This would help build high performance integrity teams that would increase our chance of success in the market.

Editorial

he year that has gone by was a challenging one for most of our businesses. The year that we have entered into looks equally challenging with weak Rupee, high inflation and low growth. The task before our businesses is to meet the annual business plans presented. This is not an easy task. To do well, we must find the levers to do well. Where are these levers? In the list of things done well or in the list of things not done well? I believe that there lies a greater leverage to do better from the list of things we already do well. Our businesses may make small gains by improving on the things not done well but the substantial gains are to be had by building on the things done well. We must learn to grow from our strengths. Staying focused and performing exceptionally well on three or four important things will yield good results even in turbulent times. To do things well calls for paying a great deal of attention to details. A mindset of caring for details is absolutely essential. Sohrabji Godrej, whose centenary year we are celebrating, was great at paying attention to details. He would take great pains to ensure that everything went well as planned. Likewise, in case of any written communication that passed through his desk, he would make sure that it was accurate and correct. He abhorred the attitude of ‘Chalta hai’, and shoddiness was an anathema to him. Vrunda captures this dimension of his personality in a short piece written by her for us to take note of. Mr. Phiroze Lam has penned a special message for Godrejites urging them to

focus on the future which is full of promise and excitement. This issue of CHANGE has pieces written by our business leaders on things they did well to have a successful year. These tested and successfully implemented list of strategies and approaches, form a useful collection of initiatives for our businesses to implement in the future for meeting newer challenges. Thus, opportunities with high potential exist to leverage successfully on the things done well by our businesses. Thank you George, Anil, Dara, Vishwanathan, Purvez, Kaustubh, Surendra, D.K.Sharma and Khumbatta. Parmesh Shahani reviews the book Business Sutra by Devdutt Pattanaik which is a fascinating book with deep insights into the Indian way of conducting business. Recently Devdutt gave a ‘CHANGE Talk’ which was very well attended and hugely liked. The theme of ‘Relationships’ is carried forward here by Rekha Pandey in her article on teacher-student relationship. Falguni in her comprehensive report captures all on the front of Employee Engagement activities. As always, your feedback is welcome to make CHANGE better.

Happy reading, Indrapal Singh

Building on the things done well

Contents

Details mattered a lot to Sohrabji

The year that was

Fought hard to emerge stronger

Staying the course successfully

A fabulous year that was

A year of good performance

A great year - an outcome of nimble-footedness and teamwork 18

Marching ahead with precision

Propelling ourselves into a higher orbit

A landmark year

Edit Board

Anil Verma | Head, Edit Board

Meeting the challenges of slowdown aggressively

Towards stronger bonds

28 Nalini Kala | Edit Board

What makes a good teacher today 32

Deepak Banota | Edit Board

Business Sutra with Devdutt Pattanaik

34 Nariman Bacha | Distribution

iDance 36 Change - Poem

For private circulation only. No part of the magazine can be reproduced in any form without due permission of the editor. You can mail your contributions, suggestions and feedback to: The Editor, Plant 11, 2nd Floor, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli (W), Mumbai 400079, INDIA or email us at change@godrej.com Published by Indrapal Singh on behalf of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. Design & layout by thought blurb thoughtblurb.in Photography by Shivaji Ghag Printed by Silver Point Press Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

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Details mattered a lot to Sohrabji By Vrunda Pathare, Godrej Archives Doing many little things flawlessly matters, as often all accomplishments are the accumulation of a number of such relatively small things.

ohrabji would often say, “If one takes care of the small things, big things will take care of themselves!”, remembers Krishnaswamy who had worked as his secretary for many years and has many stories to tell. SPG had this unique gift of remaining committed to the huge causes such as environment, population control and economic development, while staying focused on the details to ensure that things got done as they ought to have been done. Little things did matter to Sohrabji and he never even missed the smallest detail, especially when people around him were concerned. Krishnaswamy feels touched even today when he recollects how amidst the busy schedule during the inaugural release of ‘The Godrej Story’ film at Vigyan Bhavan at Delhi, Sohrabji had remembered that it was Krishnaswamy’s first visit to Delhi. Sohrabji personally spoke to the branch manager and made sure that Krishnaswami got an opportunity to move around the city. Such little gestures make a big difference in both the personal as well as professional lives of people and are priceless as they mean a lot to them.

Sohrabji was very particular about the correct usage of language. He paid great attention to language, not only in the important speeches he gave and articles that he wrote, but also in the routine pieces of communication that crossed his desk. Rohinton K. Patel of Godrej Appliances has an interesting anecdote to share. He recollects that when he was in the Central Personnel Dept. (precursor of today’s Corporate HR), in his office located at Plant 12, each of the desks carried a nameplate in both English and Hindi. Once it so happened that Sohrab Godrej came to one of the desks just to make a phone call and while observing what was written on the nameplates, he said that names in Hindi were not proper. He sorted the confusion by explaining that if the name reads R.K.Patel in English, it cannot be ‘Aar Ke Patel’ in Hindi as R & K are English letters! In that case, he added, the name in Hindi should read as Ro (from Rohinton) & Kha (from Kharsedji) and thus the full name in Hindi should be written as ‘Ro Kha Patel’ and not ‘Aar Ke Patel’. He then went further saying if he had to write his name in English and Hindi, he would write ‘S.P.Godrej’ in English and ‘So Pi Godrej’ in Hindi. Sohrabji had a keen eye for details.

At many events, the details of the Dias are not attended to properly and as a result the impact of the speaker’s lecture gets diluted greatly to the disappointment of the audience. SPG simply abhorred such carelessness at the function that he hosted and worked tirelessly to get the details right.

Bidding farewell to SPG’s secretary of many years, Mr. K.R.Krishnaswamy, at the Ripon Club, Mumbai

Doing many little things flawlessly matters, as often all accomplishments are the accumulation of a number of such relatively small things. The change that we desire to see around us will not come about unless the details everywhere are attended to conscientiously.

The year that was By P.D.Lam

t was a very difficult year, leaving most of us battered and bruised. The Tsunami which hit us, left behind so much pain and havoc. In most of our businesses, whatever we tried, was never good enough. We changed the rules of the game, took midcourse corrections, ploughed on, but the results were rarely satisfactory, and we saw opportunities disappear like grains of sand sifting through our fingers. The business climate continued to be gloomy, customer appetite to buy remained pathetic. Several of our innovative strategies met with a blank wall. It was a Herculean task just to ward-off despair from breaking down our doors, from letting our morale sag. We dug in our heels, we ground our teeth, we soldiered on. Never have I seen so many wonderful men and women work so hard, to achieve so little. We flung aside our disappointment and despair, and focused on a future full of promise and excitement, a future which is a dream in the heart of every single Godrejite, a future which will make all of us justifiably proud and which will earn us

the respect and honour which we deserve. We do not believe in limitations. Limitations are passĂŠ. We only believe in achieving our dreams. With a deep hunger and sense of excitement, each of our 14 businesses laboured long and hard and charted out their 10x10 aspirational plans which were extremely ambitious yet definitely doable. This exercise encompassed hundreds of our employees, and we delved deep into areas where hitherto we never dared to venture. We inhaled massive doses of fresh air, we involved every person in our business, we garnered the views from those at the bottom of our employee pyramid, we empowered them to dream, we allowed them to make mistakes, we instilled in them a hunger to perform and succeed. The total focus has shifted from products to customer centricity to an exciting â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;customer experience.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; The customer is palpable. Success will depend on whether we can fuel it, on and on and on. I have every faith and confidence that team Godrej will make it possible, and I am proud to be an integral part of a great Company, with a great future.

Fought hard to emerge stronger By George Menezes, Godrej Appliances A story of David fighting the Goliaths and emerging stronger.

ction, Emotion, Suspense, Hope, and a few bizarre Challenges-this could be the bedrock of a typical Bollywood pot boiler or well, we could be talking about the Appliance business in India. After all, it’s the exact same mix of human, natural and supernatural powers that tested our endurance and determined our destiny! While the Godrej story in the appliance space may seem like the ideal David Vs. Goliath story, let’s not forget that in the current scenario even the Goliaths have grown way smarter, and to stay ahead we have to re-invent, re-innovate and re-engineer! The past few years have been truly challenging for this industry—an industry which once saw a double digit growth, then lapsed into stagnancy and even degrowth in certain categories. This is despite the fact that appliance penetration in India is much lower than global standards, and hence seemingly a big opportunity area. However, global slowdown, currency fluctuation, metal prices or that mystical entity we call weather, it all collectively dealt a debilitating blow to the industry. It’s on the back of this scenario that we started our business planning for the year 2012-13. The experience from the immediate past had made us wiser but yet the uncertainty of the business made us vulnerable. Our bigger challenge was to choose between protecting our bottom-line for the year while continuing to invest in our products so that we remain competitive in the long run; even in a year as challenging as this one. A tight ropewalk indeed. Therefore, mere tweaking of our earlier strategy would not have taken us far. We

had to go back to the drawing board and rewrite the rules of the game. This task needed us to be nimble and ingenious and it needed us to try out things that no one in the industry had tried before. It was asking us to push the limits and create new paradigms. To start with, we got every team member involved in the process and thus got them to internalize and become conscious of the challenges facing us. Everyone had to deliver but with resources far lower than what they had the year before. In a difficult year, driving productivity, controlling cost, ramping up efficiency was no more a choice but an imperative! All in team Godrej Appliances (GA) resolutely focused on conserving and leveraging resources optimally. From R&D to C&D Coming to the crux, products are the key drivers of the business. We needed to create products that were way better and not just as good as the competition. The simple question we had before us was how do we beat the multinationals with global expertise, access and resources? Our teams found new ways of surmounting this challenge. If these multinationals benefited from their global footprint, then we needed to create a global network of partners who would work with us to give us the edge. In essence, we moved away from the concept of Research & Development (R&D) to a new philosophy of Collaborate & Develop (C&D). This also gave us an opportunity to forge associations with specialists in every single area; be it IA Collaborative, a Chicago based design

firm rated amongst the top 50 global design agencies or BSH (Bosch and Siemens) which symbolises German expertise in cutting edge technology. These par tners were delighted to be associated with us in our journey towards excellence. Pursuit of Good & Green Our pursuit of Green also saw International Government bodies like German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) coming forward to work with us in creating breakthrough environment-friendly technologies which were deployed by us in developing the world’s Greenest AC (to read more about it, please read the Sept.-Oct. 2012 issue of CHANGE) which has been getting rave reviews at all international symposiums. Forging strong relationships: Having created great products, the second challenge was how do we take it to the consumer? Our competitors have always had an advantage when it comes to cornering all the P’s of Marketing, thanks to the nature of business they are in. Players like Samsung and LG, with a larger portfolio, and with their presence in categories which are at the top of the consumer durable purchase hierarchy, benefited hugely from their size and scale in the consumer durables business. And as if this wasn’t challenging enough, the year also saw new global giants trying to make inroads into the Indian market to offset their losses from a global slowdown. These players were in a hurry to make a mark and were willing to buy market share by flinging money as time was at premium for them.

herself was evolving no less. He or she is no longer interested in one-way communication where they ended up playing a passive role. More than ever before, they are now keen on conversations. We hence moved our strategy from one-sided communication to creating engagement platforms. We acknowledged the power of digital and invested in a fruitful digital and social media strategy. The year 2012-’13 saw Godrej creating benchmarks in the industry by crossing a million fans on Facebook, having hashtags that trended at no. 1 in the world, so on and so forth. Secondly, we also ended up creating platforms that help in engaging our consumers, whilst establishing our brand’s positioning. Brand activations: We launched the Godrej Eon One Watt Project, India’s largest consumer movement on creating awareness for energy conservation. This movement was ostensibly launched to save a billion watt for the nation.

To succeed in this scenario, we needed to excel at the channel and with the consumer. This demanded a relook at our relationship with both these vital business stakeholders. At the trade level Godrej has always enjoyed tremendous respect. Our new mission was to build on this equity and make the association much stronger and mutually beneficial. We created platforms for one-on-one engagement with our trade partners and organised more than 200 trademeets across India where the senior management met up with over 18,000 trade partners throughout the year. We built robustness in the secondary sales force management with an appointment of over 100 Retail sales officers with distributors covering over 7,000+ retail stores to ensure better servicing at the very last leg of our distribution network. Furthermore, we inducted over 30 merchandisers who covered the top 1,500 counters contributing to 60% of our sales to ensure a proper display of our products. Alongside this, we created systems to ensure better profitability of our trade partners through instant claim settlement, better product

availability and stringent service norms. We also ventured into new channels like E-commerce through a strategic alliance with leaders in this space—indiatimes. com and homeshop18. Connecting with consumers through Social Media: At the consumer level too, we decided to change the paradigm. We realised that with less than 2 % share of the industry ad spends, it will be difficult for our voice to be heard. We also noticed that the consumer

We also created the Godrej Eon Woman of Substance platform to recognise ordinary women who have done extraordinary deeds. The power of this platform can be recognised by the fact that for the first time, Femina Miss India crowned a non-pageant delegate at the grand finale by crowning the winner of Godrej Eon Women of Substance along with the beauty pageant’s winners. Sports are a phenomenal way to connect with the younger audience and we took cognizance of that. We decided to use cycling which is emerging as ‘health and green sport’ by becoming the title sponsors of Godrej Eon Tour De India, 1.

1. Adam Gilchrist and the Kings XI Punjab team flag off the One Watt Project

a property which has huge equity and is part of the global UCI sports calendar. We also took associate sponsorship of the Celebrity Cricket League, an innovative format of cricket that brings together two of India’s biggest religions – Cricket and Cinema. All these activities while they were no less backed by an instinctive reasoning and gut-feel, were also chosen based on their ROI and impact. Advantage service: While our marketing activities ensure consideration and preference amongst the larger masses, our focus has always been to provide best-in-class service to ensure that our existing customer base is equally delighted and creates a positive word of mouth for our products. As far

as appliances go, we believe that the consumer is won over by word of mouth more than any other activity. Our service team has been constantly improving on the service delivery over the years. But now even that is no longer a point of difference; which is when the team came up with a brilliant thought. ‘Why don’t we allow our customers to decide our quality of service and thus push our limits on delivery?’ We created a very unique concept nationwide called Customer Satisfaction Number (CSN). Now every Godrej customer had the power to rate our service by revealing a secret SMS code to the technician only if he was happy with the service. Along with this, we incentivized all out service providers and technicians to obtain CSN

number creating a win-win for all. Suddenly the entire system was charged to get CSN from the customer and in that process gain a more satisfied customer. Hospital clean and Garden green: Our journey towards excellence was not just restricted to consumer facing functions. The quest to excel was witnessed at every single level. Our factory has been our true symbol of pride. Up until now, our challenge was how do we create the finest, best and the latest products and technology if we had a plant which was quite simply, one of the oldest? Our teams bravely broke this myth and with their ingenious thinking brought the production quality to a level that it is today the benchmark in the entire region. Presently, the factory in Shirwal is the

role model for all factories in the region. The team has won many awards in 5S, quality, productivity, energy conservation, materials management and Kaizens in external faceoffs at the operator and management staff levels. Our mantra of ‘Hospital clean and Garden green’ has become the buzzword in the manufacturing circle. These initiatives coupled with our progress towards a higher level of indigenisation has helped in bringing down the cost of manufacturing and thus helping it in becoming a more profitable operation in long run. Our tough and talented team: In passing, we have to recognise our biggest asset: our team, which inspite of multiple ups and downs has shown an inexhaustible resilience to keep the Godrej flag flying high. One of our challenges also was to get this motivated team charged up even more. The answer was simple. From ‘motivation’ we decided to bring in ownership through inclusiveness and entrepreneurship (internal entrepreneurship). We gave opportunities to the team to add to the business profit by identifying and taking on new projects. This was taken to every location and to every individual. The team identified 262 n ew oppor tunities which realised over Rs.100 crores of cash for the business. As

we look back, we feel that the PMO project was one big initiative that helped us sail steady even during the most turbulent time that the past year has been. Alongside this, we also undertook a whole host of People initiatives including the sharing of business performance with all team members, recognising the contributors across functions under the Appliance League of Champions and bringing in gender equality in places where we could never imagine – at the plant shop floor and field sales force. All in all, the year gone by was one which tested every sinew, every fibre of our being. It was a year where our capability, our mindset and our limitations were challenged to the limit and team Applianc es’ grit, determination and indomitable spirit helped us come through it stronger and more determined. Now, we have set course for another year which we are sure is going to be equally challenging and exciting too.

2. Urmi Basu of Kolkata declared the winner for her work on gender equality 3. Winners crowned at Buddh International Circuit, Delhi 4. Godrej team wins the prestigious D.L.Shah Quality Award

Staying the course successfully By Anil Mathur, Godrej Interio Strong focus on core strategy - the key to surviving turbulent, uncertain times.

he year 2013 was a mixed bag for the economy. It was a turbulent time for the furniture industry and as is said by global furniture manufacturing leaders, this industry is the first to get hit and the last to recover in economic downturns. However, the brands with strong fundamentals survived and continued to focus on their core strategies. At Godrej Interio (GI), the story is no different. We had our share of the rollercoaster ride but our strong fundamentals helped us navigate the turbulent period and enabled us to contribute substantially to the top-line and the bottom-line of G&B. Actually, the agility within GI got a few things right to drive a good year during a really tough financial year. It was at two levels, one, building the brand at a higher level and two, driving our cost competitiveness. The strategy also was on getting the right balance of spends for benefit, short term versus long term. Based on our core strategy, we focused on three aspects, namely: 1. Brand Leadership 2. Design Leadership 3. Cost Leadership 1. Driving the brand up the value chain GI developed specialised and localised marketing communications to drive sustenance of brand leadership. From low-cost brand awareness campaigns to bringing in Knoll (a high end, leading player in the US) into India, making our presence felt in global markets (NeoCon, Chicago and Arab Labs, Dubai to name a few), strong on ground connect with Green (CII forums, WeCycling – concept where we take responsibility of our product even at the end-of-life) and Wellness (conducted over 100 grass root level Ergo Audits, at client locations), revamped retail outlets for both B2B and B2C locations, helping customers get a better and an unified experience of the brand, leveraged our BIFMA certification as the 1st country in Asia to get BIFMA Level certification and many more. One of the core results of the strong brand was that GI could lead a consortium for the entire Godrej & Boyce Businesses and won the first turnkey implementation for a large corporate hospital chain. As a part of our strategy to enhance the brand image through improved customer experience,

GI enhanced its retail presence both in B2B and B2C through larger stores (500 – 600 sq mtr) where consumers could get an idea of the variety, fit-feel-finish and experience the products in an ambience which would delight them. 2. Taking design to a new level Design is actually the core of our business and we ensured that we played our cards right here even at a time when pressures of business were low. We launched over 65 new products in both B2B and B2C. This was a good number to hit as it gives us a base to lead the industry from the front, create trends that competitors will chase, trends that will take Godrej Interio, the brand, to an untouchable level. The range of introductions included highend kitchens, bed-room sets, innovative seating and desking products, modular office systems, healthcare products, etc. However, was sheer number of designs enough? The dedicated team of designers got the brand a few great awards from different forums. We won the CII design excellence award for Namaste (furniture for the education industry), the Elle Décor Award for Plug-in, the India Design Mark for Ace & Scintilla chairs, the Crisil Medical Healthcare Innovation award for Chrysalis, our motorised ICU beds, to name a few. Beyond developing designs and getting awards for them, the core was to see if global acceptance of these products were a reality. Interestingly, we tested out a chair, Scintilla at Orgatec, Cologne, and CIFF Guangzhou and got raving reviews.

3. Cost competitiveness is mandatory for success To be successful in any business, one needs to look at costs – not from an accounting perspective but from a revenue and savings perspective. At GI, we have looked at various options to drive cost competitiveness. Our manufacturing foray in Bhagwanpur, with low investment has resulted in generating unprecedented ROI taking into account the fiscal benefits. The manufacturing facility of Plant 4, Pirojshanagar was shifted to Shirwal where GI had acquired a prelamination plant, thus building up cost competitiveness from raw material stage (pre-lam boards) to finished products both for home and institution. Apart from relocation and in-house automation (using robots), Low Cost Automation (LCA) helped us in improving productivity, reducing errors in rework which apart from bringing down the cost, improved consumer experience. The story from here Business ups and downs will continue to be a part of every economy and every business. However, a brand/business needs to grow beyond the visible horizon. This thinking led us develop a long term plan for GI – the 10x10 plan – growing the top and bottom line 10 times in the next 10 years. With this vision, we looked at emphasising on B2B and B2C as two separate verticals. The business went in for major restructuring exercise in frontend to make the structure customer-centric rather than product-centric. Each vertical now looks at developing concentrated focus and hence strategy to conquer each milestone and hence the vision. Our belief is that, ‘all our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them’.

Chrysalis

A fabulous year that was By Dara Byramjee, Godrej Security Solutions Removing constraints of supplies and innovative marketing paved the way for success.

Y 2012-’13 had been a great year for Godrej Security Solutions (GSS). The top-line grew by 19% & bottom-line grew by 79%. The GSS team has managed to triple the bottom-line over last two years, an impressive achievement by any standards.

able to establish a strong presence in the Home Security space. We expanded the retail network significantly and were also very active in social media for building conversations with our customers who are active on the internet.

Physical security business was up by 31% and retail business grew by 35% over previous year. We improved our working capital management by clocking in 9.2 WC turns against 7.8 turns in the previous year. Our return on investment was highest ever, at 122% with a large flow of cash to the treasury.

On the foundation of impressive growth in top-line and bottom-line for FY 2012-’13, we have chalked out robust plans to enable us pursue the path of progress with enhanced vigour and intensified focus. A growth of 27% on our top-line and 12% growth on the bottom-line are planned for, after factoring for much increased cost of new investments.

All these impressive results were achieved by sustained and dedicated hardwork put in by one and all at GSS. ‘One big thing’ that made a major difference in our performance was successful deployment of TOC (Theory of Constraints) methodology through which over the last 2 years we have increased our production output by 45% in 2011-’12 and further 31% in 2012-’13. We also improved our manufacturing systems through deployment of several process improvement initiatives with focus on Automation & Robotic applications. On the marketing front, last year we promoted home security solutions through award winning, and highly innovative TV commercials, press ads & PR initiatives. Through these endeavours, we were

For putting in place a pipeline of new products we have embarked upon a multigeneration product planning process for gaining market share in physical security business. The retention of existing customers and acquisition of new customers are being facilitated by the deployment on project ‘N-gage’ and building of a robust sales channel. Customer engagement and loyalty programs are bound to help us consolidate our existing relationships with customers. A slew of innovations in marketing, design, process engineering and supply chain functions are being given the deserved importance. TOC methodology will be fully leveraged to increase our output in tune with the market demands. We will also focus on

improving our safety performance through a series of initiatives planned for the year. To achieve 37% growth from our retail business, we are planning to strengthen our retail network by appointing 1,800 additional retail outlets during the year, taking the total to over 6,000. For Premises Security Line of Business, we have made elaborate plans to achieve profitable growth. Our principal focus will be towards promoting CCTV surveillance systems for banking segment and commercial premises, for which a series of initiatives have been planned. On exports front, we will leverage on several international product certifications we have obtained from several global test houses (like VdS, UL, ECB.S, BRE, SABS, CNPP, SP) and also increase output from manufacturing lines created for exports products, to grow our international business by 41%. In closing, I would say that in FY ‘13-’14, the focus will be on top-line growth, fortified with healthy bottom-line growth, and further expand our manufacturing capacity for catering to the growth. I am blessed with a very good team and I am sure that this team, enthused by the success of the past 2 years, will certainly rise to the occasion and deliver another solid performance this year as well.

A year of good performance By Purvez Gandhi, Godrej Construction Redefining our businesses coupled with improvements all around yielded success. Godrej RMC Plant

or years now, we have been creating vibrant and green spaces for living and work, making Pirojshanagar Township a preferred destination for individuals and businesses. As we reflect on the year gone by, the key drivers of the business indicate that we have performed well, thus making us stand out for all-around improvement. Redefining our Businesses The 10x10 perspective planning exercise (growing by ten times over ten years) helped us translate our vision to aspirations for each of our lines of businesses and beyond. It paved the way to fortify our thinking on considering new business opportunities and venturing into new domains of providing Precast Building Solutions from concept to commissioning and expanding the portfolio of concrete products such as Aerated Autoclave Concrete Blocks, Precast Products like Sleepers, Pipes and Poles and the like. We augmented and redefined our existing lines of business and enlarged their scope substantially to breathe new life into them for nurturing budding businesses. Concrete Products is our new redefined portfolio of businesses, of which Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) is one of the older lines of business. RMC, despite facing unfavourable market conditions reached the milestone of Rs.100 Cr. for the first time since its inception. A new Plant for producing concrete blocks from recycled concrete having a capacity of 14,000 blocks per shift is being established at Vikhroli (West). Our new business vertical of Construction Projects has successfully met the timelines for the construction of a Data Centre & Office Space project of M/s Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. at Kandivali, having a built-up area of approx. 10,000 sq. mts. (1 lakh square feet). They have appreciated our efforts in writing in terms of adherence to the timelines whilst maintaining high standards of safety. The property development and the estate leasing lines of businesses have been combined into the real estate line of business which handles

the responsibility of developing G&B owned land and leasing of spaces at Pirojshanagar. For the three Platinum towers, B1, B2 and B3, Godrej Construction (GC) received excellent buyer response and secured a price appreciation of around 45% over a period of 18 months. These successful launches have substantially boosted the confidence of the business. Last year was the first instance since the inception of the property development business that two large residential towers, Godrej Platinum B2 and B3 were launched more or less together within a year. Building on our core capabilities GC has initiated a major change in the way traditionally the construction business was conducted by promoting the concept of changing attitudes in construction by fostering a culture of partnership for the benefit of all the stakeholders involved. Construction projects line of business is offering Project Management Consultancy (PMC) Services to Godrej Security Solutions for setting up its new manufacturing plant at Ambernath, having a built-up area of approx 10,000 sq. mts. (1 lakh square feet). This pilot project is being implemented on the principles of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Lean Constructionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and going forward, we plan to use the learnings from this project as good practices, to be deployed for the future projects.

GC has also introduced two new safety concepts namely, Height Pass Test and Safety Passport. Both are intended to improve safety at construction sites. The business excellence journey At the last Quality Summit, GC was awarded the Commendation Certificate for Significant Achievement on the Journey of Business Excellence. This is an important milestone for us and we commit ourselves to driving positive change in the business and aspire to win Business Excellence award in future. GC started its Kaizen initiative sometime back and today we have been able to achieve 100% participation from our people, both workmen and management. On the Good & Green front, which is our strategic group-wide Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, GC has started providing and facilitating skills training in the trades like plumbing, masonry and plastering to the underprivileged labourers in the construction industry. We plan to expand our training scope to include skills like carpentry, shuttering and bar bending. These small steps would bear fruits for our society in the near future by

enhancing the employability quotient of the people at large. From a qualitative perspective, we aspire to be the unique Company in India being vertically integrated right from manufacturing aggregates to undertaking of construction contracts and also being a developer of repute. All these forays are being pursued with the deployment of state-of-the-art technologies and modern construction management practices whilst creating new benchmarks for safety, quality, time and cost. I thank each and every member of the GC team for the passion and energy displayed and the positive mindset exhibited towards welcoming transitional change for growth and new challenges. We are certain that GC will endeavour to surpass its own performance year after year in pursuit of setting standards as builders of the nation.

A great year - an outcome of nimble-footedness and teamwork By A.M.Vishwanathan, Godrej Storage Solutions A dual focus of revenue generation and containing costs paid off well in the hostile, uncertain business environment.

he FY â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12-â&#x20AC;&#x2122;13 was a challenging year by any reckoning. Sometime back, IPS asked me to write on what did we do differently as a business to achieve good results, notwithstanding the difficult business conditions. This got us thinking, and here is a short piece on what we found we did differently. What was different about Godrej Storage Solutions (GSS) last year? If you look at our results, we - Turned profitable, and not just marginally. - Performed to plan on almost all business parameters. And how did we achieve this turnaround in performance?

It was primarily on account of - An early reading of market trends - A quick re-jig of our strategy to align with emerging market trends - Effe c ti ve i m p l e m e ntati o n of th is re-jigged strategy, and most importantly - Tremendous team work and concerted efforts of the entire GSS team determined to succeed in the face of all odds I believe a strong determination to succeed and teamwork are by far, the single most important factors that have helped us succeed. We knew that we have to manage a volatile environment effectively and not succumb to its pressures. We knew that we had to be agile to exploit opportunities and counter the dynamic market situation. Also, we knew that only if we got together effectively as a team, we could achieve these results and indeed we did. As a business we did many things differently and well. Some of the vital ones are as follows: 1. Our focus on maximising revenue in a difficult market â&#x20AC;&#x201C; through large orders from the international market and through introducing value-added solutions paid off handsomely. 2. Our sales team proved its mettle through its sustained focus on improving realisations rather than mere top-line. 3. Our integration of sales incentive to s a le s re a lis a tion a nd not jus t ord e r va lue, impacted the realisations through the year positively. 4. Our control on fixed cost came in very handy under conditions where revenue expansion was difficult. 5. Our journey towards manufacturing exc e ll e n c e u n i te d th e e ntire s u p p l y chain team towards our business goals.

6. Our design team not only achieved cer tification and recognition from international organisations, also, they remained focused on what was required to succeed in the market, e.g. providing of cost effective innovative solutions, integration of high-end technologies with our own products to create a winning solutions in the market. 7. Our Total Cost Management (TCM) initiative focused on monitoring manufacturing cost efficiency as well as monitoring customer segment profitability. Our detailed analysis of cost & profitability for each segment led to effective counter measures through the year. This is one of the key examples of our finance teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deep involvements in the business. 8. Overall, our finance team worked as a full-fledged partner of our business team as opposed to merely being an auditor or a watch dog. The entire team of GSS was determined to make this year different and indeed they succeeded. The team had put in tremendous efforts to make the year an outstanding one in the history of the business. I am proud to be associated with team GSS, and I am confident that this year too we will repeat our performance in spite of many challenges that may come our way.

Marching ahead with precision By Kaustubh Shukla, Godrej Precision Engineering Dogged pursuit of our goals, superb teamwork and high scores on quality, productivity, safety and innovation determined our success.

odrej Precision Engineering (GPE) serves the Nuclear, Defence and Wind Energy sectors. This is one of the newer businesses of G&B, and has created excellent references for good quality of work done in all the 3 sectors. These sectors had been dominated by organisations that have over two decades of advantage over GPE, so it is indeed creditable for GPE to have created a mark for itself in a short time, a mere decade of existence. The business commenced operations in the year 2002-’03, and turned profitable in the year 2008-’09, and has had a profitable run ever since, except for the year 2010-’11. The journey has been very challenging yet satisfying, for besides positive financial results, the B u s i n e s s h a s wo n s eve ra l National recognitions and is seen as a key industrial partner by its customers. GPE ended the year 2012-’13, with the top-line which was nearly as much as that of last year but the bottom-line was indeed impressive at 28% over the last year, and a whopping 71% over the plan. These seemingly reasonable financial numbers do not tell the entire story. These outstanding results have been achieved with extraordinary efforts, relentless and dogged pursuit of our goals, seamless working of teams across functions, and outstanding achievement on quality, productivity, safety and innovation fronts by one and all. The annual plan we had set out to achieve started appearing hopelessly unachievable

from last May onwards, as we braced ourselves for one challenge after the other. As is well known by now, Wind Energy sector simply collapsed. Against the 2347 MW capacity addition in the year 2010-’11, and of 3697 MW capacity addition in the year 2011-’12, the sector installed only 1068 MW of capacity till Dec 2012. Stalled production and blocked working capital meant that the very sector we were hoping to ride on for our breakeven revenue was no longer available. Likewise, the Nuclear and Defense sectors too were buffeted with a series of challenges; fear psychosis post Fukushima disaster that led to huge delays in new programmes and a regime of much tighter controls on quality acceptance standards, mothballing of weapon system development programmes and so on. In a single year the sunrise sectors appeared eclipsed! At the ground level, while our execution capability increased multifold, the customer organisation could not keep pace with the need of the hour. As a result, programmes that were running did not get adequate and appropriate support from the customer. We too were affected by the now common parlance of ‘policy/action paralysis’ when decision making in customer organisations came to near stand-still owing to genuine and unfounded fears!! Decision on tenders where we were the lowest, placement of orders, instructions for commencement of production, approvals at all stages as

mandated by the Quality Assurance Plan – all happened at snail’s pace, reluctantly. The splendid performance of the business can be credited to overall good team per formance, aided by excellent customer-centricity, seamless & boundaryless way of working, excellent rapport a n d cordial relationships with various agencies, customers and vendors and a large measure of good luck. The year saw some very significant achievements by team GPE, some of which are as follows: Engineering Feats: • Calandria : One of the most critical piece of equipment in the Nuclear Reactor, was the first experience for Godrej. Despite that, we were first in producing the first Calandria for the indigenous 700 MW programme, ahead of more experienced organisation, and did so with far superior quality performance as recognised by the customer. • Fuelling Machine Bridge and Carriage : We were also the first to produce Bridge and Carriage for the Fuelling Machines for the 700 MW Nuclear Power Plants, and did so in under 30 months beating all previous records and even the current performance by a competitor by an order of magnitude. • Development of the first generation of Anti-Tank Mine Laying Equipment – this is a first of its kind equipment developed in the country that can lay and camouflage

1. From L to R : Top row: V.S. Rawat, Ishwarlal Yadav, Sushil Kadam, Vikas Revade, S.R. Gajmal, G.S. Sawant, Sirish Karbhari, Sanjay Kate, Bottom row: Ashok Partole, Rupesh Gangan, Rajesh Parab, Pravin Patil, Anand Murbade, Fenil Shah, R.R. Poul, Naresh Panchal, Ashok Kate 2. Kaustubh Shukla (left) and Anil Verma (centre) with NPCIL CMD K.C.Purohit (right) 3. Fuelling Machine Bridge & Carriage

anti-tank mines at the rate of 6 mines per minute and record the GPS coordinates for recovery at a later date. The equipment sensors and controllers can sense the type of ground conditions and adjust the speed of the vehicle and laying. It is a sophisticated system involving Mechatronics, Hydraulics, Electrical & Electronics, and Controls & GPS system. We created trenches to simulate soil conditions in Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal for testing of the equipment. • Fuelling Machine Test Carriage: Using concurrent development and engineering, this project too was executed in a time frame that was thought to be unachievable as acknowledged by the customer. Safety Performance: • The business recorded Zero Accident in the year 2012-’13 and has clocked incident free 429 days and 1.904 million man-hours.

Awards and Recognition: • For the 6th consecutive year, teams from GPE won the prestigious National Award ‘Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar’ for the improvements made in the Production System. This year 3 Teams from GPE received the award in Category C. So far, 12 Teams have received National Recognition (4-B & 8-C) • The Business received the award for the Best Performing Business in Kaizen for the year 2011-’12. • In the current year, it achieved the feat of 100% Participation by all Operators and Engineers and for the Highest Individual Contributor for Kaizen (Manish Panchal with 724 Kaizens) and with 6.13 Kaizens per employee being the 2nd highest in the Company. People Results: • The Business continues to be the

one with the least attrition ratio of 6% as against the Company average of 10%. • Let’s Talk Survey – for the 2nd consecutive year, the business has been the 2nd best or the Best Benchmark on all the parameters. • On other parameters too – absenteeism, alignment, internal growth – GPE was amongst the forerunners Customer results: • It is satisfying to note that the Customer Satisfaction Index revealed that the business is rated as Best-In-Class on most of the parameters. As the business readies itself to face an even more challenging year 2013-’14, it has the confidence that its sustained and strong focus on people and processes will enable it to build a successful business in a high technology domain.

he FY â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;12-â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;13 was a breakthrough year for Godrej Precision Systems (GPS) with a host of possibilities for growth in future. The way in which our business team performed during the year was vastly different from the earlier years. Our intense focus on fundamentals of the business and building competencies, paid off handsomely. For the first time in the history of the business, the plan for the top line was not only achieved but exceeded along with a substantial improvement in the bottomline. The top line grew by more than 100 % over the previous year with exports accounting for about 30%. On the qualitative side, the business emerged as a reliable source for major aerospace customers in the western world having all the necessary approvals and certifications from the regulator y bodies as well as large multinational customers. GPS secured vital domestic orders and crucial export orders. GPS entered into long-term agreements with its key customers and created a healthy bank

Propelling ourselves into a higher orbit By S.M.Vaidya, Godrej Precision Systems A huge leap ahead for realising our 10X10 aspirations 1.

1. Advance merit program for all 4 Nadcaps, Special Process and Accreditation 2. & 3. 150th assembly for first defence set program to Rafael, Israel 4. Realisation of largest solid booster from very high strength Russian alloy

of orders having a beneficial product mix. For future supplies under the existing agreements, we succeeded in negotiating enhanced prices as well as improve financial terms for improving margins and working capital. The all around improvement in performance is a result of performing well on the fundamentals as well as enhancing competencies through extensive training, both external and in-house. More than a dozen taskforces and teams were formed to improve manufacturing processes, methods, project planning, quality control and the like. A special focus was placed on outsourcing of C and D class items for making our in-house facility available for complex jobs. This called for augmenting of processes of our suppliers, which our Q&A team did very well. Apart from the above, our teams on the shop floor spent a huge amount of effort in fool proofing manufacturing fixtures and preventing last minute surprises. The manufacturing shops were relayed for improving efficiency and visibility. More than 1800 Kaizens were received and implemented. In the end it was extraordinary teamwork and working in both push and pull mode that made the day. Another highlight of good performance on the shop floor has been the implementation of the second phase of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). This ensured that the key machines and processes were available for production as and when required without any glitches, to ensure the planned output. Likewise, a special processes department was set up to ensure that these processes were delivered as desired. Customer Support: For the first time since the inception of the business we received extraordinary support from our customers in terms of supplying of raw material in time as well as giving

us the necessary clearance well ahead in the schedule to prevent avoidable delay. The third party inspection agencies also supported us through extensive inspection coverage and timely review and clearances of drawings, to enable us to undertake a larger batch size for production. Apart from improved business performance, we achieved many important milestones during the year. In closing, I would say that last year we stretched like never before, struggled hard and sweated a lot to achieve a breakthrough. In the process we found that there are several areas which need much more work so we can have a better year in FY ’13-’14. The performance this year was indeed confidence building for both our customers and the top management and is indeed a validation of our thinking process which will enable us to perform at a higher level in the future. This year indeed has been a step forward in becoming a supplier of ‘stages’ as opposed to mere components and assemblies. I must acknowledge the unstinted cooperation and the hardwork of everyone at GPS in making it the year that it was.

A landmark year By D.K.Sharma, Godrej Tooling Focusing on the chosen strategy and pursuing operational excellence yields better than expected results and helps our team strike an improved work-life balance.

ne morning of September 2012, on my way to work, I drove down to the factory dispensary in our campus. As I exchanged greetings with Dr. Bhatia, and explained the purpose of my visit – that I was there to get my lipid profile checked as a follow-up to my annual health check – his experienced smile conveyed to me that he wanted to correct something about the root cause of stress levels. Quickly, he remarked: “Are you not, as Business Head, creating stress for yourself, and passing on the stress to others too?” Well, I pondered over his comment, and asked myself if he was right. Thoughts that crossed my mind were: If, while being in a position of responsibility, we are able to make our business sustainable and meaningful for all stakeholders, we should all be very happy. 2012-’13 has been a year of landmark performance for Tooling business, despite the gloomy manufacturing business scenario. I will attribute this success to the following key initiatives the team undertook: Strategy: Over the last decade, the Tooling business developed into an auto-centric business. While one school of thought strongly suggested de-risking the business by developing non-auto channel of the business – Prof. Shoji Shiba, on the contrary, strongly opined to stay focused and strengthen the core channel of Automotive Tooling. We, as a team, towed the middle path that helped us leverage the best of both. For the automotive customer base, we concentrated our product mix towards our highest areas of expertise – which, while increasing the revenues (both absolute & percent share of overall) from Auto-sector, also increased the overall profitability, thanks to an optimum product mix.

for us and delivered better than expected results on the bottom-line.

TAKT rate. Capacity definition by Unit Die across functions was introduced.

Chopping down the lead times by half, we were surprised to see the results of our own belief becoming a reality.

This resulted in a TAKT rate of 27 unit Dies per month, as against the best benchmark of 16 in the year 2011-’12. Investment done in Tool Holders and Cutting Tools paid back in 7 months. An increased Production improved our profit margin by 25% over Plan.

Operational Excellence: In the Annual Business Plan for our lead Die Casting Dies business, we had planned a growth of 24% in productivity. Market presented an opportunity for higher growth. Deployment of Automatic Tool Changer (ATC) on 17 suitable machines, and introduction of TAKT rate for a proto product helped us achieve a growth of 45%. Loss analysis matrix of CNC Milling machine, the most constrained resource in Die Casting business, attributed up to 10% losses to tool organisation and management. While use of ATC is a straight forward answer to this, it posed a unique challenge in a protoshop like ours: accommodation of all tools for variety of job which far exceeded the total available tool ports on machine magazines. Downtime for magazine changeover would offset the program driven tool change gains. Standardisation of cutting tools across projects helped address this challenge and exploit ATC. A significant investment was made to load all machine magazines with cutters and holders. A detailed task preparation process for every loading supported the initiative further. Theory of Constraints (TOC) way of working was used to identify and elevate constraints, as it moved to other resources in our endeavour to maintain the

Work-Life Balance: I blamed myself, when I saw my teammates sitting late in the office beyond the stipulated hours of work. A quick introspection revealed that I have never expected my senior team to go home late. Unknowingly and subconsciously, it led to a chain reaction down the line. In the beginning of Q1 in the current fiscal year, I announced that people sitting late in the office would be counselled and monitored. The tagline “No one wanted the label of being inefficient” worked well for us. I could see people leaving for home on time. However, there were spells when people were confronting issues related to expediting the plan, when they again broke their promise. I am personally committed to making the system more efficient which will enable my young team to make a habit of spending quality time with their loved ones, yet deliver sterling performance year on year, to epitomize the ‘Brighter Living’ at Godrej.

1. Customer appreciation 2. Typical ATC mechanism on a CNC machine

In our lead business of Die Casting Dies, we selected the products to serve the twowheeler industry so as to give us volumes. We also focused on developing niche transmission casings for the 4-wheeler tools. These products needed least design efforts, and we could quickly encash the repeatable nature of these products by exploiting shopfloor utilisation. This had a cascading effect – the same strategy, when applied to our Industrial Machines line of business (primarily catering to the non-auto customer base) to focus on large value orders, worked out very well

Meeting the challenges of slowdown aggressively By H.N.Khumbatta, Godrej Material Handling Consolidating and expanding at a time to meet even tougher year ahead.

n October of 2012, Godrej Material Handling (GMH) was halfway through the development of its 10-year perspective plan, an exercise which began in July that year. The plan envisaged ambitious growth and expansion of its business and global footprint over the next 10 years. It was during this phase of working on the plan that we sensed trouble in the business environment. Beginning of 2012-â&#x20AC;&#x2122;13 was normal, however, the market showed clear signs of softening by the end of second quarter. Customers began deferring investment in capital equipment and the flow of new requirements reduced significantly. The year that went by turned out to be one of the toughest years ever faced by GMH.

Foreseeing the slowdown that would ensue and the adverse impact it would have on revenues, GMH began exploring new ways and means of increasing revenue so that the shortfall in some of the lines of business could be compensated. Also, to protect the bottom-line, GMH initiated cost containment measures. All these efforts were given a quick start with a firm resolve that no matter what the impact of the slowdown, the business would strive and achieve the promised results. We decided to accelerate our new product introduction efforts. Last year we developed our first five-high empty container handler truck. We incorporated several advanced features in our electric forklifts to enable them to have an edge against the competition. Our development team revamped our range of warehouse trucks in a short span of time so that these new models of trucks could be offered during the year itself and create references for future sales. To boost sales revenue from our dealer network, we introduced several new models of the items sold by them, including hand pallet trucks with scissors lift, drum handlers, manual sweepers and the like. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system was implemented to improve sales and service productivity. Sales of the recently developed Neo series electric forklifts began accelerating on the strength of its clearly demonstrable higher productivity, superior ergonomics and energy efficiency. Customers found they could move more goods per hour with the Godrej Neo than with any other electric forklift. GMH decided to introduce a range of branded lubricant oils, specially formulated

for material handling equipment, thus becoming the first MHE manufacturer to do so. The rationale behind introducing branded service related items in a difficult year was to test out the logic of providing branded service on a larger scale in the coming years. In addition to the above, we decided to advance some of the plans and initiatives charted in the perspective plan well ahead of their initial schedules, with the aim to ensure we had sufficient avenues to improve sales and drive down costs. In other words, our intent was to explore every possible avenue for expanding the business. Aggressive expansion of network was undertaken across India, so that we could sell our product lines meant for small and medium sectors in larger numbers. Also, we began to foray into new regional markets abroad. Communication to the prospective customers was intensified through varied means such as road shows, exhibitions, par ticipation in industr y magazines, billboards, industry seminars, etc. to remain uppermost in the minds of customers. New investments that had been planned earlier to increase our manufacturing capacit y, improve productivit y and consistency, began to take concrete shape as high-end machining centres arrived and were installed in the last quarter. These machines began reducing our material’s bill immediately.

As commodity prices softened slightly, supply contracts were re-negotiated to bring material costs in control. Cooperation from suppliers was sought to help improve our working capital and we began to carry out more value addition activity in-house. All these measures helped us to achieve a reasonable top line growth while protecting the bottom-line considerably. It was a great matter of pride for every member of GMH when we were chosen as one of the two G&B’s businesses as an exemplar of ‘aspiration development exercise’ by Boston Consulting Group. The business environment in the current financial year remains challenging as the economic and currency crisis takes hold. The team at Godrej Material Handling is not overwhelmed by these challenges and is continually striving to find ways and means that would enable them to adhere to their overall business goals and grow stronger in the process to pursue their 10X10 aspirations. As I conclude, I would like to convey my sincere appreciation to each and every member of GMH for their dedicated efforts last year and emerging stronger!

1. Empty container handler 2. Godrej Lubricating Oils

Our decision to create and develop a small manufacturing facility dedicated to the production of warehouse trucks in south Gujarat - a couple of years ago - paid off handsomely as we were able to competitively meet the rising demand of these equipment while the larger Pirojshanagar factory was able to focus on the larger counterbalance products.

Towards stronger bonds By Falguni Turakhia, P&AD Engaging Godrejites beyond work

onding is a mutual interactive process characterised by emotions like affection and trust between groups and teams. This happens whenever people spend time together. By providing a platform to Godrejites to bond, it is expected that they will come together to create a brighter Godrej. We began the year with S.P.Godrej Memorial Marathon which was held on Sunday, 3rd June, 2012. This marathon brought together 300+ Godrejites running

Left to right: Nikita Samuel, Falguni Turakhia (Author), Apoorva Bhadang

1. Godrej Marathon 2. Football Tournament

a stretch of 8 Kms at Godrej Creek side colony, championing for a cause. An amount of Rs.31, 101/-was donated to Spandan Holistic Institute for mentally challenged children. Top 25 runners of the Marathon were taken as qualified for participating in Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to be held in January 2013. This group had both men and women of varied age groups with some of them being 60+. With the setting of the monsoon, it was time for Monsoon Masti Football Tournament. 32 teams from across businesses and functions came forward to compete with one another.

Played in the format of league-cumknock out, this year the audience witnessed tough competition coupled with loads of excitement in the matches played over a period of 1 ½ month. The grand finale had the ‘Security Solutions Titans’ pitch against ‘Geometric Legends’. And after a tough fight, Geometric Legends emerged as the winners beating three time winners Security Solutions Titans. Congratulations to the new champions! “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found its words”. Kavya Rutu – where employees of Godrej came forward and presented their thoughts on topics – Ambition, Water Conservation, Towards a brighter work environment, Excellence and Strength of character.

The poems continued to flow in for a week and we receive 120+ poems in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Regional languages from all across our branches and head office. it was simply amazing.

“ I dream of painting and then I paint my dream” – Vincent Van Gogh Rang Tarang, a painting competition where employees painted on topics covering –Sustainability, Protection of girl child, Save Tiger, Collage of Godrej products and Carbon footprint mitigation. Mediums given – Paper (Charcoal painting, Caricature and Illustrations) Ceramic (Mug), Fabric (T-Shirt, Umbrella) Face and Hand. More than 300+ employees across businesses from Pirojshanagar and branches participated wholeheartedly in the contest. Time to capture special moments! – Foto Fiesta – All India photography contest gave opportunity to all employees to share their special photographs on the following topics: New Beginning, The Royal Tiger, Colours of Rain, Love of Earth and Abstract/Conceptual. The event was held on 18th August 2012 i.e. on the eve of World Photography Day.

With 500+ Godrejites sharing their pictures, we were overwhelmed by the response! “The sweetest thing while I shall live, is truly learning how to give” – Unknown. Joy of giving week – where the employees came forward and showcased their commitment towards the noble cause and towards the society. From 2nd October to 8th October 2012, items like clothes (normal wear, woollen wear, blankets), toys, educational books, newspapers, magazines, used office stationery, utensils, household items, bicycles, etc. were donated by employees.

3. Rang Tarang 4. Cricket Tournament

5. Rang de Rangoli 6. Star Kalakar

At the end of the week, 4 tons of items were sent to the NGOs – Goonj, Umang and Children Toy Foundation. While it is good to receive, it is far more rewarding to give! De Ghumake... The most awaited tournament was Godrej Golden Jubliee Cricket Tournament. The tournament witnessed participation of 64 teams across the Godrej group this year. Filled with fun and excitement, peppered with enthusiasm, the audience got to see real competitive matches from 20 th October to 10th December 2012. Duniya hila denge hum, hum duniya hila denge... aala re...

What better way to welcome the festive season with colours... Rang de Rangoli, a competition where employees give colour to their thoughts. The competition was held on 3rd November 2012 which saw 200+ Godrejites forming teams and drawing Rangolis on the topics such as – Contended Family, Emerging India, Light in Your lives and Philanthropy & Corporate World The ‘Star’ of the events – Godrej Star Kalakar had zonal rounds this year and the finale saw Godrejites from various parts of the country compete with each other on a common platform. The grand finale was held on 18th January 2013. Employees from Delhi, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jaipur, Pune and Mumbai were seen showcasing their skills in dance, vocals and musical instruments. The true stars of Godrej stole everyone’s hearts by their performances. And finally the team who works behind the scenes to ensure you get all the fun and excitement in the events throughout the year... THANK YOU == Nikita S. and Apurva B. Winding with a promise to come up with loads of events for 2013! Cheers to Godrej!

What makes a good teacher today By Rekha Pandey, Udayachal High School A teacher-student bond built on trust and respect forms a strong foundation for the fulfillment of the teacher and growth of the student.

fruitful educational system is based on the loving relationship and bond between the hearts and minds of the teachers and the students. In today’s world, it is vital for a teacher to be an engineer of the soul of every student. The students should discover a friend, philosopher and guide in their mentor who becomes an inspiration for them. The teacher has to first help the students identify their hidden talents and then act as a catalyst to help them use those talents to their advantage. His/Her role is to offer the required guidance and ‘nurture’ the students so that, when under pressure, students do not abandon the fields of great interest to them. It is therefore necessary that a teacher develops appropriate skills to help them sail smoothly through tough times. The role of an educator is to develop love for learning among students and not merely impart knowledge. It is very important for the teacher to not only be proficient in the subject she/he teaches but should also be able to make lessons interesting and thought-provoking. Students should be encouraged to ask questions so that their ability to think critically is enhanced and their intellectual capacities are boosted. Innovative teaching methods have to be adopted by the teacher to ensure that the learning process becomes simpler and fosters better understanding of the subjects. The idea should be to make students

application-savvy so that the knowledge acquired by them is used in their daily life and future endeavours. In today’s age of technology where students have easy access to the world wide web, it is crucial that a teacher collaborates with the parents to counsel and educate the young minds so that they stay away from inappropriate content that is so readily available on the web. Patience plays an important role in dealing with students as these tender minds need to be dealt with lots of affection rather than harsh means. The significance of the use of technology in the right and constructive way has to be inculcated in the students by the teacher so that the students view technology as a tool to improve their way of living. The challenge for a teacher in today’s world is to become well-versed in operating the latest technology and devices which facilitate the teaching-learning process. A teacher needs to interact with her/his peers from across the globe to enhance the knowledge and expertise by exchange of ideas and teaching material. Active participation by educators in different workshops and training sessions provide the impetus to sharpen their skills and provide new dimensions to their teaching methodologies. Every teacher has to be open-minded, curious and sensitive to the

changing environment so that they can absorb what is happening around them and adapt themselves to the changes appropriately. In this evolutionary process it is a must that the core values, beliefs and traditions are kept intact. There are little eyes upon you and they are watching night and day there are little ears that take in every word you say. - Anonymous Such is the crucial challenge before a teacher who is a constant role model for the little ones, the pupils. For a teacher, teaching should be a passion which drives her/him to perform the required tasks with great enthusiasm and zeal as opposed to it being a mere means of livelihood. The most fundamental aspect of a good teacher is to lead by example and inspire the young minds through their actions and conduct. Emphasis should be on education that sensitises, as this triggers the transition of overall personality and behaviour. The aim of an educator should be to help students develop a vision and they in turn need to provide pupils with their unconditional support, guidance and wisdom. Thus, motivation and commitment are key ingredients for a teacher as they perform the crucial role of shaping the future generations who will bloom into ideal global citizens.

Business Sutra with Devdutt Pattanaik By Parmesh Shahani, Godrej India Culture Lab Devdutt Pattanaik gives us a new perspective on the business world through mythology in his book.

ast month, it was a pleasure to h o st the celebrated mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik at Godrej for the first joint Change Talk – India Culture Lab event on our campus. We have been having parallel events for many months now – with employees from GILAC and G&B attending both – the Friday Fundas as well as the Change Talks with regularity, so we thought we would do a joint event together. The overwhelming response has indicated to us that we need to do many more of these! Devdutt spent the first half of his professional life as a medical doctor and then a management consultant, but on the side, he diligently researched and started writing about Indian mythology. After a few of his books were released, he encountered Kishore Biyani of the Future Group, who appointed him as the group’s Chief Belief Officer. This served as an intriguing perch for him to engage the corporate world with his mythological interpretation of how business ought to be done. When Devdutt gave an influential TED talk about Western versus Eastern world views it catapulted him on to the world stage. Now, we are in the midst of a mythology fashion wave, at least among writers who write in English – there are authors like Amish Tripathi and his Shiva Trilogy and even others like Ashok Banker, Chitra Banerjee Divakurni, or Ashwin Sanghi who are using mythology successfully in their writing. But Devdutt was writing much before it was cool to do mythology, and this rootedness has resulted in a mini-mythological empire that includes his books, columns and TV shows on business channels as well as entertainment channels, including

the immensely popular Devon ka Dev… Mahadev. Personally, I had previously stayed away from reading anything associated with mythology as I associated it with religion and that too with being conservative; something that was an antithesis to the ‘modern’ perception I had of myself or rather the person I was projecting myself to be. But reading Devdutt enabled me to both, widen my world-view and at the same time confidently embrace my Indianness. I see Devdutt’s writing as an attempt to create space for ambiguity, in the hope that people might see the recurring patterns and expand their minds a little. During Devdutt’s Godrej talk, we had a fascinating conversation about his latest book Business Sutra. The book begins with the statement that human hunger is unique. As Devdutt has written, a plant craves sunlight, food and water. In the animal kingdom, the animal runs and chases something to eat to satisfy its hunger. The animal chases the plant, and the plant cannot run away. So not only does the animal consume, it consumes another living creature. But animals can and do run away when a human or another animal tries to consume them. So, a new relationship emerges - prey and predator. In the case of human beings, as Devdutt writes, this hunger transforms dramatically because now humans have imagination. As Devdutt told me during our conversation, “My hunger becomes imagined hunger, not just hunger to satisfy my stomach. My hunger is for today, tomorrow, for 10 years later, for my children, for the next seven generations. My

hunger now is infinite. It never ends because I’m constantly consuming. Once this is understood, business is understood. Whose hunger are you satiating? How much of it are you satiating? What is a shareholder’s hunger? What is an employee’s hunger? What is a consumer’s hunger? What is a vendor’s hunger? Unless I understand this hunger, how do I know what food to produce?” This is one of the business sutras, which in Devdutt’s book, then bursts forth into a whole bunch of ideas. The book has many other sutras, and is very unlike any other management book I have read. One of the most moving parts of the book to me was the last chapter, where Devdutt talks about ‘Yama’s Balance Sheet’. What does life all mean in the end, when we have to do our personal

accounts? As Devdutt told me during our talk, he thinks of the book as a “very Indian approach to management”. Indian because it breaks away from the western management language of win, lose, compete, rival, take market share, etc. The whole notion of grab, capture, colonise, control is like a battlefield. But as Devdutt told me, when he delved deeper into mythology, he came across alternatives. “In heaven, there’s a king called Indra. Indra has everything he wants but he is insecure. He is afraid that Laxmi will run away, that too towards Vishnu. So Indra chases Laxmi but Laxmi chases Vishnu. Indra is always in a rannbhoomi, a battlefield, a war where he is fighting to grab Laxmi. Vishnu is always in harmony or rangbhoomi, a playground, sitting on a beautiful boat cradled by the ocean and the waves, swinging and where everything is fun. And so, Laxmi comes towards him. So I said, business can be rangbhoomi as well.” I asked Devdutt how a company could use this Indian approach in its day-to-day functioning and he replied, “You need to ask yourself: what is business? Is it a set of tasks? Is it a set of rules? Is it a set of targets? Or is it a set of people? If you

asked about how Indian companies like Godrej could manage to survive cut-throat competition in an ‘Indian’ way. Devdutt’s answer was very simple. He said, “You can do two things – you can either participate in the competition or you can change the rules of the game. If you change the rules of the game, you’ll always be ahead of the curve. If you don’t, you’ll always be at the bottom of the curve. You don’t have to follow someone else’s game.”

believe it is a set of people, then people’s subjective truth matters. But if you believe that people are a set of targets, tasks and rules, then people are just resources to be used; to be domesticated, like animals; like the sheep, the cow, the pig who will do exactly what you tell them to do at the appropriate time, in the appropriate way, at the appropriate place. As is belief, so is behaviour, so is business. What is the emotional undercurrent of your policy? How do you see business? Words like stake-holder value, what do they mean? Do people matter? Who are people? People are people who can imagine. A person can imagine anything – how much do you value my imagination is the question. Or do you say your imagination doesn’t matter, numbers matter, especially when they favour me. Which means stake holder value is a word but I don’t believe in it. What I believe is: you are a servant, don’t use your mind, and just follow the systems. It is a good way of doing business but it will always be a battlefield, never a playground.”

It’s hard to condense an hour and a half long lecture into a newsletter article – so if you’d like to see the entire video of Devdutt’s Godrej talk, please watch it online http://indiaculturelab.org/events/ book-and-film-club/business-sutra/ - and also do read the book if you can. It has certainly changed my perspective on how business can and might be done. Parmesh Shahani heads the Godrej India Culture Lab. He is a TED Fellow, MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow, Utrecht-Impakt Fellow, the author of the non-fiction book Gay Bombay (2008) and often speaks about Indian cultural shifts at conferences all over the world.

There were so many audience questions during the talk that we had to ask them to write them out on chits. One question 1.

1. Devdutt Pattanaik interacting with the audience at the book signing event 2. Audience at the talks

iDance By Rajesh V. Jethwa While I dance I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole. This is why I dance. - Hans Bos

echnically dance is an art, a rhythmic movement of body on music, expressing feelings and emotions or might be just conveying socially relevant messages to the masses. But for me, dance is not restricted to this definition. Initially, I took dance as a hobby, having fun and joy as the only reasons to dance. Gradually, dance became an important part of my life; in fact, today I can say that ‘dance is my life’. Dance has a vast variety of forms. Some dance forms such as Hip Hop originate from the prevailing culture, some from individuals like Michael Jackson, others from the Film world like Bollywood. There could be a long list of it. I am most fascinated by the Hip Hop dance because of its several unique features; it is freestyle, it doesn’t have specific steps and it can be improvised readily. It offers complete freedom to express oneself in one’s own way. This is what makes it very popular among the younger generation. Dancing regularly keeps me physically fit. It acts as a stress buster, particularly after nine long hours at work. In office, you are mentally engaged but physically inactive, therefore, dancing away your

mental fatigue is essential and in fact is far more enjoyable than merely lifting weights or being on the treadmill. You sweat a lot while dancing which is healthy for your body. Also, the music which is played when we dance, helps us relax mentally, giving us one more sensory pleasure. The positive effect of music and dance together can be appreciated only by experience. For many years, I am associated with a dance company which conducts dance classes all over Mumbai and elsewhere. It organises shows, events, besides participating in youth appealing cultural events such as Kala Ghoda Festival, Bandra Festival and others, to reach out to the younger generation. I find belonging to a community of dancers and promoting dancing very enjoyable. As I move along, I would like to do my bit to promote dance as one of the key medium for expression- an intrinsic urge of humans. I believe that it is never too late to start dancing. Let’s dance. *Rajesh has won Godrej Star Kalakar trophy, category- Solo dancing, for last two years. He has won many other dance competitions in Hip Hop category.

Change By Sakti Singh Das

o change is the inherent universal inertia, To accept change at ease is the oldest euphoria,

People resist change by their perceptions, Cause, fear is in the core and in their anticipation!!

Adoring changes bring in new perceptions, Adding love and light for many generations! Remember the hardest change you once adored, See the fruits which you & your children harboured.

When we prepare ourselves to accept changes, We flow at ease all time, accepting challenges, Importantly, change is the engine for our evolution, Which make our nature thrive and in its creation!!

Behold the caterpillar that renaissance to butterfly, So many changes it undergoes, for it to beautify. Hence, to change is the only constant in life, Adapting changes with open mind, is progress in life.

Sakti Singh Das is a Management Consultant. He can be reached at shakti66@gmail.com

A LESSON FROM THE PHOENIX The mythological phoenix as described by the ancient Greek, rises from the ashes every 500 years. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s era of revolutionary, fast paced change, constant turmoil and uncertainty, businesses and their people must continually reinvent themselves. Managers must assume the roles of coaches and mentors to enable their people to work more effectively in these turbulent conditions. All these efforts should result in creating businesses that are customer-centered, agile and great places to work.