Preparing a Go-to market for the Family led Enterprises

vertical at Aon Hewitt

by

Rishabh Gupta

14PGHR50

Management Development Institute

Gurgaon 122 001
May, 2015

Preparing a Go-to Market for the Family led Enterprises

vertical at Aon Hewitt

by

Rishabh Gupta

Under the guidance of

Mr. Rishi Khandelwal
FLE Lead,
Senior Consultant
Aon Hewitt

Management Development Institute

Gurgaon 122 001
May, 2015

Table of Contents:
1.0 Introduction4
1.1 Executive Summary..6
2.0 Milestones Achieved..7
3.0 Milestones to Achieve7
4.0 Appendix:
4.1 Interview Guide Prepared..9

1.0 Introduction:

The potential and importance of Family led Enterprises (henceforth mentioned as FLE) can be gathered
by the fact that more than 70% of Indias largest and most celebrated organizations were nurtured and
revolutionized by a small group of promoters and family members. The contribution of FLEs to the
Indian economy has been and will always be significant in terms of its growth as a revenue generator as
well as a major source of employment for a billion plus population of India.
By definition, a FLE is one in which the majority of the stake is held by the person who has formed or
acquired the company (by his/her parents, spouse, child or childs direct heir) and at least one
representative of the family is involved in the management and administration of the business. Family
businesses have historically been undermined and downplayed with respect to the Indian economy but
FLEs have aggressive future growth plans, which could give them the deserved recognition and highlight
the importance by doing the same.
The FLEs span from manufacturing, retail to automotive, construction etc. that shows the diverse sectors
it has presence in. Despite varied differences in their sizes, locations, industry sectors etc., there has been
observed a stark anomaly when it comes to their performance, point of view towards expansion and
internationalization and approach on the qualities that set FLEs apart from other businesses.
FLEs have fared reasonably well in the past years and remain bullish about their growth in the coming
decade. 74% have grown in the last few years and 36% are aiming at an exponential and quick growth
rate over the next 5 years. It is because of the inherent belief FLEs have that possess certain advantages
over their non-family organization counterparts when it comes to motivation, strong values and culture,
agility and speed in decision making as well as their particular insight and entrepreneurial nature of doing
business in the market they are currently operating in.
Focusing on the growth rate of the FLEs in India and the economic significance of such businesses to the
Indian economy as described above, an acute need is being felt to come up with a customized approach
towards meeting the various challenges, which will be discussed later in the report, which these FLEs
uniformly face across all the sectors in todays environment of increased competitiveness and constant
innovation. These challenges broadly include next-generation leadership development, succession
planning, professionalization and formalization of the systems and processes, talent and performance
system inadequacies etc. and these can be generally owed to the inherent patriarchal structure and the
dormant owner-management governance mechanisms of the family led enterprises in India. Coming up
with a customized approach to mitigate these challenges would help streamline the Human Resources and
other functions in these organizations and improve the viability and sustainability of the family led
businesses as well as facilitate the leveraging of the time and resources for the key aspects of their longterm strategy.
To cater to this need, Aon Hewitt has taken a pro active initiative thorough a FLE vertical constituted
under the Talent and Performance Management Division and has worked with some of the biggest family
business houses in providing them with a holistic solution to carry out Human Resource transformation
and interventions for the same with the objective of facilitating a culture of high performance and growth

in these organizations. It has been continually striving towards creating a more customized approach
towards revamping other systems and processes for the FLEs by leveraging its expertise, extensive
knowledge base and global presence spanning various countries.

1.1 Executive Summary:

In India, FLEs range from the small mom and pop stores to large corporations with varies business
interests. As their growth has been exponential and they have been striving to expand geographically as
well as demographically to better their products and increase their customer services to maintain a
competitive edge in the marketplace, they have been stepping out of their comfort zones to acquire
companies in new industries and geographies or just trying to grow organically through in-house
capability building.
But along with this comes a very unique set of challenges very specific to FLEs:

Managing diverse opinions of the family stakeholders, family dynamics, internal conflicts and
disputes etc.
Creating a succession plan for the family members to take over the business in the next
generation
Contrasting views and styles of operation between the older and the newer generation
Hiring non-family executives who may perceive that career growth, major decision making
authority and autonomy are solely under the purview of the family members
Regular access to capital to help the business grow and develop

Though a staggering 78% of the FLEs believe we have mechanisms in place to deal with family issues
and conflicts to avoid interference with the business side of FLEs, yet there are some very disturbing HR
issues which plague FLEs such as
-

the need to innovate

Attract the right talent
Retain key staff through talent and skill development by providing them ample career growth
opportunities
Need for newer technology and the ability of the employees to effectively deal with that to
optimize process efficiency
Compliance with regulations

It has thus been felt that certain HR interventions are needed to revamp how these FLEs function and
chart out a strategy and a robust transformation system to help them guide through the various stages of
the business cycle so as to optimize the organizational performance and facilitate its future growth. Hence
the objectives of the project were identified as below:

Identifying the major challenges FLEs face specifically with respect to the
Indian scenario

Customizing the core solution areas for the Family led Enterprises domain at
Aon Hewitt i.e. Performance Management, Diagnostics and Organizational
structure
Preparing a customized methodology, tool package, credentials and
ultimately a focused approach towards this domain
Preparing customized go-to markets for each of the core solution areas
depicting the Aon Hewitt approach and methodology towards solving the
challenges faced by the Family led Enterprises in India

2.0 Milestones Achieved:

1. Understand the Job Descriptions of the LASFs and LATFs through interviews and interactions
with:
a. Mr. Nihar Mohanty- TSM, Mumbai
b. Mr. Supreet Dhadwal- RTH, Maharashtra
c. Mr. Arun Nair- Management Trainee, HRLP, 2013
d. Mr. Omkar Singh- LASF, Greater Mumbai
e. Mr. Ganesh Muralidharan- Business Analyst, Business Process Excellence, CMO Team
2. Identified the desirable Training programme format- Modular and Depotwise, Pan-India
3. Gathered the data of the number of LASFs and LATFs at each depot
4. Gathered the data of the number and names of Sr. TTSMs and RTHs who can train the LASFs
and LATFs
5. Identified the gap in terms of number of Internal Trainers at each depot and the number of such
trainers required
6. Received the list of topics to be covered for the Training Modules
7. Held meetings with the External Sales Training Agencies, received proposals from them
8. Prepared a Rollout plan for the Programme
9. Prepared a tentative training calendar
10. Prepared the tentative Sales training cost sheet
11. Prepared the Interview guide for the interviews of ZHs, ZTHs, RHs, RTHs, TSMs, TTSMs, TSEs,
LASFs and LATFs for data collection
12. Brand the Programme by coming up with a name for the programme- Budh-Aditya
13. Finalise the recognition to be given

3.0 Milestones to Achieve:

1. Accept the proposals, receive approach notes, finalise and facilitate the process of closing the
deal
2. Prepare the L&D kit with standard formats for attendance, feedback and other forms
3. Conduct the interviews for data-collection
4. Prepare a communication plan
5. Convey to the business the need for a certain number of more external trainers
6. Prepare the cost sheet for the Technical Training Modules
7. Finalise the content for the Sales Training
8. Finalise the review mechanism for both Sales and Technical Training
9. Convey to the business the need for the Internal Sales Trainers

4.0 Appendix:
4.1 Interview Guide Prepared:

Questions to be asked to the On-roll interviewees:

1. Do you think the off-roll LASFs/LATFs require any training in Sales/Technical area? Please give
reasons, focusing on the areas you think they need to improve on.
2. Do you think there is a lack in the area of soft skills among your LATFs/LASFs? Can you be
specific as to which area- oral, written, telephonic, etc.- do you think there is a lack?
3. What metrics do you use to identify talent in the off roll employee? Do you rely on hunch,
common sense, or you look at any particular attributes? If yes, which attributes?
4. What other attributes do you think can be looked at to identify talent?
5. Right now, the LASFs/LATFs go through compact training modules, as and when their reporting
managers identify the need for it. Do you think a programme spread across 1 year, spaced out in
modules, for all the off-roll employees would be a better choice? If yes, why? If no, why not?
6. We have about 1200 off-roll employees, spread across 200 odd depots. How do you propose a
training programme on a pan-India level can be done?
7. Is it feasible to have the training done at the depot levels? What are the challenges that may be
faced if it is done in that manner?
8. Which one would you prefer: internally trained trainers vis-a-vis external trainers, via training
agencies?
9. What are the benefits of your choice versus the other?
10. Would you be willing to have, say, To conduct training modules in your respective regions as a
part of your KRA?
11. Do you think your LASFs/LATFs would be able to sustain a programme across 1 year?
Questions to be asked to the Off-roll employees:
1. Do you think there is a need for training in the Sales/Technical area for you, with respect to the
work that you do? Do you think that will help you improve on your performance at work?
2. Do you face problems in areas like writing or speaking when you are on your Sales calls?
3. What metrics do you think is used by your superiors to pick up talent for a higher post?
4. What, in your opinion, should they focus on, when picking up talent for a higher post?
5. If you are put through a longer training module, spread across 1 year, do you think your learning
would be better? Do you think you will get time to implement what you are learning as you go?
6. Would you prefer the training model which is followed as opposed to a model where you will
receive training at your depots, once a month across a year? If so, why?
7. Would you prefer trainers who are your bosses, and know your strengths and weaknesses, against
trainers appointed from outside?
8. Do you think your trainer, if from outside and not your boss, will be able to identify and groom
you on the key elements of your job?
9. Do you think 1 year is a decent time span to train you on the nitty gritties of your job? Do you
think more or less time is needed?
10. Do you think you will be able to sustain a training programme of 1 year, if something like this is
rolled out?