Impact of ABG
There are brands which establish themselves in our mind through a barrage of advertisements over the years, there are brands which we explore ourselves in our lifetime through our own research and there are some which accidentally come into our lives. Yet there is still another classification - The brands which have been embedded in our DNA by our ancestors, which have been talked over and over again, which are trusted over others because of their quality and service which has lasted decades. One such brand is Birla Group.
‘Bond with the best’, ‘The Engineer’s Choice’, ‘What an Idea Sirji’ – These taglines automatically comes into the mind whenever Aditya Birla Group is mentioned – Such is the brand recognition of this group. Also Birla family is connected with the industrial and social history of India. For a conglomerate which was incepted before the independence which has risen to a global heavyweight over the century through the eyes of our ancestors gives me immense pride. The Birla group has seen through the independence struggle of India, the dark times of Indian economy and lots of policy changes (including the LPG reforms) and not only survived but thrived by maintaining their quality and their strong legacy.
The reason why Aditya Birla Group has grown so big and imprinted a global presence is due to constant progress and understanding of market requirements and implementing changes and additions to the business. Starting from cotton and jute trading in the early 1900’s to expanding in Textile, Telecommunications, Insurance, Mining, Software services etc has been essential in the organization’s growth.
Though my biggest understanding of Aditya Birla Group came through my work experience at Trident Ltd, which are competitors in Home Textile business. Having interactions with several ex-employees of ABG they sung a common tone of employee and customer satisfaction and a long journey with the group. Speaking of my department (SCM – Purchase of machinery) the organization focused on the purchase of best machinery reverberating the quality in their products. Inputs from competitors helped us shape our own decisions.
To summarize, Aditya Birla Group has left a footprint in every step of our lives, in our childhood, in our youth and in my further years to come in the industry. This brand has grown globally owing to its strong values and progress in marketing strategies. Maintaining strong customer relationships through quality of products or through easy service has helped them gain trust which is valued even above price.
My pressure test -
The last quarter of 2017 saw a mild recession in Home Textile industry which caused a lot of layoffs from Textile companies. This impacted my department (SCM – Project Sourcing) as well and the man force was reduced from 4 to 1. Even our department head was transferred to a different location. This put me in a very difficult situation as the ongoing project (Housing Colony) was in finishing stage but not completed yet. Suddenly I had to do groundwork of the size of 2 other colleagues and to make decisions that my manager used to. Having a work experience of just 18 months before this situation made me feel incapable of handling the situation.
When I entered the organization, I always had the plan of working for 24 months and then pursue MBA. Seeing such a situation, I felt like resigning earlier to my plan and went to the SCM head explaining the whole situation. He counseled me and encouraged me to stay for a period in which the company recovers from the crises. According to him this would help me in decision making, handling pressure cooker situations and solo working. It took a lot of convincing but I took his advice and decided to stay.
After 6 months from the crises, the sales were back on good charts, the Project had completed and the organization was back in hiring spree again. This time I resigned, back to my original plan and started studying for MBA entrance examinations. But this period was not without hardships. I doubted myself a lot, in these times I used to talk with my mentors who provided me with ideas or at least calmed me down. Since the workload had increased, I had to put up a lot of work hours which caused stress. To handle the stress, I increased my outdoor activities in the evening.
Overall it took a lot of hard work and perseverance to handle this situation but it provided me with new set of personal skills such as leadership qualities and never say die attitude which will surely come in handy in corporate culture. Also talking to seniors, mentors, friends helps in handling tough situations so one should never shy away from it.
#VGSoM #IITKharagpur #ABGLPWooMe