Question # 1:

How would you evaluate the link between people practices and organizational performance at CavinKare? Based on your analysis, list the important considerations in Designing effective people?

Question # 2:

CavinKare wanted to foster innovation by promoting team working across functions/departments. How do you think the new people practices helped achieve this goal?

Question # 3:

Examine the approaches CavinKare used to manage the process of transforming the organization. For example, How did the change program ensure that people have: (a) clarity and a shared understanding about where the organization would like to go and how it will get there; (b) the desire and motivation to reach the set goal; and (c) a context /environment that is favorable and supportive.?

Case study It was the evening of June 10, 2017, and Chinni Krishnan Ranganathan, Founder and Chairman of CavinKare Private Limited, a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, had just completed a business performance review with his senior team for the year 2016-17. The results indicated that CavinKare's human capital interventions to change its practices, systems and processes had resulted in double-digit growth for the company while the industry average hovered around 4-5%.

Ranganathan had first felt the need to rethink their approach to human capital in 2012. At that time, he had been concerned about dwindling revenue growth, low employee productivity, increasing costs and bottom-line erosion. The company had plateaued after its initial growth years. To rejuvenate the organization, he began focusing on human capital interventions aimed at aligning performance goals at different levels to the larger organizational strategy, bringing in the right people, providing them the right resources to succeed, and creating the right incentives for performance excellence. The planning and execution of these interventions were all driven by in-house efforts. These initiatives had changed the character of the organization and had led to strong growth and performance.

While the company's senior management felt that the successful business results signaled the conclusion of their human capital interventions, Ranganathan pointed out that there were still key tasks left unfinished. He told his team:

We've changed structures, systems and processes. But the culture and mindsets still lag behind. We are still hierarchical in our orientation. People still give attention to issues of interdependency only grudgingly. Unless we ensure that the cultural fabric is aligned with our intent of creating performance excellence by being entrepreneurial, innovative and learning- oriented, how can we say that our agenda of building human capital is complete?

Ranganathan was born in the small town of Cuddalore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Right from his early years, his entrepreneurial spirit was quite evident. He kept a wide variety of fish and birds as pets. He gradually transformed his hobby into a small pet business which earned him some pocket money. His father, Chinni Krishnan, was in the business of pharmaceutical packaging and beauty care products manufacturing. Chinni Krishnan's untimely death forced Ranganathan's elder brothers to take charge of the family business. The sons exited the pharmaceutical and broader personal care products business and focused solely on shampoo, specifically Velvette, a product their father had launched. In 1982, after graduating from college, Ranganathan joined the family business. A few months later, he left the business to pursue his own dreams. With a modest investment of INR 15,000 drawn from his personal savings, Ranganathan also ventured into the shampoo business. It was the only thing he knew. The company started operations under the name Chik India in 1983. With Ranganathan's entrepreneurial zeal, innovative ideas and hard work, the business grew rapidly, and the company diversified into other personal care products. His aim was to go beyond cosmetics and offer a wide range of consumer products. He named the company CavinKare Pvt. Ltd. in 1998, with the letters C and K, his father's initials, in capitals. The word cavin in Tamil meant beauty and grace. Every single opportunity that Ranganathan pursued was driven by an effort to think outside the box. The company's turnover rose from INR 850 million in 1998-99 to over INR 5,000 million by 2006-07.

CavinKare diversified into several product categories: personal care products such as creams and moisturizing lotions, talcum powder, hair dye, herbal powders and hair oil; savory snacks such as pickles; milk and milk products; beverages; and a chain of family salons. By 2011, the organization had clocked revenues of INR 11 billion and built manufacturing facilities in Haridwar in northern India; Puducherry, Erode and Kanchipuram in southern India; Hasnabad in central India; and manufacturing/ subsidiary locations in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (see Exhibit 1). The organization had a functional structure (see Exhibit 2). In 2012, its total employee headcount was around 2,000.

HITTING A ROADBLOCK

In 2012, Ranganathan felt that CavinKare had hit a roadblock. There were concerns about productivity, the spirit of entrepreneurship had given way to bureaucratic functioning, costs had spiraled out of control and profitability had dipped (see Exhibit 3). CavinKare products faced direct competition from the big brand products of large multinational companies (MNCs) such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble and L'Oral. These organizations not only had strong brands but also had huge distribution networks and vast resources. Ranganathan believed that CavinKare needed to confront the MNC challenge, rather than be satisfied with winning the domestic race against smaller local players. He began a series of discussions with S. Ramachandran (Ram), Vice President - Human Resources, and other department heads. He set up regular discussions with senior people in the company and brainstormed ideas to enhance the organization's effectiveness. Over time, a clearer picture of the ills plaguing CavinKare emerged.

Product Innovation: Under the heat of competition from MNCs, the mindset of CavinKare had moved away from its original pioneering innovative spirit. It had become reactive and caught up in bringing out products that were at best incrementally superior to those of the MNCs. The market research was framed by the MNC benchmark, and those constrained marketing inputs set the direction for research and development (R&D). Ranganathan felt that real consumer research had become conspicuous by its absence.

Lack of Collaboration: As CavinKare grew, the functional groupings became larger, and the specialist functional orientation became more dominant at the expense of the entrepreneurial/ business urge. People worked in silos and there was little sharing of information across functions. People upheld their respective departmental objectives, leading to misaligned priorities and loss of attention to the larger organizational goal. There was a lack of communication and collaboration among departments. At meetings, the blame game was often played; understanding and support had become rare. Ram elaborated:

Senior leaders paid scant attention to team building, inculcating team spirit or encouraging and empowering their people. We had a good marketing team and differentiated products, but poor execution. Given the coordination troubles, most new product launches were delayed.

Lack of a Learning Mindset: Recruitment was primarily focused on bringing in people with relevant experience from other companies. The positions at CavinKare offered nothing more than a higher salary. Paradoxically, while employee salaries had gone up, motivation was down. Everyone was busy with operational routines and fire-fighting, and there was no attention to pursuing new ideas or building capability. Complacency had set in, and mediocrity in performance was accepted as inevitable.

Poor Performance Review Mechanisms: The personnel at different levels had relevant FMCG experience and the requisite competence for role performance. But there was no clear accountability for results. Performance appraisals and reviews tended to become yearly rituals, and most people received standard increments. The system operated from a hierarchical orientation; employees merely conformed to instructions from their superiors.

Thus, an unintended side effect of growth had been the loss of speed, agility and responsiveness. As the senior leaders discussed and uncovered these challenges, they realized that these were all internal people challenges and not external market difficulties. Ranganathan recalled:

Through the free and frank exchange of views among a select few leaders, we realized what was the source of our problems. We had to think of specific actions and initiatives to address these problems and then implement those effectively. But our people were only aware of the symptoms; they had no idea of the underlying problem. They certainly could not see that the company needed transformation.

CHANGE INTERVENTIONS AT CAVINKARE

Ranganathan urged the senior leaders to read leading management and personal development books, pick up useful concepts and ideas, and bring those to knowledge-sharing sessions that were held on a weekly basis. At the end of each session, there was open discussion on what should be done to enhance innovation, agility and responsiveness. Ranganathan reiterated that human capital was the most valuable factor for business success and sustainability, and great business ideas would mean nothing unless the best talents transformed those ideas into effective actions. As the sessions continued, several ideas emerged for strengthening the organization. Ranganathan wanted the human resources (HR) function to catalyze the transformation process by working to align organizational goals with departmental and individual objectives and by building people capability. He felt that for this to happen, the HR team had to first overcome its preoccupation with routine administrative issues and become an effective strategic partner.

Reorienting HR to Play Strategic Partner and Change Catalyst Roles

To meet the new expectations, the HR function had to be revamped and its capability levels had to be substantially upgraded. Unless the HR professionals developed a deep understanding of the business and had the ability to visualize what organizational capabilities would be required to deliver the business needs, they would not be able to function as effective strategic partners and change catalysts. Ram stated:

A lot of thought went into clarifying expected deliverables. Discussions were held with each member of the team to align the thought process. Those who were not aligned were moved out. Fresh talent was brought in, and a new HR team with the right thinking and attitude was built.

HR was involved in all aspects of business decisions. HR professionals were given an equal voice in various aspects of people-related decisions such as recruitment, performance appraisal and promotions. They were asked to provide conceptual inputs on different aspects of the transformation process.

Alignment of Organizational Goals

With growth, there were new priorities and interfaces to be attended to, but people continued to do what they had always done. Ranganathan felt that a key responsibility of senior leaders would be to translate larger strategies into specific role requirements and make people understand what was expected of them. Otherwise, there would be a disconnect between thinking at the strategic level and actions at the ground level.

Alignment of organizational goals and department/ individual goals: To give each role holder clarity on the expectations of their particular role, expectation documents (EDs) were developed that were different and more detailed than role descriptions. These documents were prepared after careful thought; they included output, process as well as cultural expectations. Ram stated:

The expectation document is developed by looking at our past failures and also considering the future, i.e., where we want to take the particular function in the next three to four years.

Every employee received an ED from their immediate supervisor. It provided specific guidelines and the boundaries within which an individual had to work. Ranganathan prepared the ED for his direct reports and it percolated down to the lowest level. This ensured that the strategic intent was carefully deconstructed into a set of responsibilities and actions at different levels. The ED was a very detailed document that varied from position to position and included a detailed list of 60-120 items. It was updated whenever there was change in work expectations. B. P. Ravindran, Vice President - Sales added:

My ED has around 60 items and includes specific key result areas (KRAs) related to revenues and other measures. There are behavioral guidelines for example, shaping the attitude of my team, creating systems and shaping attitudes to prevent unethical practices, focusing on the long term, coaching next level leaders, delegating the detailed operational review to next level leaders, following the laid down systems, traveling for a minimum number of days, applying the "7 habits of highly effective people" and enhancing the use of technology. It also includes items related to people aspects recruitment, job rotation and promotion.

ED for all employees is aligned at the beginning of the year to the sales and distribution strategy, which is linked to the organizational strategy. Everybody drives the same agenda at various levels and in their respective geographies. For example, if we want to expand from the existing 6.8 million outlets to 8 million outlets, it is clearly defined which region is going to increase their dealers. The strategy of formulating an ED is bottom-up as 85% of the expectations are listed by the employees themselves and the remaining 15% are listed by their supervisor. This creates ownership, accountability and passion to deliver. Once all the expectations are listed, HR prepares a formal document.

Meenakshi Narayanan, R&D head, added:

For the R&D function, the overall expectation is to deliver differentiated products. Apart from new products, [Ranganathan] wants us to be recognized by our peers in the scientific community through our involvement in scientific and intellectual work in the form of patents, publications, etc. Thus, research has become a part of our ED. For my team, I prepare the ED after having discussions with them. Some of my expectations get drilled down into the expectations of the team reporting to me. As the ED includes the KRAs, some of the parameters of the ED are captured in the KRAs, which are set every six months and evaluated at the end of that period. Some of the KRAs are also categorized as wildly important goals (WIGs),¹ which are monitored every week. As my KRAs are dependent on my team's KRAs, it is an added incentive for me to monitor team performance regularly.

The WIGs for each function were based on three aspects the top line, the bottom line and automation. In most organizations, the focus was only on the top line, i.e., the targets that were delegated, and the bottom line was not delegated beyond a level. At CavinKare, people were also made accountable for their contribution to the bottom line. WIGs on automation assessed how technology was used to enable organizational transformation. Immediate supervisors monitored the WIGs regularly. Gayatri Kabilan, Category Head - Hair Care, elaborated:

Marketing, which has interfaces with all the other functions, constantly requires cross- functional team (CFT) sessions to even out any issues. Every Tuesday at 1:50 pm, we have a WIG call meeting which is an auto-generated tele-meeting. All CFT members are connected and WIGs are reviewed. This allows for a quick status check on all parameters to ensure that everyone knows where we are lagging and this sets the theme for the week. The updated status sheet on various parameters is mailed to all the team members every Friday to share progress, and this is reviewed on the following Tuesday.

Alignment of performance parameters and organizational objectives: Management guru and writer Peter Drucker famously said, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it^.". This thinking resonated deeply with Ranganathan. He initiated the project "Numbers Speak" to align employee performance parameters and organizational objectives and quantify them. Quantifying the HR department's performance parameters was the first task as these were the most difficult to measure. K. Rahul, Deputy Manager - HR, elaborated:

My performance does not depend on merely filling up the vacancies but on the quality of recruitments I do. For instance, I am responsible for the performance of the people I recruit. Is the person performing well in the role for which he or she was recruited? After creating metrics for HR department, we looked at other departments.

Employees were able to measure their own performance, which fostered accountability and ownership. Ravindran elaborated:

For the sales and distribution department, "Numbers Speak" had specific parameters. For example, we have billing percentage, which determines the effectiveness of sales coverage and is the ratio of the number of outlets billed in a month by a salesperson and the total number of outlets covered; productivity of the salesperson; retail brand effective coverage, which is the number of brands billed in a month by a salesperson in their respective outlets; partnering with channel partners, etc. These six or seven parameters are monitored, and if a person displays consistent performance, he or she is working in the right direction. This information is available online and is monitored regularly to assess performance. Everyone can see how they are performing.

Ranganathan added:

Previously, it took us two or three years to gauge a person and come to the conclusion that he or she was not up to the mark. Now we are able to do it in six months and know whether it is an attitudinal problem or a skill set gap. Then we quickly initiate corrective steps. The problem does not linger.

Building People Capability

Getting the right people: CavinKare changed the focus of its recruitment strategy from hiring people with relevant experience to hiring people with the right attitude. Young people from other industries with the right attitude and passion to perform were taken on board. Ram elaborated:

Earlier, if there was a vacancy for a marketing manager, then a marketing manager from our competitor [in the FMCG industry] was brought in. Now we look for people from good institutes who have not received adequate growth opportunities in their previous companies. These are very good performers and have the urge to perform. Another aspect that we now assess during interviews is whether the candidate has spent enough time on self-development. We prefer to recruit people who have worked on different assignments to people who have stayed in the same role and position for a long time.

The pilot project for the change in recruitment strategy was initiated in the sales department. Some of the sales staff were recruited from the telecom industry. Ranganathan said:

The telecom industry is highly competitive, and the sales staff have a data-driven approach towards decision making, which was something that we wanted to bring in. The recruitment team was not comfortable with bringing in people from other industries. We discussed the pros and cons. Sales staff at FMCG companies do not have that kind of rigor towards data-based decision making. On the flip side, we would be required to provide product knowledge to the sales staff. But this is not a big challenge if people have the right attitude. We decided to experiment with sales people from the telecom industry. It worked well, and now 70% of our sales team is from the telecom sector.

The change in strategy gradually extended to other departments. Manufacturing and operations recruited people from the automobile sector because it had the best systems in inventory management, supply chain, production, etc. The changes in the recruitment system led to many benefits: (a) last minute rejections fell drastically as candidates saw the new opportunities in their new roles as more appealing than merely chasing modest monetary gains; (b) the complacency that could arise from lateral hiring was avoided, as people had a change of role; (c) a hike in salary by 30- 40% was required to attract people in similar roles from competitors, which was not the case for personnel from other industries; and (d) as people came without any baggage, they were ready to learn and had a passion to perform. Ram added:

The new hires from other industries have contributed to building a stronger analytical mindset, more structured decision making and more effective reviews. Employees from the automobile sector introduced total productive maintenance (TPM) and total quality management (TQM). They have helped enhance the emphasis on productivity, quality and cost monitoring. We plan to use emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile analytics, etc., to become digitally savvy in our interactions with various stakeholders consumers, distributors, suppliers and employees. In addition, we used to have the issue of candidates accepting offers but not joining; such cases have decreased. Roles were clearly communicated and expectation setting was done at the interview stage itself. In 2017, we had zero dropouts while the number was 10% the previous year.

Defining competencies: HR, together with functional managers, defined the required competencies for each position and also developed an attitude dictionary where essential attitudes were listed for each function and position. For example: "perseverance" for sales staff and "out-of-the-box thinking" for marketing people were considered very important attributes. A psychologist conducted psychometric assessments of candidates during the selection process to ensure that they matched the requirements of the position.

Attention to training: As the company recruited more and more people from other industries, it increased its focus on training. Ranganathan was directly involved in both formal and informal training of the marketing staff. The team leaders were made responsible for team learning and team performance. They were expected to spend a specified amount of time on coaching and mentoring activities. A program called the "Peer Teach Peer Program" was implemented to promote peer-to- peer learning as an effective method of knowledge sharing. People were made accountable for implementing the learnings from the training programs in their work spheres. HR conducted formal evaluations of employees a month after they completed training, and thereafter did random checks to ensure that they had internalized the learning.

Learning and development teams were created across India to train people at different levels. People attended internal training programs and were also sponsored to participate in relevant external training programs. HR identified a number of massive open online courses (MOOCs) for managers, and they were encouraged to devote time to self-development. It was compulsory for new managers to take at least one MOOC and get certified. HR was tasked with ensuring that new managers enrolled in a course within the first three months in their new role. This created a culture of continuous learning within the organization.

Performance review: The company inculcated a culture of continuous feedback that made performance discussion a way of work life, as opposed to the earlier practice of discussing performance only at appraisal time. HR conducted quarterly talent assessments and made presentations to the functional heads apprising them of who were the top performers, who were stagnating and who could be trained to move up to a higher level. HR provided average performers with counseling and adequate opportunities and support to improve.

Reward and recognition: Senior positions were filled from within. High performers who displayed high potential were recognized and offered larger roles. Ram said:

Youngsters who were three or four levels below the managerial category but displayed potential were made category heads and handled brands worth INR 4-5 billion. This is otherwise not very easy to achieve at a very young age. This not only gave people enormous job satisfaction but also sent a strong message to the entire organization that age and seniority were not factors for promotion. Only performance mattered. This philosophy of giving higher responsibilities to potential candidates and employees ensured high performance.

Whether it was by promoting from within or recruiting people externally, CavinKare took a conscious decision to give challenging responsibilities to competent people, unlike other organizations where roles were narrow. The compensation levels were pegged higher than the industry standards. This enhanced CavinKare's ability to attract and retain competent people who were far more productive and self-driven than their counterparts in other organizations. Ranganathan elaborated:

The kind of exposure people get in CavinKare is unparalleled. People are given responsibilities that people in other companies are not given even after 10-15 years of experience. The people who leave say that even their [current] bosses don't have the authority that they had here. 90% of the people who leave the organization want to come back. A recent employee engagement survey showed that the levels of job satisfaction have gone up substantially. On a scale of 5, employees gave a rating of 4.5+ on overall job satisfaction.

Before the human capital interventions were initiated, promotions were made once a year. Even if somebody performed exceedingly well and there was an opportunity for promotion, it would not take place till the year's end. This changed. If there was an opportunity at the next level for a high performer, promotions and salary corrections were made immediately without waiting until the end of the year. Kabilan added:

I joined CavinKare as a marketing executive six years ago and now six brand managers report to me. This has been highly motivating as there is a lot of recognition for people who are passionate about their work and show promise.

Ram said:

We call our high performers with high intent to stay "champions". There are also people who are high performers but have low intent to stay. We call them "tenants". We encourage the tenants by providing them the right opportunities. With our emphasis on people, we are able to convert tenants into champions and are able to retain both.

Access to real-time information: After ensuring that the various processes and systems at CavinKare were robust enough to capture and act on market dynamics, Ranganathan focused on strengthening its information technology systems. Distributors were encouraged to use the company's distribution management software. A mobile-based sales force automation application was created which enabled salespeople to capture the actual business at outlets using their mobile phones. Ravindran added: Salesmen upload real-time outlet information regarding what is selling and what is not selling. So we know which brands are working and which are not working and which ones require additional marketing efforts.

Access to real-time information enabled decision makers to take prompt corrective actions and also significantly improved transparency and response times.

Strengthening horizontal linkages: Ranganathan fostered collaboration among different functions by defining structured workflows and creating cross-functional teams (CFTs). These were not just for problem solving. Ashwin Kumar, executive assistant to Ranganathan, elaborated:

The brand managers are made responsible for an end-to-end view of a particular brand. This includes R&D, procurement, production, communication, sales strategy, trade marketing and profits. They now have a greater sense of empowerment and ownership towards the brand as they make critical decisions, like new product development, product profitability, positioning etc.

This work arrangement required brand managers to oversee all the processes related to their brand. They had to be highly skilled in liaising with different functions and ensuring effective lateral coordination.

Enhanced focus on process innovation: Ranganathan laid a strong emphasis on process innovations as these were difficult to imitate compared to product innovations. A series of process innovations were initiated in CavinKare, including the following:

-Marketing research: Like most companies, CavinKare used to hire marketing research agencies to conduct market research. These agencies hired freelancers to collect data. Ranganathan said:

Our checks revealed that data collected by freelancers was quite unreliable. To our horror, we found out that nine out of 10 data points were fudged. Not surprisingly, new products launched on that basis did not perform as expected. When we discussed the matter internally, we were convinced that this method was not working for us. So we changed our method. We employed market field research agents on the company rolls and we had teams from R&D, packaging, quality and marketing work with them. With field research agents held accountable for product success, no compromises are made on data authenticity.

With the help of market field research agents, R&D staff met consumers directly and got first-hand feedback. This improved customer-centricity. Narayanan added:

Every formulator has to meet consumers to understand them and know what they want in a particular product and then recognize the gaps. This has helped in developing products that are far superior and distinctly differentiated. We're not interested in being just one step ahead.

-Product innovation process: With a greater emphasis on innovation, CavinKare was able to build a pipeline of new products in each of the product categories over a period of time. Products that did not meet the high benchmark were shelved at the idea stage itself. Ranganathan said:

I can only launch four products in a year. Now, which would be those four products is decided on the basis of expected sales, market size and differentiation. Products that have a smaller market size or are less differentiated get pushed down and maybe don't reach the market at all. This is very good for the organization as only best of the products are launched.

The company also put emphasis on finding innovative ways of selling and marketing the products. Brand managers were encouraged to generate new marketing approaches and conduct trials on a pilot basis. If the experiment worked, they were given the green light and support to scale it up.

All these human capital interventions led to an engaged, committed and competent workforce. The attrition rate came down from 32% in 2015 to 20% in 2017. Ram added:

Our focus is currently on productivity and quality. We are currently at a payroll to revenue percentage of 8%, which is on par with the industry. Considering the fact that we are on a rapid growth path, this is guaranteed to get better with each passing year.

CavinKare engaged the marketing research firm AC Nielsen to conduct a study of the company, which indicated that its human capital initiatives had contributed to double digit growth from 2016 onwards. Ranganathan said:

Recently, AC Nielsen made a presentation of their 2017 study. They pointed out that in 2016- 2017, CavinKare grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8% in personal care and an overall CAGR of 22% when the industry growth rate was 4-5%.

By 2017, CavinKare had diversified into a variety of product categories with brands across personal care, dairy products, food and snacks, beverages and retail salons (see Exhibit 4). It had a presence in more than 20 countries and 2,884 employees on its rolls.

THE ROAD AHEAD

According to a report by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the FMCG market in India was expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.6%, from US$49 billion in 2016 to over US$100 billion by 2020.² The rise in rural consumption was expected to be the key driver for this growth. The rural FMCG market in India was projected to grow from US$29.4 billion in 2016 to US$220 billion by 2025.³

Ranganathan knew that it was important for CavinKare to build an effective institution based on strong fundamentals. He wanted CavinKare to display the highest level of entrepreneurship and professionalism, energetically pursue new opportunities, and be innovative and competitive. He could see that the interventions that had been initiated to strengthen the firm's systems and processes had contributed significantly to its human capital effectiveness. But the task was far from complete. He said:

When we look at our meetings, there is still a strong hierarchical orientation. People still feel more accountable to their bosses than to their internal and external customers. The airtime in meetings is largely taken by departmental and functional heads. You can see that the younger employees don't ever contradict their bosses. I don't think there is much encouragement for dissent. So, the hierarchical boundaries still pose a challenge to learning and innovation. The same is true for functional boundaries. While the processes have helped, the mindsets are still oriented to departmental, not organizational goals. Till we address these challenges, our agenda of building human capital is still a work in process. We have big challenges ahead. With differentiated products, we have still not established a strong pan-India presence. A strong presence in other parts of India, especially the northern regions, would give CavinKare a significant boost to its growth, which could then be extended into overseas markets as well.

Ranganathan outlined the unfinished agenda. The organization had to strengthen its culture and mindset to overcome the following tendencies: (a) excessive preoccupation with narrow functional objectives and lack of attention to interdependencies at work, leading to departmental efforts not adding up to optimal organizational solutions; (b) a hierarchical orientation that inhibited the free expression of views in meetings and the critical examination of decision proposals irrespective of where they originated; and (c) a large percentage of employees with run-of-the-mill performance, despite all the changes in systems and processes. Ranganathan felt that the next frontier for building human capital at CavinKare would be to address these challenges and make a culture that was strongly oriented to people, innovation and performance excellence.

2008-

2009

2009-

2010

2010-

2011

2011-

2012

2012-

2013

2013-

2014

2014-

2015

2015-

2016

2016-

2017

TotalSales Revenue (INR)

6,015

7,641

9,083

9,801

11,491

11,715

11,486

11,895

13,594

EBITDA (INR)

789

860

271

573

457

375

707

1,193

1,452

Current Product Category and Brands

PRODUCT CATEGORY

SUBCATEGORY

BRANDS

Personal Care

Hair Care

Chik, Nyle, Meera, Karthika

Skin Care

Fairever, Spinz

Hair Color

Indica

Foods and Snacks

Pickles/ Peanut Candy

Ruchi, Bhima, Chinni's

Snacks

Garden

Ready to Cook

Hema's Dosa Idli Batter,

Dairy

Milk and Milk Products

Cavin's

Beverages

Tender Coconut Water

Pink of Health (Cocoma)

Fruit Drinks

Maa, Chillout

Flavored Milk Shake

Cavin's

Professional Care

Retail Salon

Green Trends, Limelite, Raaga, Trends Academy