Shining And Striking At The Roots To Release Value For Corporations

Shombit Sengupta's Shining Strategic Identity is ready to turn corporate strategies in India on their heads.

With the success of Parachute, Lakme, Britannia, Robin and Wipro behind him, Sengupta and his France-based outfit have equipped themselves with a new analogy.

"The corporation is almost like a tree, the root is the concept or vision, the trunk is the infrastructure for production marketing and R&D and the fruit is the brand, the trade and shareholders," explained Sengupta in an interview to The Hindustan Times on Friday.

Advertising agencies are experts in nurturing the fruit and the strategic consultants are best in keeping the trunk in proper shape, while Shining's methodology looks at the root to align the trunk and the fruit with the vision, he says.

Sengupta is planning to target the Indian market with a vengeance.

There has been a repositioning of Shining itself. Major announcements, including a new managing director are on the cards.

"A company starts with a vision which is often a very simple idea. The simple ideas are the most successful ideas. Later as the corporation grows and faces competition it goes in for acquisitions. It is important to nurture these acquisitions and make them grow organically, otherwise there is trouble," Sengupta said.

"Look at the advertising agencies. They had the 15 per cent commission rule on media and they advised companies to create more and more brands. After all that meant more advertising and more revenues," Sengupta said.

With Lakme, Sengupta had brought all the cosmetics products under the Lakme umbrella brand. But working with Unilever Sengupta had a problem convincing Brooke Bond to bring all their brands under one umbrella.

The strategic consultants, on the other hand, are good at maintaining the trunk - they would control the expenditure and improve the margins but that would stifle growth. So after two to three years the company again runs into problem, he points out.

Speaking about his experience with Wipro, Sengupta said, "It was a highly diversified business driven by belief. There were five beliefs of Azim Premji. We have changed that around to a promise oriented company."

Premji has written about Shining, "Within two years of using the new Wipro identity and articulating our corporate values to the customer, we have increased our salience in the market. We have received highly quoted value (high stock prices) as promised by Shining."

Another concept introduced by Shining is 'vital space'. Britannia today has gained vital space through its Tiger brand, Sengupta points out.

"When a corporation moves away from the single idea or vision that started it, either through acquisitions or new brand launches, there is something called sedimentation that reduces the vital space. It is important to remove the sedimentation," Sengupta said.