Colloquium: January 23, 2008
Running a Multi-million Dollar Company in India Ethically – A Real Life Account of Corporate Social Responsibility
 A lady, an epitome of courage and deed, a strike of determination and hard work, an intellectual asset, a marvel of young success – that’s an attempt to introduce a women of such standing as Ms Hema Hattangady. A management graduate from IIM Kolkata and with over twenty years of hands on experience in marketing, this dynamic persona features amongst the top ten women in the Indian Power Sector in the recent issue of the magazine ‘Power’. She is the sole catalyst who drives her company on the wheels of integrity and values, converting it into a multi million dollar worth global player.
Known by the name Enercon in its earlier days, Conzerv was started as a small scale organization in Bangalore in the year 1988. While the elders handled the R&D and manufacturing section, the nephews in the family were given the onus of marketing the product. Early 90’s were evidence to tough times because of survival issues, till Mr. T. Thomas, former Chairman, HLL, who also ran Indus Venture Funds supported them. Since then, it has moved on from being an exclusively family-owned business to venture-funded MNC, from loss to continuous profit, and from products-oriented to services-oriented, in the last nine years. It revolutionized the digital metering industry with its range of R&D developed products. Conzerv also repositioned their product as “food – a five course menu – high energy, low calorie packaged instruments, software and services” as one of the strategies towards triumph.
And facilitating all of this is only one underlying principle of the firm – “We tolerate no bribery or corruption for any reason. We have a set of values which the employees must align themselves with. Growing big as a party and attaining a 40 % compounded annual growth rate is also possible within the boundaries of the system”, says Ms Hattangady. In her words, when professional credentials are so hard-earned, then why should one not value the same instead of indulging in corruption? To make an organization run on the wheels of ethics, we should beware of greedy investors. Dishonesty in an institution results in employees loosing the virtue of trust in the company as well as their colleagues. On being asked about her way of dealing with unlawful objects, her advice is to know the law better than the enforcers because the law is framed to protect the interests of the innocent. We should have the courage and articulation to find out ways of doing things.
Amongst the many ethical acts is also abiding by the Intellectual Property Rights. The company fights legal battles to protect customers from copyright infringes. Their code of conduct is defined as ‘integrity, professionalism, active listening, caring and team work – IPACT’. Conzerv has designed three pillars of charity as part of its CSR activities:
• Emphasis on empathy – people want one to feel for them rather than sympathy.
• People don’t just want money. Its one’s time and efforts they long for.
• To do good to the greater humanity, involve as many people in the process as possible.
Also, the above stated are implemented through induction programs, reorientation, and employee-speak opportunities etc. Conzerv has won ‘the most ethical SME award, 2005’.
While talking about the corruption indices, Ms Hattangady mocks at the Indian system of mandatory payment of bribes called ‘facilitative payments’ which are tax deductible and can be written off in the P/L account of the company. Commenting at the recent scenario in the Indian sector, she said “The team at Conzerv has gone to audacious levels to curb these unwanted treatments. Sure enough, we can not preach honesty, but we make sure our employees do fall in the highly morale bracket. If one does not have the backing of the upper management, he or she is bound to fall into the trap of bribery. Then, it is important to be whistle blowers instead of adopting false means to meet sales goals. The amount of corruption in the country has not gone down, but there is a decent amount of awareness amongst the public.”
Neha Sashi
I MBA
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