REBUILDING AN ICON
HOW A YOUNG INHERITOR CHANGED THE FACE OF A DWINDLING BUSINESS GROUP.
WHAT DOES one do when a 44-year-old family business is in deep trouble? In the case of T.T. Jagannathan, a gold medallist from IIT-Madras who was studying for a master’s degree in Operations Research from Cornell University way back in 1972, it was a case of being summoned to his roots by his father T.T. Narasimhan, who was looking after the business till then. The journey that followed has been well captured by Jagannathan and Sandhya Mendonca, the latter a journalist-turned-media entrepreneur, in Disrupt and Conquer, a classic turnaround story.
The business was set up in 1928 by Jagannathan’s legendary grandfather T.T. Krishnamachari or TTK, who went on to become a Union Minister. When Jagannathan was handed the reins, the business was in the doldrums, and he had no experience of helming a company. Although the peak debt of the group at ` 14 crore was not anything to worry about by today’s standards, he was determined to set things right and adopted a series of simple and logical steps. The writers tell us how it was done by shutting down loss-making divisions over time and innovating and diversifying beyond the flagship product line. Jagannathan, now Executive Chairman of the group, has tried-and-tested advice for young business persons. “The harder you work, the luckier you get. Luck comes your way if you work hard,” he writes. Some of the issues he highlights are straight out of a case study. While looking for an acquisition abroad, he had stuck to four parameters. The company must be smaller, should be profitable, have its own brands and should not have a manufacturing unit. An overseas factory often gives rise to critical problems as the Tata group faced after Corus takeover and Lakshmi Niwas Mittal experienced after acquiring Arcelor.
The narrative is peppered with interesting anecdotes that explain why certain decisions were taken. It also reveals the person that Jagannathan is. Considering that his biggest business is pressure cookers, it is not surprising that he is an accomplished cook. In fact, there is an entire chapter on Cooking Up Inventions and how his interest in culinary skills led to the creation of the Fryums brand. In case you don’t know, he also sews. Overall, it is an intriguing account of how a young inheritor of a sinking business held on and built a bigger and a stronger brand. The stalwart has done well in carrying forward his legacy.