0000006345-Case SRF Corporate Brand

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Emerging Markets Case Studies CollectionEmerald Case Study: Corporate brand building at SRF: challenge ofselecting the brand consultant

Jaydeep Mukherjee, Mukund Trivedy

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To cite this document: Jaydeep Mukherjee, Mukund Trivedy, "Corporate brand building at SRF: challenge of selecting the brand

onsultant", Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 2011

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Corporate brand building at SRF:

challenge of selecting the brand consultant

Jaydeep Mukherjee and Mukund Trivedy

It wasthe morning of 8 October 2008. SRFLtds corporate leadership team (CLT),led by Ashish

BharatRam, Managing Director, was to decide one of theshort-listed brand consultants for the

companys image makeover. Ashish had seen the corporate communication departments

internal survey and had realized that there was considerable divergence among the business

heads understanding of the companys branding needs and their expectations from the

prospective brand consultant. SRF being a multi-division, multi-location organization, Ashish

expected the meeting to be difficult as tradeoffs were to be made.

Ashish had taken over the reign of the family firm a couple of years ago and was getting

impatient with the lack of public appreciation of the companys accomplishments. Apart from

arriving at a decision in the meeting, he wanted to achieve consensus. This need for

consensus was driven by the need to ensure organizational cohesion in the implementation

of the strategy that would be devised by the consultant. So, Ashish felt the pressure of

having to not only select the most appropriate brand consultant for an under-the-radar SRF

but also to get everybody to back the initiative.

SRFs corporate communication department had been working on the project for the last six

months and had completed the background research for the decision. Though there were no

significant differences of opinion about the relevance of the brand building exercise for SRF,

there were divergences on whether it should be product branding (as was currently the case)

or a corporate brand, which Ashish was pushing for. The prime reasons for the divergenceswere emanating from two points; one, SRF was predominantly dealing with diverse set of

business customers and two, failure of corporate branding initiatives in the past.

Given the current position of the different members, which was in the document available to

all the CLT members (Exhibit 1, Figure E1), Ashish was quite worried about the prospect of

arriving at a consensus on the matter. The meeting had significance much beyond what

appeared to be a simple agenda of deciding the brand consultant from a set of choices. He

needed to develop a decision-making criteria and follow a decision-making process which

could overcome resistance and build the necessary company wide support for this project.

Company description

SRF Limited traced its origin to Sir Lala Shri Ram, one of the leading Indian businessvisionaries of his times. The groups existence spanned more than a century, starting way

back in 1889 when its parent company Delhi Cloth Mill, now known as DCM Group was

founded. In the ensuing period DCM turned into a large business house, manufacturing a

vast variety of goods like textiles, sugar, wines, chemicals, vanaspati (a form of edible

vegetable oil), pottery, fans, sewing machines, electric motors and capacitors.

SRF was originally incorporated in 1970 as Shri Ram Fibres. Beginning its life as a tyre cord

manufacturing company, the company over the years diversifies and grew to be a

DOI 10.1108/20450621111201257 VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011, pp. 1-18, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2045-0621 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 1

Jaydeep Mukherjee is an

Associate Professor at the

Management Development

Institute, Gurgaon, India.

Mukund Trivedy is an

Associate Vice President in

the Department of

Corporate Communication,

SRF Limited, Gurgaon,

India.

Disclaimer: This case is writtensolely for educational purposesand is not intended to representsuccessful or unsuccessfulmanagerial decision making.The author/s may havedisguised names; financial andother recognizable informationto protect confidentiality.


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multi-business entity manufacturing chemical-based industrial intermediates. The name of

the company thus changed to SRF in 1990. Head quartered in Gurgaon, near New Delhi

(capital of India), SRFs business portfolio covered Technical Textiles, Chemicals, Packaging

Films and Engineering Plastics. SRF was the market leaders in most of its businesses in India

and also enjoyed significant global presence in some of its businesses.

SRF products touched everyones lives in many ways. But the irony was that the end

consumers were blissfully ignorant about SRF products since they could never get to see,

touch or feel them. All SRF products were industrial intermediates, which were invisible to the

end-users, except for coated fabrics, which are largely used as awning, tarpaulins and

cricket pitch covers. Ashish would often draw an analogy between SRF products and Intel.

Inspired by the success of Intel Inside concept, in 2007, SRF tried asking its customers toreplicate the model and depict the SRF name clearly on the finished goods. However, it

failed as customers refused to cooperate by saying that their consumers did not see any

special value in the name SRF.

With seven production units in India and one in Dubai, the company exported its products to

over 60 countries. The product portfolio and business structure of SRF has been depicted in

Exhibit 2 (Figures E2-E3) and applications of different products are given in Exhibit 3

(Table EI). Some of the worlds leading companies like Michelin, Carrier, MRF, LG, etc.

Figured on the companys customer list. SRF had recorded a Profit after Tax of $72 million on

net sales of $450 million during 2006-2007, and the company did not have any borrowing for

working capital. It had only long-term borrowings aggregating to $100 million. Some select

financial data are given in Exhibit 4 (Table EII).

Growth plans

SRF was growing in tune with its aspiration to achieve global leadership in its chosen field of

business by the year 2020. Recently, the company had announced its investment plan to

install additional industrial polyester yarn plant at its factory located in Gummidipoondi near

Chennai, India. With its maiden entry into the polyester yarn, SRF planned to become a

one-stop shop for reinforcement fabric to the tyre companies in India. Among other projects,

the company was also planning to set up a new Chemical Complex at Dahej in Gujarat,

India. In view of its healthy financial situation, the company was actively considering

expanding its business operations through the inorganic route in its core area of business

both in India and abroad. The growth plans are given in Exhibit 5.

The company had intermittently taken initiatives to manage its identity and image aspects inthe past. SRF had its logo redesigned by a reputed professional designer, based on its

aspiration and growth plans in 2005. The logo comprised a symbol of infinity and the name

SRF (Exhibit 6, Figure E4). The logo was meant to symbolize excellence, progression and

dynamism. The free flowing shape of infinity also epitomized the continuity which the

company wanted to stand for. However, the exercise was limited to a logo redesign and not

really extended to brand building initiative.

Realization of identity crisis

It was 15 December 2007, a cocktail reception was organized by a well known Industrial

body in New Delhi, capital of India. The venue was buzzing with whos who of the corporate

India. Moving around in the elite gathering, Ashish, who hadbecome MD of his family-ownedbusiness entity SRF in 2006, had felt honored to be in such an august company. But his

elation was short-lived for when he began mingling with the select group of corporate

chieftains who were attending the event, he was shocked to find that hardly anybody

seemed to know about his company, SRF.

Ashish initially struggled to help the audience understand the nature of SRFs business, its

product attributes and product applications. He attempted to introduce the company in a

manner which was easily understood by the common people:

PAGE 2 jEMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011


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If you are sitting in your car, I would like to imagine that the tyres that your car is running on are

made stronger and safer with reinforcement material from SRF; the plastics used in your car are

made by SRF, the refrigerant being used to cool your car is made by SRF; if you are moving in

your Jeep then the soft top is made of SRF-coated fabrics, the potato chips or biscuits your

children may be eating while you drive are packed in material provided by SRF, and the plants

that you see all around are protected by the pesticides that are made of the fluorospeciality

molecules developed by SRF scientists.

Ashish reasoned that the lack of customer familiarity with SRF products was not only because

the products were essentially intermediate products and used by business customers. Part of

the problem also lay in low media coverage of the company. The company had never made a

conscious attempt to communicate to or through media. The company was quite happy at

approaching the business customers directly and making the sales based on productfeatures

its quality and support service. SRF did not advertise in the media.

Ashish in hindsight, also recollected his own previous experiences and interaction with

different business partners, journalists and job aspirants in SRF. He realized that the recall of

the specific attributes of the organization such as a rich legacy of more than hundred years

in business; promoted by one of the most respected business families in India; and founder

of iconic academic institutes of the country like The Lady Shri RamCollege and The Shri Ram

School was very high, but people generally could not relate them with SRF. It could be that

rebranding of the company as SRF, thus losing the prefix Shri Ram also contributed to the

disconnect with the legacy of the group.

Ashish was many a time confronted with different interpretations of the name SRF by users,

mostly erroneous. Many confidently referred to SRF as a fertilizer or a finance company,mistakenly identifying with some other similar sounding companies. Others would confuse it

with other group companies. And, still others would mistake it for SKF, the famous bearing

company.

Though Ashish was aware of SRFs low resonance with the general public, he knew that the

company was known to its customers as well as preferred by them, which was evident from

the business growth. However, the experience at the cocktail party acted like a wake-up call

for him from a different perspective. He realized that the fact that someone never really got

any recognition from the environment outside the organization for working in SRF. He

wondered about the impact of such a situation on the pride and bonding that employee

(existing or prospective) enjoyed with the organization. He concluded that there was

something amiss in the corporate branding of his company.

On his way back home from the party, he pondered about the impact of low brand

awareness in general public. Especially, the fact that a majority of job applicants applying

for various positions at SRF would write: No, I had not heard of SRF before. In almost

30 per cent cases, the candidates would either not appear for interviews or decline offers

despite getting a good position and salary. The absence of brand recognition by the genera

public had an impact on the quality of manpower that SRF was able to attract and retain.

The fact that it also affected the employee motivation and pride was not really apparent at all

levels of the organization. SRF was losing out on their ability to acquire high-quality

manpower which it desperately needed to support its global expansion plans.

By the time, Ashish reached home from the party, he had made his decision: he would act

quickly to rectify this gap. Next day, he was impatient to reach the corporate head office of

SRF, located in very premium locality in Gurgaon, a half an hour drive from his home inNew Delhi. He eagerly waited for the arrival of Kartik Bharat Ram, his younger brother and

Deputy Managing Director at SRF, to share his concern about the urgent need to work on

building awareness about a corporate identity for SRF. After the two had conferred, Head of

Corporate Communications, Mukund Trivedy was called. Ashishs brief to Mukund was:

We need to systematically work on building a corporate brand for SRF, which could be useful and

relevant for our diverse gamut of stakeholders. I dont want you to get into solution mode

immediately. Explore the options and follow a process which would help build an organization

VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011 jEMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 3


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wide consensus for the initiative. More importantly, internal alignment with the desired brand

promises is critical.

The corporate brand building initiative

SRF being a total quality management (TQM) driven organization, adopted a systematic

approach for its activities. The way forward on corporate branding was discussed between

Kartik and Mukund. They realized that the visibility and mindshare of SRF among the general

public did not match its market share. This could be an impediment to achieving its

aspiration of achieving global leadership in most of its businesses by 2020. They also

realized that understanding the perspectives of key stakeholders was critical. It was,

therefore, important to understand the image of SRF in the minds of its targets as well as tounderstand how best to build relationships with them. The first step was to list the fallout of

low visibility of brand SRF as perceived by the employees across the entire set of

businesses and across different levels of the organization.

Brand audit internal

Preliminary background work conducted by Mukund in the first six months of 2008 revealed

that the SRF brand had following weaknesses:

B The SRF name did not evoke instant recognition or association while some of its products

were known.

B

The corporate brand was unable to emerge as a clear choice for customers while someproducts were very clear winners.

B SRF was unable to charge a premium for its products across categories by leveraging

some high selling and powerful product brands in its portfolio.

B The company had difficulty in attracting, motivating and retaining talent.

B Investors did not perceive it as an attractive proposition for investment.

B Media did not seem to be interested in the company.

The study also indicated that the employees were concerned about the need to improve the

companys image.One of thekey issuesthat emerged wasthe irrelevanceof the current tagline

Making our nation proud in light of SRFs plan to acquire companies abroad. The obvious

concern was:whether theforeignemployees of theacquiredentities would relate to theconcept

of nation as their own nation? Such ambiguity regarding the brand message did not augur wellfrom the perspective of integrating global workforce with that of the parent company.

On further examination and deliberations, it became clear that the company suffered from

low-brand image due to the following reasons:

B No sustained effort to reach out to the general public.

B Absence of product differentiators that could make the company stands out against

competition.

B Lack of strategic focus on creating and leveraging sustainable competitive advantage.

B Lack of attention to corporate and product branding.

B Absence of an effective corporate identity creation and image management program.

Need to bring in the specialists

These preliminary findings were presented to the CLT, which approved the proposal to hire a

professional brand consultant for the job (as it required specific expertise not available

within the organization). Now, the immediate challenge for Kartik was to get a proper brief

prepared for the consultant and identify competent consultants for the job. He formed a core

team consisting of himself, the MD and Roop Salotra, President and CEO (Chemicals

Business) for the project on branding. Mukund was assigned the operational responsibility



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of the project and to frame the scope of work and key deliverables for the consultant along

with the brief.

Mukund started off by trying to understand the specific expectations behind the branding

exercise across the organization. Intensive interviews with heads of sales and marketing of

each of the different SBUs helped him understand the branding challenge from

perspectives of the different business verticals and their specific market dynamics. He

followed it up with one-to-one interactions with CEOs and Presidents of the SBUs as well as

some important customers. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed.

Key insights

It was clear from the analysis of the statements recorded that though SRF would like to be a

place where employees felt at home, it was not a place where the younger people really felt like

they could be themselves. The SRF brand was thus internally diffused. People were proud of

SRFs credentials but theywere not excitedby, or engaged withthe brand. Senior management

of course wanted to see more passion and aggression in the employees for driving growth. Its

internal approaches were, however, seen as barriers to realizing the companys full potential

Though, SRF offered a caring, inclusive, systems-oriented work culture, people who did not

have the staying power to learn the system did not easily settle. The detailed findings of

Mukunds preliminary research have been consolidated in Exhibit 7 (Table EIII).

Purpose defined

It was a strange coincidence that each one of the CLT members independently seemed to

agree that SRF should preserve and protect its unique work culture which essentially

revolved around mutual respect, employee friendly approach and integrity. They also

concurred that SRFs field of competence lay in operational excellence.

Taking the process forward, the core team discussed and deliberated on the findings of the

preliminary study for finalizing the brief for the prospective brand consultants. The minutes of

the deliberations are summed up in Exhibit 8 (Table EIV).

Brief for the consultants

The salient points of the brief prepared for the brand consultants were as follows:

1. SRF plans to build and nurture a distinct corporate brand to grow in todays fiercelycompetitive business environment.

2. The purpose of the branding exercise is to create a distinct corporate brand of the

company so that the mere mention of the name SRF inspired trust, respectand admiration

of the people. The desired objective would be to reach a stage when:

B Customers perceived SRF as a trustworthy and quality producer.

B Employees felt proud to be working in the organization.

B Students/prospective employees aspired to make a career in SRF.

B General public looked upon the company with respect and admiration.

B Investors felt secure about their investment.

The branding exercise assumes urgency as SRF is poised to grow inorganically as well asorganically. A powerful brand would enable SRF to initiate new ventures and partnerships

with greater agility and speed. It would also improve the speed to access new markets

across its diverse product portfolio.

The scope of work

The objective is to build an overall corporate brand of the company. The work would include

the following:



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Analyzing what the company stood for

Defining the brand promises/offerings (like unique features of the companys products and

services, environment conducive to work, commitment to community development, etc.) that

the company is committed to deliver consistently.

Ensuring that the brand promises are in tune with the companys aspiration, corporate

culture and values.

Developing a clear roadmap with brand building strategies.

Search for consultants

Most of the agencies Mukund contacted appeared to offer only advertising led brand creationstrategies. This was possibly because most dealt with fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)

companies who needed to reach out directly to large number of consumers. A majority of the

agencies admittedthat they had never worked on assignments such as the one offeredby SRF

which had only business customers. A few individual brand strategy consultants refused to

pitch in saying they would work only on invitation. Budget was another constraint that inhibited

SRF from approachingthe really big agencies. However, since thiswas a verycriticalprojectfor

SRF, it was imperative to hire the best that their limited budget could afford. After an intensive

search of two months, Mukund finally short-listed five consultants including some of

international repute (Exhibit 9, TableEV, presents the key credentials of the agencies) who were

invited to make a presentation to his team, based on the brief.

The comparison of the offers revealed that the proposed costs were similar and the timelines

were also matching. However, none of the agencies/consultants had earlier handled such aproject for a company with predominantly business customers. Finally, based on the team

composition and the methodology proposed, three were short-listed. The finalization of the

brand consultant was left to the CLT. The summary of the key differentiators of the three

short-listed consultants are presented in Exhibit 10 (Table EVI).

To help the CLT to take a more informed decision, the three short-listed agencies, A, C and D

were once again asked to present their revised proposals along with the details of the

process to be followed, project timelines, key milestones and deliverables to the CLT.

Short listing consultants

Advertising agency A, which was of international repute, created quite an impact given their

background of creative solutions for national and international clients. They also offered to

engage another brand consulting agency from Bangalore to work on the project to bring indomain expertise relevant to SRF. The CEOs of both the entities, located in Bangalore and

Mumbai, were not only personally present at the meeting to pitch their case but also offered

to get involved in the strategy formulation exercise for SRF. The chairman of the agency, who

was an advertising professional, had been involved with many prize winning advertising

campaigns. He had also produced some television documentaries. The agency proposed to

use their tried and tested standard framework of brand building strategy in the SRF case.

The agency A had grown from a start-up advertising agency in the UK to a global creative

communications company headquartered in the USA with close to 150 offices in around 75

countries. The agency was part of one of the worlds largest communications groups. The

global advertising agency was a full service, integrated communications network. Through

their creative ideas across all media and all disciplines, they claimed to turn brands into

something people fell in love with, which generate loyalty beyond reason. They believepassionately in the power of ideas to differentiate and motivate.

Agency C, which was also of international repute, gave a very detailed proposal, especially

developed for SRFwithwell defined processes,milestones and deliverables. Another featureof

this agency was that its core team that was supposed to work on SRF account was situated in

Delhi, 45 minutes drive from SRF head quarters. They claimed to have a large number of their

clients located in Gurgaon. However, this team which looked knowledgeable and impressive

during the presentation was much younger and had considerably less experience.



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The agency had helped build many of the worlds most valuable brands and successful

marketers. Together with its patterns, they claimed to have the capability to put together a

meaningful human purpose at the centre of their clients brand to transform the way people

thought, felt and ultimately behaved. They further claimed that everything they did for brand

was designed with human purpose in mind. They also presented a framework for defining

the brand charter, i.e. defining what the company did, what it stood for and what made its

unique. This exercise was based on (a) detailed one-on-one interaction with the companys

senior leadership team and qualitative and quantitative brand survey among different

stakeholders including employees, (b) developing organizational capability to deliver

relevant brand experience, i.e. ensuring people are trained in demonstrating the right

experience at every touch point and (c) external activation of the brand at an appropriate

time in future when the organization was ready to defend its promises. The agency also

presented a framework for measuring the effectiveness of their brand building initiatives.

Agency D claimed to have experienced people on board and also made an impact with their

suggested methodology. Most of their work shown in their credentials seemed to revolve

around advertisements only. This agency was a start up, set up by two very experienced

professionals, one from the advertising world and the other from academics, they claimed

that their overhead cost was significantly lower and hence they offered to reduce the cost

even further. In fact, the chairman of the agency was the founder of a well-known consulting

firm that specialized in branding, marketing and brand audits. He had also written two books

on communications and branding. A graduate engineer and an MBA from Indias premiere

academic institute, the chairman, had over 25 years of experience in the brand management

at Indians top advertising agencies. He had developed a proprietary brand building

process, which he called the Brand Culturalization process that had already worked for

many Indian and multi-national companies. Someone who conducted brand workshops

even for the advertising fraternity had a unique brand mantra: start Thinking Customers,

Thinking Emotions. He strongly projected his belief that building brand and organizationa

strategies around consumers could help companies transform their business.

Decision dilemma

It was obvious that it was critical for SRF to keep the momentum of its business growth going

in order to fuel its global expansion plan. Ashish was confident that a corporate branding

exercise would be a step in the right direction. However, which was the more appropriate

agency for SRF, as there were disagreements in the CLT.

There were also reservations in sections of the CLT about the quality of the short-listed

agencies leading to considerable doubt about the value they could deliver. Some of the CLT

members had also expressed their concern about the near absence of requisite experience

of the brand consultants in similar kind of industrial set ups. Ashish, however, did not

consider lack of experience to be a major handicap in doing a good job for SRF.

Besides, there were differences of opinion in the choice of consultants as well; whether to go

for experienced individuals or work with a reputed agency. In the recent past, SRF did not

have a good experience with a consulting firm where the team members kept changing at

regular intervals. Another general perception that existed among the CLT members was that

the reputed agencies would charge exorbitant fee for any additional work beyond the

pre-specified scope of work, and they recommend expensive solutions including

advertising which were not the best solutions for SRF. There were also concerns about theability of individual consultants to tie up with other agencies when required. Moreover,

working with an individual in a long-term project seemed to be a risky proposition.

Desirable vs available

Ashish knew that many of the questions raised were valid but he felt that the decision in this

case had to be based on what was available, and not what was ideal. The problem was

compounded by the fact that all of the agencies which were short-listed had some or the



9/19

other limitations. None of the agencies was likely to get the wholehearted approval of the

entire CLT.

Consensus building

Ashish was keen on achieving a consensus among CLT members about the selection of a

brand consultant. He was, however, more concerned about zeroing in on the right consultant

who would understand SRF way of doing business and thus provides tailor-made strategies.

Implicit in the consensus was the buy-in of all the CLT members, so essential for successful

implementation of any company wide initiative. He combed through the interviews of the CLT

members, which was part of the file given to him. He started looking for the relevant parts

and underlined what he felt were significant for different members (Exhibit 11 gives the

underlined part of the report).

Ashish finally agreed on the following set of selection criteria:

B well defined milestones for the project in order to avoid any cost and time overrun;

B brand consultants ability to comprehend SRFs unique culture and values;

B value-match with the consultant; and

B ease of working relationship.

Keywords:

Selecting brand consultant,

Corporate branding,

Brand building,

Consultants

Exhibit 1. Composition and profile of CLT of SRF

Arun Bharat Ram (Chairman)

Arun Bharat Ram, Chairman of SRF Limited is an alumnus of the University of Michigan, USA.A mid-handicap golfer and a keen musician, having learnt under the renowned maestro Pt.Ravi Shankar, he plays the sitar whenever possible. Arun Bharat Ram belongs to a renownedindustrialist family of Delhi, well known for its contribution in the field of education, art, cultureand sports.

Ashish Bharat Ram (Managing Director)

Ashish Bharat Ram took over as managing Director of SRF Ltd in 2006. He has assumedvarious responsibilities across different verticals since he joined SRF in 1994. Under hisleadership SRF has grown into a multi-location global entity with operations in four countries.

Kartik Bharat Ram (Deputy Managing Director)

Kartik Bharat Ram took over as Deputy Managing Director of SRF Limited in February 2007.In his current role, Kartik is largely involved in creation and strengthening of a culture of totalexcellence across the organization with studied focus on TQM as SRF way of management.He is passionately involved in driving aspirations of the company through value-based

Figure E1

Chairman

MD

Deputy MD

President(HR)

President &CEO (TTB)

President& CEO

(CB)

President& CEO

(Proj

R & D)

President(C.F.O)



10/19

leadership. Kartik is also striving to build SRF into a trusted corporate brand one that isrespected for its commitment to deliver sustainable growth through total excellence. He hasalso been associated with designing business processes with Coopers & Lybrand for settingup a new factory under SRFs business in UAE.

Rajendra Prasad (President and CFO)

Prior to joining SRF as CFO in March 2006, Rajendra Prasad worked with American Expressfor 17 years summing up his tenure as the Lead Controller for the entities in India andadjoining countries. Earlier, he also had a brief stint in the civil services of the Government ofIndia, the hospitality and the manufacturing sectors. With over 29 years of diverseexperience Rajendra Prasad is currently responsible for designing, defining andimplementing policies and process improvements in finance. He has also been

spearheading a task of putting into place a company wide risk control mechanism.Roop Salotra (President and CEO Chemicals Business and Packaging Films Business)

Roop Salotra is actively involved in Montreal and Kyoto Protocol initiatives on behalf of theIndian industry and has acted as support for the Indian Government in the negotiations ofthe protocols. Under his leadership SRF acquired a unique distinction of being one of thefirst industries in India to invest in clean development mechanism (CDM) under Kyotoprotocol to reduce carbon emissions. He has also been instrumental in ensuring successfulphase out of the production of ozone depleting refrigerant gases at SRF as per the MontrealProtocol.

Suresh Tripathi (President Human Resources)

With over 27 years of experience in the field of Human Resource, Suresh Dutt Tripathi hasbeen spearheading his passion of Institution Building through value-based leadership atSRF. Currently, he is deeply involved in integration of the companys recently acquired unitsin Thailand and South Africa. Recently, Suresh has also taken over additional responsibilityas CEO of Shri Educare Ltd, a new venture of promoters of SRF in the field of education.

Sushil Kapoor (President and CEO Technical Textiles Business)

Sushil Kapoor is at the helm of the largest business segment of the company, the TechnicalTextiles Business. With over 28 years of diversified experience, he assumed many rolesspanning purchase, projects, operations, sales and marketing across engineeringchemicals and technical textiles industries. His authority on technical matters, hands-onapproach to leadership and inter-personal skills have enabled him to turnaround many of theoperational units in SRF, a feat that has earned him a title of turnaround expert. He alsoplayed a key role in two successful overseas acquisitions for SRF during 2008, the one inThailand and the other one in South Africa in addition to commissioning projects for SRFsmaiden entry into the arena of Polyester Industrial Yarn and Laminated Fabrics.

Rajdeep Anand (President Projects and R&D)

Rajdeep Anand drives the companys vision of creating value through innovation inrefrigerants and life science products. He has been involved in building the companysin-house R&D capability in high end of technology in new generation refrigerants andspeciality chemicals that is recognized and respected by the leading global players in thesespaces.

Source: The report given to CLT members.



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Exhibit 2. The product range and business structure of SRF

Figure E3

Notes: TTB, technical textiles business; CB, chemical business;

PFB, packaging film business; EPB: engineering plastic business;

IYB, industrial yarn business

Source: Companys Office Diary (2010)

Figure E2

PAGE 10 jEMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIESj VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011


12/19

Exhibit 3. The product applications

Table

EI

Business

Product

Applications

Technicaltextilesbusines

s

Nylontyrecord

Reinforcementsfor

allkindsoftyresrangingfrom

bicycletocartoheavycommercial

vehicles

Beltingfabrics

Reinforcementforc

onveyorbeltsusedinminingandutilityc

ompanies

Coatedfabrics

Fabricatedintoawn

ings,tarpaulinsandcanopiesthatareus

edontrucksandjeeps,

coversthatkeepcricketpitches,tenniscourtsandsportsfieldsdrywhentheraingods

spoiltheshow,sma

rtsportskitsandevenmakeshifttentsus

edforweddingparties

IndustrialYarns(bothtwinesandyarn

s)

Usedasfishnets,ro

pes,

industrialsewingthread,chaferfabr

icsusedincycletyresand

narrowindustrialtapes

Chemicalsbusiness

Refrigerants

Usedforrefrigeratio

nandair-conditioninginavarietyofindu

strial,commercialand

householdapplications.

HCFC-22isthecoolingagentindom

esticair-conditioners,and

isarawmaterialformakingTeflon,thecoatingthataddsnon-sticktokitchenware.

HFC

134aisanewgenerationozone-friendlyrefrigerant,usedinre

frigeratorsandincarsand

aspropellantsinph

armaceuticalapplicationssuchasinhale

rs

Chloromethanes

Usedassolventsandfoam-blowingagents

Fluorospecialities

Usedasorganicbu

ildingblocks/intermediatesinpharmaceuticalandagrochemical

industries

Engineeringplastics

business

Engineeringplastics

Usedincarsand2-

wheelers,switchgear,MCBhousings,

CFLbulbholders,

bulbholder

housings,pulleysandindustrialgearboxes

Packagingfilmsbusiness

Polyesterfilms/biaxiallyorientedpolyethylene

terephthalatefilms

Predominantlyused

inflexiblepackagingapplications.

Also

usedbyconvertersfor

makingpackagingmaterialforawidevarietyofFMCGproductssuchassoapsand

detergents,tea,sha

mpoosachets,packagedwheatflour,etc.

Source:Companydocum

ents



13/19

Exhibit 4. Consolidated financial figures of SRF Ltd, all figures in Rs million

Exhibit 5. Growth plans of SRF

Recent acquisitions. As part of its growth strategy SRF has recently acquired two foreignentities, one in Thailand, and the other one in South Africa.

Thai Baroda Industries Ltd, Thailand. SRF acquired this plant, a manufacturer of tyre cord in2008. After acquisition the unit has been renamed SRF Technical Textiles (Thailand) Ltd Withthis acquisition, SRFs world ranking improved from 3rd to 2nd in the production of Nylon 6tyre cord.

Industex Technical Textiles (Pty) Ltd, South Africa. SRF acquired this unit, a manufacturer ofbelting fabrics, in 2008. After acquisition he unit has been renamed SRF Industex Belting

(Pty) Ltd. With this acquisition, SRFs world ranking improved from 3rd to 2nd in theproduction of Nylon 6 tyre cord.

Planned projects in immediate future. Expansion of coated fabrics the board hasapproved a capex proposal to enhance the capacity of Coated Fabrics by 170 lakh m2 perannum at SRFs existing plant location in Gummidipoondi at a total investment ofapproximately Rs 143 crore. The new facility when completed will enable SRF to offer newproducts such as lacquered tarpaulins and fabrics for tensile structures and awnings as wellas polyurethane coated fabrics which are emerging applications in India.

Table EII

Particulars Year ended 31 March 2008 Year ended 31 March 2007

Net sales/income from operations 16,835.3 18,865.2

Other income 187.9 132.5

Total income 17,023.2 18,997.7

Total expenditure 14,458.2 14,039.1

(Increase)/decrease in stock 87.0 (207.0)

Consumption of raw materials 9,456.0 9,267.7Purchase of traded goods 20.8 14.7

Power and fuel 1,470.5 1,504.0

Employee cost 869.6 778.2

Depreciation 997.0 846.0

Additional depreciation 48.5

Other expenditure 1,508.8 1,835.5

Interest and finance charges (net) 357.2 366.1

Exchange currency fluctuation loss/(gain) 210.0 166.8

Exceptional items 13.3

Profit/(loss) from ordinary activities before tax 1,984.5 4,425.7

Provision for tax current 430.6 1,318.2

Provision for tax deferred 212.1 191.7

Provision for tax earlier years (4.8) 32.3

Net profit/(loss) from ordinary activities after tax 1,346.6 2,883.4Segment wise revenue, results and capital employed

Segment revenue

Technical textiles business (TTB) 9,088.0 8,699.9

Chemicals business (CB) 4,789.4 7,294.4

Packaging film business (PFB) 2,275.7 2,031.0

Segment results (PBIT)

TTB 199.1 466.8

CB 2,552.8 4,834.2

Packaging film business (PFB) 213.6 (53.4)

Capital employed (segment assets in production less-segment liabilities)

TTB 9,103.7 8,863.2CB 2,905.2 1,580.1

PFB 1,815.4 1,891.7

Source:Published company records



14/19

Multi-purpose chemical complex SRF is currently in the midst of planning a chemicacomplex at Dahej in Gujarat. The plant that is driven by R&D on commissioning will producearound 20,000 tonnes of a chemical product. The project is scheduled to be completed bythe first quarter of 2012.

Source: web site of SRF Ltd.

Exhibit 6. The SRF logo

Exhibit 7. Summary of the preliminary research report

Purpose statement of SRF

Make our nation proud by being the best at what we do.

Desired public perception about SRF

B An Indian company that is expanding in a big way beyond the shores of India throughlarge international acquisitions.

B An employee friendly organization.

B An Indian multi-national business group.B A professional organization with ethical management.

B Professionals are valued.

Something that should never change about SRF

B care and respect for people;

B trustworthiness;

Figure E4

Source: Website of SRF Ltd

Table EIII

Target audience Their perception of SRF Desired perception

Employees An employee friendly company

Not very sure of the future plans

A proud workplace

Clarity on companys future plans

Future employees Do not know much Aware of the company, its future plans and

potential

Investors Making money through CDM only A blue chip company

Customers A reliable supplier A reliable supplier

The only supplier for their requirements of bothproducts and services

Community Not many know about its CSR activities A good corporate citizen



15/19

B its business practices dependability and reliability;

B ethical management; and

B equal opportunity.

Insights on why did employees leave SRF?

B SRF was not among the top quartile of employers in terms of salary and growthopportunities within the organization.

B People usually left within the first six months of joining because of the obsession with theTQM way of doing things at SRF.

Critical insights (verbatim representation) of CLT members of SRF

B We are very good at what we do. We are innovative, reliable, quality oriented andenvironmentally sensitive. This was the image we need to build because it was inherent inwhat we are trying to do. No other company in India does all that.

B All of our products are intermediates and are in the commodity segment.

B R&D holds the key to the companys success. It strives to create niche products out ofcommodity products. Innovation and technological breakthroughs are extremely criticalfor the future. We do not recognize this enough. Growth will be both through acquisitionsand innovation.

B Now the company was actively considering its choices in diversifying its product portfolioas well as exploring the international markets, and a full-fledged corporate brand buildingexercise was required.

B Each business has its own set of competitors but what makes SRF stand out is that itsbusiness partners can trust SRFs word. Commitment is something that SRF stands byeven if there are fluctuations in the market.

B The group SRF was running on trust and that was the strongest pillar!

B The customers of SRF know that SRF will never resort to any unfair means.

B In terms of Fluoro-specialities verticals, we have become the leader but overall as acompany, we are far from being the leader in research.

B In the tyre cord and refrigerant business there should be no one in the industry whodoesnt know of SRF. But the end consumer does not know SRF. To be a leader, thebusiness space ought to know of us.

B We are the trustworthy solution providers, who are working towards solving customer

needs versus just giving a product.

B SRF was known for the quality of its products among its customers. Customers preferbuying from SRF for ease of dealing, quality of products, and tradition of honoringcommitments.

Source: Company records.



16/19

Exhibit 8. Product vs corporate brand deliberations

Table

EIV

Advantagesofproductb

randingforSRF

Advantagesofco

rporatebrandingforSRF

Theproductshadveryd

istinctanddifferentcustomerbaseswith

diverseneeds

Thecompanywasdiversifiedandastrongcorporatebrand

waseasiertoleverage

acrosscategories

Technologydrivenprodu

ctsandsoldessentiallytoaselectsetof

customers

TheB2Bcompaniesdependedonreferencingandtheproductspecificreferences

weredifficulttole

verageacrosscategories

Allthebusinesseswereprofitcentersandhencetheyweremore

likelytosupport

thebrandbuildingspendastheyreapeddirectbenefit

Theamountofmo

neyrequiredtosupportmanysmallbrand

swaslikelytoaddupto

averybigamoun

t

Themanpowerwasmostlyinthefactory.

Theskilledmanpowerw

aslikelytobe

awareabouttheproductandproductbrandwaslikelytobemore

helpfulIn

attractingtherighttalent.

Forunskilledmanpower,brandmightno

tbecritical

Corporatebrandwaslikelytoprovidesynergiesandcouldbeleveragedwithlarger

numberofstakeh

olderslikefinancialinstitutionandglobal

audience

DisadvantagesofproductbrandingforSRF

DisadvantagesofcorporatebrandingforSRF

Successfulproductcouldnotbeleveragedacrosscategories

Itmaybeatimeconsumingandcostlywhichmaynotgen

eratethedesired

businessspecific

impact

Moremoneywouldbere

quiredintotalaswellastheentiresynergycouldnotbe

utilized

Theeffectiveness

isdifficulttomeasureandhenceresourc

eutilizationmaynotbe

mostefficient

ThecontrolonbrandbuildinglayintheSBUsandhencethebran

dasaresource

wouldnotbedeveloped

andhenceharnessedtoitsfullpotential

Thebusinessesarediverseandhencecreatingacorporate

brandwhichintegrates

allofthem

aswellastakeadvantageofthesynergyisquiteachallengeand

resourceintensive

Source:CLTfile



17/19

Exhibit 9. Agency credentials

Table

EV

Brandconsultant

C

redentials

Rema

rksbyMukund

A

A

ninternationalagency,with138officesin

82countries

Theyhavetheirownmodelforcreatingab

randwhichenjoyed

high-brandloyalty

C

lientprofile:nearlyhalfofthetop100mo

stvaluableglobalbrands,

in

cludingfiveofthetopten

They

areoneofthebestinthebusiness

Their

participationwillgiveusanewperspectiveontheproject

They

arefavorablylocatedinGurgaon

They

arekeentotakeuptheSRFprojectandhencemayevenquotea

comp

etitiveprice

B

A

partofaninternationalagencythatoperatesoutofover150countries

In

India,theyarefiveyearsold,withofficesinDelhiandMumbai

A

mongthelargestagenciesinDelhiwithc

loseto100committed

p

rofessionalsworkingunderoneroof

C

lientcrofile:someofthemulti-nationalsincludingbiggestadvertisersin

In

dia

U

niqueness:offeredanarrayofservicesfrom

brandcommunicationto

d

igitalandmobilemarketingtoonground

activationsolutionsthrougha

singleentity

They

areoneofthebestinthebusiness

Thed

igitalmediawasanupcomingfieldwhichSRFcouldleveragein

future

They

didnothaveanysmallbudgetclients

C

W

asoneoftheworldsmostreputedadvertisingagencies

Theirmajorclientsincludedmulti-nationals

andtheyheldmostofthe

accountsacrosstheworld

They

areoneofthebestinthebusinessandm

ostoftheirclientswerein

Gurgaon,socoordinationwouldnotbeaprob

lem

D

Thetwoownerswereexperiencedinthefieldofadvertisingwithexcellent

academicandprofessionalcredentials

O

ver25yearsofcorporateexperiencewithtopadvertisingagencies

S

trategicmarketing,salespromotionandCRM

consultant

Lastassignmentasexecutivevice-presidentofaninternational

advertisingagency

A

ctivelyinvolvedinacademicfrontcurre

ntlyteachingbrandbuilding

andCRM

atsomeofthetopmanagement

institutionsinthecountry

B

randbuildingassociationswithsixtosev

enbigadvertisers

Owne

rswerewellknownprofessionals,

havingareputationofdeveloping

sever

alsuccessfulbrands

Their

ratesarelikelytobecompetitive

E

O

wnerhad39yearsofexperienceinthec

ommunicationsindustry

H

ebeganhiscareerwithaninternationala

gency(waspostedinLondon

andIndia)wherehespent22years

H

ewaspastPresidentandCEOofanotherin

ternationaladvertisingagency

w

hichexitedIndia

Heha

sexperienceandreputationtodevelops

uccessfulbrandbuilding

strate

gies

Heco

uldnotprovidealltheservices,

butwouldberesourcefulin

arrangingdifferentservicesrequiredinbrandbuildingexercise



18/19

Exhibit 10. Key differentiators of the three short-listed consultants

Exhibit 11. Relevant excerpts from the interviews as in the transcripts, underlined byAshish

Arun Bharat Ram

All our products are products which are converted by others to end products. SRF in manyways is as good as DCM and theres no reason why we should not be recognized for it. Weare a significant player in the world yet we get no visibility.

Why visibility is important? Share price is not as important to drive up. But the fair price of theshare should be there. It is extremely important to be known as a strong ethical player toattract talent. We want everyone in the organization to feel pride in SRF.

Investors are less of a concern. That will come. Maximum recognition should be with peoplewho are current and prospective employees. Customers are less of an issue. This is basedon customer relationships. The public at large is of secondary importance. Internationalcustomers are important, because in future, we hope to build many relationships.

SRF would be a humane person who respects people, recognises competence, does notnecessarily reward adequately. Reasonably risk averse, and lives by its integrity codes. Anopen person who gives opportunities to others to say what they want.

Kartik Bharat Ram

As one of its objectives, SRF aims to achieve a certain level of familiarity among the generalpublic, especially potential recruits (employable people). SRF now recruits from tier 2 townsbut aims to get the cream from those institutes. To these potential employees, SRF aspires tobe sought as a caring company, not overtly aggressive but not too conservative either, acompany which aims for financially prudent growth.

Each business has its own set of competitors but what makes SRF stand out is that it thebusiness partners can take SRFs word. Commitment is something that SRF stands by even ifthere are fluctuations in the market.

Rajendra Prasad

By the end of 2009, the goal is to get stake holders know that there is a multi-nationalmulti-business group. At this moment, there is a muddled up issue of the identity of SRF andthe objective is to make them understand this group better. For the employees, SRF shouldcreate an identity so that they are recognized as employees of a multi-national business

Table EVI

Agency Individual/agency Team

Comments of the Corporate Communication

Team

A Advertising agency The agency proposed to hire another agency as

brand expert for the SRF project. The CEOs of

both the organizations were present in the

meeting. The two CEOs seemed to be very keen

and claimed to be personally involved in theproject

They seemed to have a single model for

developing brand strategies for all organizations

They, however, did not present the details of their

methodology and project milestones

C Advertising agency It was a two member team headed by an expert

who had worked in the USA on brand strategies.

Both the members had around six to eight years

of work experience

They seemed to have done a preliminary

research on SRF brand. They not only presented

a detailed outline of the process with clear

milestones but also presented a possible solution

based on their limited research, which impressed

everyone present in the meeting. The focus was

on creating a brand charter before launching

brand activation plans

D Individual consultant It was largely a two-member team, both having

more than 25 years of experience. They were

also running a small advertising agency

They presented a model for corporate brand

identity building framework with a strong

emphasis on creating a culture of brand

internally

Source: Internal report of SRF



19/19

group. Experience of handling multi-national brands across multiple locations would beuseful for SRF.

Roop Salotra

I would like SRF to be recognized as a good company to work with. People should know whatSRF stands for. SRF is a strong, promoter-driven yet professionally managed company. It is aplace where you can get the best of both worlds. It is a brand that believes in corporategovernance, a professional environment. It is compassionate, has long-term vision and doesnot get bogged down by rules and regulations. SRFs strategy is to expand in a big waybeyond the shores of India. We are actively pursuing large, international acquisitions.

Internal employees should understand SRF well as it can get more challenging because ouracquisitions are adding a larger number of employees who are unfamiliar with what SRFstands for. Communication to these new employees is especially important and that has tovery innovative and interesting for them to register.

Floron is the only product with a clear, recognized branding. The goal of brand building is toreach mechanics as reaching end-users is too costly.

Rajdeep Anand

SRF should be seen by people around as a professional organization with ethicalmanagement, and growth oriented (not seen as one today). Not just a brand for products buta strong corporate brand.

In refrigerants, we should be big and this is where we require a string product brand butwhen it comes to other business verticals, we need a strong corporate brand. The brandstrategy should be appealing, workable and it should just not be just about creativeexcellence or good presentation.

S.D. Tripathi

SRF, being in the commodity market, should not be degraded down to the level of anunethical and a hardcore business oriented company. The perception of a commoditymanufacturer is that in the market mainly due to the smaller manufacturers who usually sellout of places like Chandni Chowk (an important wholesale market in Delhi). The brand canonly be understood and delivered by people who are going to put adequate time and effortin understanding the nuances of the market.

Corresponding author

Jaydeep Mukherjee can be contacted at: [email protected]


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