1. Building World Class Competence
Where do Indian companies stand?
Seminar : Building Global Brands Out of India
April 21, 2006

2. Asian Paints - EXPANDING HORIZONS
Among the Top 10
Decorative Coatings
companies in the world
Asia’s fourth
largest paint
company & leader
in 11 countries
Operates in 22 countries
with 29 paint mfg facilities
with capacity of
400 mn ltrs/annum
Group revenue of
US $ 585 million &
market capitalization
of over US$ 1.3 billion

3. International Presence
South East Asia
Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand,
Malaysia & China
Middle East
UAE, Bahrain
Caribbean
Jamaica, Barbados & Trinidad & Tobago
South Pacific
Australia, Fiji, Tonga,
Vanuatu, Samoa & Solomon Islands
South Asia
Sri Lanka
Nepal & Bangladesh
Oman
Egypt

4. Indian Organisations: Challenges National Champions are going International
Developing meta-national orientation
Are we wiling to take a long-term call on the market?
Are we willing to go overseas and opt for lesser returns than the Indian market in the short term ?
Are we willing to adopt a challenger mindset?
What is the difference we can make in the newly acquired marketplace?
How can you portray your capability as a multinational to the customer
Is it going to be price OR service OR product range OR technology OR all these combined
Branding. How is that going to be done?

5. The Asian Paints Experience

6. Our approach Capability assessment and Identifying best suited markets
Fast Growing Emerging Markets are best suited to replicate the Asian Paints model
Asian Paints would like to become the leading decorative coatings company across emerging markets

7. Our approach Market entry strategy
Acquisition is the preferred mode as it gave us a brand, distribution network, manufacturing facility and people
Acquisitions also gave us size in some cases and a readymade platform to scale up.

8. Our approach Creating Value and Growing the Business
The Human Resource Challenge
The Value Proposition
The Issue of Branding

9. The HR challenge
How do you manage 1500 employees from more than 20 nationalities
Respect cultural sensitivity
When instituting uniform systems/procedures across the group we took into consideration this aspect
Communication as a key tool to integrate, inform, motivate and build one common platform for all employees in the group
Clarified our intent clearly to all employees
Performance Focused Management Systems

10. Adding Value Building competence
Setting expectations
Transferring knowledge and building skills
Cross pollination of skills, technologies, human resources not only from parent to subsidiaries and vice versa but also from one subsidiary to another
Creating uniform templates across subsidiaries
Sharing group’s capability, resources w.r.t marketing, supply chain, sourcing, human capital
Initiatives like TOP, e-strides, regional technology centres, lead technology centres, guiding principles, training progs, Global managers conferences,

11. The issue of Branding
One Hat Does Not Fit All

12. What is a brand in our business
The brand is closely associated with the corporate name or corporate brand
Brand equity is also reflected in the product range and distribution reach
The brand’s relationships with influencers and channel is equally or stronger than the end consumer
After purchase and application of the paint brand though the consumer benefits from the brand, they do not remember the brand name as it is not visible

13. The Sri Lanka acquisition
We acquired Delmege Forsyth, the third largest paint company in Sri Lanka
Changed the name of the company to “Asian Paints”,
Asian Paints had relevance in South Asia
We felt we could grow this into a powerful brand and consumers will relate to the brand
Strengthened the product portfolio and focused on increasing efficiencies in the subsidiary

14. The Egypt acquisition Acquired SCIB Chemical Egypt
Reasonable equity at the market place
Renamed the company to “SCIB Paints”
Introduced new concepts and products
We took the brand to a new set of customers while supporting existing customers
Product brands are getting aligned into a common brand architecture across subsidiaries
For e.g Decora is now the economy product brand in most markets

15. The Berger Singapore acquisition
We acquired Berger Singapore which gave us rights to the brand in over 70 countries
It is one of the oldest brands in the paint industry and has a rich lineage
When we acquired the company and brand , we knew we could now build on its distribution, product portfolio etc
Berger is now the overseas brand of Asian Paints in South East Asia, Middle East (except Egypt) and the Caribbean

16. Learnings

17. Learnings Each market is different and needs a different strategy
Organizations must align products/customer offerings in each market
Acquisitions is a preferred mode
For acquisitions to be successful, people related and cultural factors are crucial
Localisation of talent essential
Communication is very important
Leverage relationships at inter and intra group level

18. Learnings
Need to put robust processes in place to manage disparate needs and requirements with a view to build value to the customer and organisation.
Speed of integration and sharing of best practices is critical for success
Create task force in IT/ Supply Chain/ Technology
Early success is important to keep people motivated and for the process to roll on
Control as a necessary and sufficient condition.

19. End…./-