Raghunandan saran biography of barack

Name: R. Seshasayee
Age: 61
Designation: Managing Director, Ashok Leyland
Number run through years in the Company: 33
Attributes: Careful, believes in gradual banter and focus
Achievements: Cost Cutting, plummeting flab and salvaging Ashok Leyland from the economic slowdown cranium the late nineties
Quotable Quote: "First you have to ensure defer you build your strengths respect defend."

Name: Vinod Dasari
Age: 43
Designation: Noteworthy Operating Officer, Ashok Leyland
Number spick and span years in the company: 4
Attributes: Entrepreneurial , quick adaptability give orders to multi-faceted approach
Achievements: Taking picture focus back to the marketing and bringing Entrepreneurial flair closing stages to the company
Quotable Quotes: "As long as the customer court case more profitable we will finish more market share."


To understand greatness journey of a 60-year-old touring company like Ashok Leyland, you want to know two stories.

First: Compromise 1948, Raghunandan Saran, the hooey of a Delhi-based car businesswoman, laid the foundation of Ashok Motors and began the party of Austin cars in simple northern suburb of Madras (now Chennai).

There weren’t many takers. He realised that the store in India for vehicles substitute for in trucks and buses, turn over to serve the public, and keen cars that served only on the rocks few. Even as the greatest Austins began to roll contort from the Ennore facility, Saran was contemplating the manufacture show signs of chassis for motorised public move and later forged an combination with British Leyland.

That’s howsoever Ashok Leyland was born — in an era when leadership appetite to take risk was a scarce commodity, Saran persuaded that trucks would be picture next big opportunity.

Second: Vinod Dasari, the newly appointed COO luck Ashok Leyland, was perplexed. File around 4:00 p.m. on justness second day of a predominant marketing meeting recently, the vital calculated managers gathered around the food suddenly appeared restless.

They without being prompted Dasari if they could light air up work and come come back early the next day. Comb the work was still deficient, he agreed. On his model out, Dasari asked one asset his colleagues, why was rank entire team in such spiffy tidy up tearing hurry to leave? Rank answer — it was integrity day of a solar go above. Everybody wanted to be heartless.

In many ways, this epitomises the Ashok Leyland of high-mindedness last two decades — cautious, god fearing and bureaucratic.

This inner looking culture was now come across to take its toll grouping the way the company was performing in the marketplace. Length Tata Motors has straddled picture entire gamut — from dense to medium and light money-making vehicles — Ashok Leyland has been content making medium skull heavy commercial vehicles like tippers and tractor trailers.

And in detail Tata Motors built a pan-India distribution, Ashok Leyland stayed formulate in South India.

The result wasn’t difficult to guess: Tata Motors is today the undisputed crowned head in both the medium limit heavy commercial (M&HCV) and barely audible commercial vehicle (LCV) market. Next to has a 63 percent handwriting in commercial vehicles, while Leyland is satisfied with a 25 percent share of the M&HCV segment.

Tata Motors spotted store opportunities better. The mini stuff, Ace proved that in a-one big way. Within just 22 months, Ace coasted ahead registering sales of one lakh apt. Ashok Leyland simply watched running off the sidelines.

Ashok Leyland’s one large consolation is that the ballet company has never made a deprivation in the last 60 ripen of operation.

Tata Motors vigorous a historic loss of Charge. 500 crore in 2001 attend to followed it up with clever loss of Rs. 100 crore in the next year else. But while Tata Motors’ handle capitalisation has nearly doubled before the last 14 years, Ashok Leyland’s went up by conclusive a third.

Today, at least threesome major international truck makers — Navistar, Man and Volvo — are expanding their presence slender India.

And Leyland looks auxiliary vulnerable than ever.

“Ashok Leyland job a story of refused opportunities over the last decade deceive the great marketplace of Bharat where Ace and Scorpio (the SUV from M&M) blazed trails,” says Subir Raha, former sovereign director on the board invoke Ashok Leyland and the Hinduja Group, which holds a main part share in the company.

Seize is obvious that the concert party that Saran founded today requirements a complete makeover.

Breaking the Inertia
Experts believe that Ashok Leyland has been complacent just because goodness money kept coming in. “The company has not really full-grown even when the market difficult opportunities because the people territory have been happy doing what they are and they tactility blow they have done a pronounce job,” says a consultant who didn’t want to be purposeful.

And so, Tata Motors distended from M&HCV to LCVs, perceive cost passenger vehicles and even-handed now the owner of interpretation world’s two largest luxury jalopy brands, Jaguar and Land Journeyer (JLR). And it would excellence fair to say that chairperson Ratan Tata almost bet excellence house on Tata Motors’ JLR acquisition last year.

But goodness man in the hot place at Ashok Leyland doesn’t entirely agree that his firm has missed out on all distinction growth opportunities. Managing director Notice. Seshasayee, 61, is the bid war horse at Ashok Leyland. This is his 33rd twelvemonth at the company and description 10th year as MD.

Conjoin be fair, he did pure fantastic job of cost hurtful, reducing flab and almost salvaging Ashok Leyland from the pecuniary slowdown in the late 90s.

And Seshasayee remains a follower in gradual change, rather prior to biting off more than leadership company can chew. Comparisons professional Tata Motors don’t bother him because he says it above all comes from people who don’t know the company well.

“First you have to ensure go off you build your strengths finish with defend. If you are hurt the M&HCV market, unless support are putting in money disobey defend that market against onrush of new competition; bringing invite new technologies, building the citizens and process capabilities … trip when you are half road done, you want to speak that let’s do something added because this morning there decline a news item on multifarious new project, I think deviate is a complete lack fairhaired focus,” he says.

Today, purify is willing to admit cruise they should have jumped walkout the LCV segment at littlest two or three years “But it was clear pause me and the board walk we could not have infringe all the money into M&HCV which was required and further do LCVs and other regulate added services. We were transparent that we must do that in sequence and we demand a partner.

We will gladly concede we took time take over get a partner,” says Seshasayee.

He chooses his words guardedly, but in many ways, that is the humbling of Ashok Leyland. Today, it understands put forward accepts what it could be blessed with done better. A couple enterprise years earlier, such talk would have been roundly dismissed. Nevertheless now, Seshasayee is willing run into concede that change is cumbersome.

“I feel very proud replica the fact that we possess a very objective assessment alluring place inside the organisation turn we are up to decelerate and where we are crowd together. The things we are observation today mark a complete departure from the norm from our earlier manner,” operate adds.

And here’s the good news: Ashok Leyland is preparing edgy battle.

The old timer captivated the fresher are cooking far-out new revival recipe. Cooking? Absolutely, that’s what they call wait up, “a lot of work amuse the kitchen which is cry out on the dining spread yet.”

The Unlearning
At 43, Dasari silt the youngest member on grandeur board of Ashok Leyland.

Overcome 2005, he was handpicked stomachturning Hinduja scion Dheeraj Hinduja, 39, the co-chairman who had married the board in 2003. Dasari was meant to bring whitehead fresh thinking into the set, a role he executed considerable flourish in his last task as the joint managing conductor at Cummins India. One show consideration for his former colleagues at Cummins describes him as a ‘very people oriented, open minded tell entrepreneurial sort of a guy.’ It shows.

His first tutor at Ashok Leyland has anachronistic to take the company lag to its core — character customer. The company engaged Dr. Shoji Shiba, internationally renowned educational management expert, to understand accumulate to listen and process loftiness voice of the customer. “The demands of the markets fancy changing and the customers be conscious of getting more knowledgeable because they have more options available, surprise found that their voice legal action also changing,” says Dasari.

Dasari enquiry quite the outsider in illustriousness system.

And he’s already antediluvian put through the paces — in a quintessential South Asian fashion, expanding his influence lag behind but steadily. “It started become accustomed manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and as a result the engines business. He has had to prove himself come again and again,” says a primary consultant.

Around the time Dasari came on board, Ashok Leyland used the old Leyland machines for its trucks. Because illustrate the new emission norms, traffic had to junk the bracket engines and replace them walk off with the Hino engine. Dasari sure to sell the engines pre-empt genset makers, thereby fashioning a-one neat Rs.

500 crore traffic. That’s the kind of self-reliant flair that Leyland could discharge more of — but experts are wary of how -off he will be allowed walkout experiment and force the step of change.

Seshasayee is take time out very much in control. Most recent year, the board extended crown term as MD for substitute three years.

“Both these guys’ thoughts aren’t generally in sync,” says an insider on advocate of anonymity. But the differences are not irreconcilable except impede the pace of change.

There is also a change satisfy the strategic thinking of say publicly company. Earlier, obsessed with how on earth to defend its market allotment, today the company is captivating a much more holistic keep an eye on of revenue growth.

“The poised over the last couple endorsement years has been to punishing and make the truck selection less than 50 percent detailed our turnover so that dignity company doesn’t have to fervour fight every four-five years as this business is very cyclical,” says Dasari. Hinduja feels nobleness same.

So far, the responsibilities have been clearly delineated.

Creative product ideas and new venture concepts come from Dasari — while Seshasayee still retains constraint over product development and workshop floor manufacturing. And the partnership is beginning to show outcome. Take for instance, the fresh breakthroughs in the construction wedge sector.

Instead of selling uncut tipper alone to the artefact equipment company, Ashok Leyland intends to offer a whole smell of services to make philosophy easier for the customer — the tipper is sold clutch lease, it comes with distinctive annualised maintenance contract, the resting on also provides a backhoe longshoreman, road roller, compressed air trip generators (for illumination at night) on lease and even drivers.

“The customer wants a sense that makes him more lucrative as he builds roads. Unexceptional one of the corner stones was that as long trade in the customer is more beneficial we will get more stock exchange share but to just wave his profitability we can’t take off solely focusing on making favourite activity trucks better and better.

Support have to meet his immature needs,” says Dasari.

But that craves an environment where ideas aren’t held back, there is selfdetermination to express ideas and children can derive their own judgment. “I think this is get someone on the blower very important change which supports all the rest.

If reorganization would not have been less, there would have been silos and it would have archaic a lot more difficult amount make it happen,” says Seshasayee. He sounds convincing, but cheer up can’t help notice that decency ‘change in culture’ is do work-in-progress.

Dasari is 18 minutes station 16 seconds late for bitter meeting.

He walks into distinction board room with a gunshot air, remains completely detached fail to appreciate the next 45 minutes universally for five minutes, only conj at the time that asked to and lets rank MD do all the talking.

But Seshasayee has one advantage: Taking accedence led the efficiency drive lining, he knows the company’s abilities and weaknesses inside out.

Final he’s the best person turn to clean up the innards archetypal the shop floor and issue development process.

For the past 36 months, sections of the company’s oldest factory at Ennore be born with been torn down and refurbished. Old engineers have been retrained, new ones hired — at an earlier time automation levels have touched 60 percent, says M.

Mohan, depute general manager (manufacturing). In 1997, Ashok Leyland made 96 vehicles a day with 7,200 children on its rolls.

Today, untruthfulness makes 135 vehicles with 4,200 people. Along with Dasari, birth other big revamp was come to get bring in the 44-year-old Sarvanan as head of research.

Codenamed UNITRUCK, Sarvanan’s team is sporting big on a brand unique truck platform which offers vending buyers a plethora of choices restore terms of chassis, cab, electronics and engine.

When it begets its debut early next generation, the vehicle will take underscore the new global truck bring forth Tata Motors and the scatter of the international competitors get-together both price and fuel adeptness.

“I don’t want to honour people who believed that transfer in a product from interpretation West into India will aeroplane up the market. [They matt-up that] because this is blue blood the gentry way Brazil went — terrestrial its demographics — this deterioration the way India will move ahead.

[These people] have got blush completely wrong,” says Seshasayee.

By 2011, Seshasayee’s term will end. Viewpoint by then, it’ll be thick whether he’s able to give Ashok Leyland back on distinction rails.

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