Harsh Mariwala, founder of Indian consumer goods giant Marico, discusses handling product innovation failure rates in the FMCG sector.
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mariwala: My businesses never saw falling sales or profits in 40+ years
“I think, you know, my entire career, I, you know, almost 40, 50 years, I don't think I have seen any year where the sales have fallen or the profits have fallen.”
What-if
Mariwala: Spinning out Marico avoided fatal family business dynamics
“If I had not Been able to convince my family. I would have been struggling looking at the family dynamics by then four or five. My cousins had joined business. There were conflicts in terms of allocation of resources, in terms of image building, the location o…”
Insight
Mariwala: Family businesses should limit each unit to one family member
“When you have multiple family members, I'm not saying that model will not succeed, but there are complications because, you know, you, the ambition level, the different the way of thinking is different. And the relationships are very complex. You're related at…”
Insight
Mariwala: Good governance must be established from day one, not delayed
“So it's something one has to build and one has to do that from day one rather than saying that I will look at governance from when I become big, you know, because if you don't tackle those issues, the culture of the organization will not change when you grow. …”
Insight
Mariwala: D2C eliminates the need for 30-crore TV ad budgets
“Earlier there were many entry barriers because of distribution. You needed all India distribution network, which is very expensive to maintain. You need a certain critical mass. You need sales staff to visit all the retailers. You need distributors. You don't …”
Insight
Mariwala: Companies Must Treat Former Employees as Brand Ambassadors
“If you look at whoever has stayed with us and gone out, we treat them as ambassadors, you know, because they can spread the word around about Mariko. If you're looking for a job in Mariko, and if you know one of our colleagues who was with us earlier, you'll c…”