Cruise thro’ the Blue Ocean...

Session on Blue ocean strategy in Murugappa Group by Mr.A. Vellayan, Vice-Chairman, Murugappa Group

“If you don’t take risk, you’ll never move ahead”....These were the words that echoed in my ears by the end of the session with Mr. Vellayan, Vice-Chairman, Murugappa Group ...Highly Inspiring and Enlightening , are the words that spring up in my mind if I need to sum up the entire session in a nut shell...

This was during the industry speaker session at CBS where we had a chance to cruise through the blue ocean strategy implementation case-study in Murugappa Group from none other than the Vice-Chairman of the group...Mr.Vellayan was truly inspired by the the book “Blue Ocean Strategy” that ,he went ahead and implemented the concepts from the book to revamp the process of functioning at Murugappa Group..

The major point he under-scored was that as long as you are in your comfort zone, you can never move ahead and achieve new horizons. So if one wants to scale new heights and enter the real competitive zone in business, they must break the shackles of monotony and try doing things differently. The main driver is the pace at which the market dynamics change over a period of time, where, past successes and present market leadership doesn't guarantee future performance. Thats where firms need to keep re-inventing themselves to maintain the pace.

It was an exciting and challenging task to implement this strategy in his organisation with change in processes. Getting every SBU to understand the importance of this concept and motivating them to go ahead and implement it required a lot of patience and deliberations.

According to Mr.Vellayan, One has to invest a lot of time, apart from money, to see this strategy bearing results for them.Things can never change overnight , if one believe that something will work in his/her favour, then one important quality one must possess is diligence.The growth of Murugappa group from strength to strength , stands testimony to this fact.

The most essential factor that should determine why this strategy should be implemented in an organisation , is the requirement and urge to understand the customer’s needs and deliver accordingly. Going ahead on this will become the organisation’s competitive advantage which cannot be replicated easily.

By the end of the journey thro this Blue Ocean, he also clarified our doubts regarding the hurdles that could come in the way while executing such strategies.

Some people wait for things to happen, while others make things happen. Mr Vellayan belonged to the latter category . It was truly inspiring to listen to him which made us to understand that successful businesses are never done inside a cocoon ! Hard earned success never comes just by crossing seven seas. In modern business, enterprises need to cross the red oceans too to land in treasure islands.

By Pradeep, Marcom Varsity, CBS