IIM-K Leadership Series: Harsh Mariwala talks about the Marico story

The session began with Mr Mariwala narrating the story of how Bombay Oil Industries Ltd. (BOIL) began as a small family owned unit engaged in producing and selling branded vegetable oil. Mr. Harsh joined BOIL after his graduation in 1971 and eventually took over its consumer products division in 1980. Here he realized the need for a complete restructuring of the organizational setup – from a family-run business to a more professional entity. The immediate challenge he faced was to attract key talent, which he met by recruiting people from diverse backgrounds and creating a value based culture within the organization. At the same time, he oversaw the emergence of the Parachute and Saffolabrands. Based on his understanding of the changing scenario, he decided that a different approach was required than the traditional commodity-driven approach. With severe constraints in terms of both capital and human resources, he brought Parachute and Saffola into prominence. In 1990, he separated from the family business and formed Marico and went public in 1996.

Mr Mariwala stressed on how a value based culture was essential for a successful enterprise. aValues are easy to create, but transforming those values into cultures is difficulta remarked Mr.Mariwala. He spoke about how he involved the entire management team in creating a value document for the organization and how doing this made them all ambassadors of those values. Openness allows people to critique and add to the values become participants in the process. According to Mr Mariwala the openness in Marico today is symbolized by how over the years, questions in open house sessions have shifted from pay/benefits related queries to key strategies & policies of the organization.

Mr Mariwala was emphatic about the need for innovation across all levels. Talking about innovations at Marico, he described how an marketing strategy and creative packaging helped the brand Parachute grow and ward off competition from bigger players. He also described how the various business divisions of Marico came into existence as opportunities constantly emerged, and how Marico continues to develop new products for the ever changing markets.

The session concluded with a question and answer session in which Mr Mariwala answered questions about Marico and its decisions; for example, the rationale behind promoting the different brands under Marico rather than the name Marico itself, and the reasons behind Marico staying out of certain product segments.

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