All of us need to be net contributors to the society: Unilever's Paul Polman

“All of us need to be net contributors to the society. We must offer more than we take from the society. We cannot afford any more global warming. We cannot let people go hungry. And, we cannot allow people to work for abysmally low fees. Capitalism needs to evolve.”

Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever Global, was at his mesmeric best as he passionately urged India Inc. to embrace a sustainable business model at the ISA Global CEO Conference on navigating VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous).

Mr Polman, who delivered the keynote address, was sharing his thoughts on how business leaders could navigate through tough economic situations. Polman said, “Rapid globalisation and the resulting interdependence of financial markets, technology and economic systems have made this a more complex world to manage. Never before have we seen such rapid explosions in the global population, shifts in economic power or resulting pressures on natural resources. The complexities created make it difficult to deal with. Enormous swings in currencies, raw material costs or climate have become the norm. The digital revolution will continue to change lives and businesses at an increasingly fast pace. Many struggle with this 'new normal'. No wonder the average tenure of a CEO is now less than four years - and those of politicians even shorter.” His vast knowledge and his passion for driving a sustainable business model drew wide appreciation from the participating CEOs.

Earlier in the day, corporate bigwigs such as R Gopalakrishnan of Tata Sons, Manu Anand of Cadbury India and Ravi Kant of Tata Motors were unanimous in their views that Indian corporates needed to be intuitive, pare unnecessary costs and continuously explore new markets in the current VUCA world. The conference has been organised by the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA).

On the topic of ‘India’s VUCA Moment’, R. Gopalakrishnan – Director, Tata Sons, was of the view that VUCA World was not new to India as uncertainty was normal in the Indian way of life. He said, “To combat these uncertainties, Indian companies should learn from nature and especially how it leverages turbulence. Large organizations with ‘compound vision’ should also come up with a co-ordinated effort. There’s a lot to learn by observing how nature functions.”

He also urged CEOs to “rediscover intuition”. “It is advisable for domestic companies to adapt to changing times, improvise, invest in market research and also change their attitude to competition. I have no doubt that domestic companies will succeed in these current times”, he added.

Manu Anand - President India and South Asia, Mondelez International, Managing Director, Cadbury India, held forth on the subject of ‘Re-igniting growth in an economic slowdown’. His recipe to fight over recessionary pressure was to maintain productivity through cost optimization and maintain a focused portfolio. “Please look to enable pricing below inflation and give the best consumer value. Alongside, domestic companies should constantly talk to its people, customers and stakeholders”, he said.

Anand’s parting advice to the congregation of corporate CEOs was to “learn taking decisions with imperfect data”. His logic being: If the corporate concerned waited too long for the “perfect” data, then the business opportunity may be lost forever.

In his address to the august gathering, Ravi Kant- Vice Chairman, Tata Motors, said it was advisable for local companies to have a low break-even point in business. “In times of uncertainty, this really helps in sustaining profits and when the market improves, this leads to bumper profits”, he said. He suggested that companies should constantly look at new product innovations, giving the example of Tata Motors’ success with small commercial vehicles. “Always keep your antennae up to feel the change in the environment and be ready to experiment”, he noted.

Pawan Munjal - MD & CEO, Hero Motocorp, said, Indian corporate needed to have a clear vision and embrace change. “Know your strengths and have self belief. These are crucial qualities in this fast changing world.”

Marten Pieters - MD & CEO – Vodafone India, said, “During the slowdown period we focussed on strengthening distribution of our product reach while we rationalised activity and acquisition on the ground. Also it was imperative to align products to meet consumer needs during a period of reduced spends to retain consumer wallet share , which was addressed through smaller ticket size (sachet) products and more segmented offers which also gave us an opportunity to offer a more differentiated range of products and services to our customers. While voice was taking off during 2008, we invested in this period also heavily in new technology (3G) which could drive adoption of a new category. Mobile internet is now showing a remarkable adoption and hence we are leveraging this opportunity as well with relevant product offers and reaching out to customers across touch points. We also invested in a refresh of our shops, changing the shop formula to a far more open and attractive environment to teach customers about smartphones and the use of mobile internet. As part of our defense we never even considered to reduce our marketing spend."

Kirthiga Reddy, Head of Facebook India, Sanjay Behl - CEO (Lifestyle Business), Raymond, and Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, MCCS India spoke on smart marketing.

The one-day conference was organised in partnership with exchange4media and presented by Star TV. Mr. Hemant Bakshi, Chairman - ISA and Executive Director, Home & Personal Care, HUL, said, “All businesses are seeing a lot more volatility than we have seen in the past. We need to be more agile and focused on our consumers in such uncertain times. Great CEOs have purpose which goes beyond immediate quarter earnings. They have vision and a clear set of principles on how to drive a business. Most of them get sustainable success.  We organized this Global CEO Conference to get such people to share with us how they have managed their business in the past.  I am extremely delighted with the response we have received with the large and august gathering we have here today.  We will have to do such conferences more often given the appetite amongst the industry for a conference of this nature.”

Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief - The exchange4media Group said, "All speakers at the ISA conference were most highly respected thought leaders in India. The keynote speaker Paul Polman has revolutionised the way businesses across the world look at their role in society. Delegates from a wide cross section of industries taking part in the conference were extremely benefited by the advice they received from these speakers in picking up new strategic approaches for the VUCA times. exchange4media sees the partnership with ISA as a major milestone in connecting the communities we represent to the biggest thinkers of our times."

Ms. Paulomi Dhawan – Treasurer & Events Committee Chairperson, ISA, said, “The Global CEO conference offered us an opportunity to hear thoughts, experiences and beliefs of some of well known leaders in the corporate world. It was a great platform to get insights from some of the sharpest minds in the business world and understand how to lead businesses in the VUCA world.”

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