Bajaj Electricals plans SBUs for brand strength

Mumbai: A proactive organisation anticipates changing business conditions and responds with appropriate measures on a continuous basis. Bajaj Electricals Ltd, the Rs 417-crore company that markets electrical appliances, fans, lighting, luminaries, engineering and projects, has reorganised its operations under five strategic business units (SBUs) and is planning to have a mix of outsourced and self-manufactured products to leverage its brand strength.

The company had commissioned Accenture to review its operations since May 2000. The project, named Mission Excell, team-worked in great detail on the various avenues for topline and bottomline improvements, besides working on a comprehensive strategy for business growth along with organisational restructuring. In order to respond to the changing market need more dynamically, an SBU concept was thought to be the most appropriate. Each SBU is intended to function like a virtual company by being both a cost centre and a profit centre.

The SBU structure aims to lend greater empowerment to the employees and also bring about a significant accountability for the performance of each SBU with the SBU head and his senior team. The speed of decision-making, operational autonomy and flexibility within each SBU will also be enhanced considerably. The SBU structure will also help define career progression avenues for individuals within a business unit.

Bajaj Electricals CMD Shekhar Bajaj says: We are endeavouring to reorganise ourselves in a strategic business unit structure with the intention of adapting to the challenges of the future and improving our performance standards. It is a great opportunity for our employees to improve their own performance, leading to higher output and efficiency along with greater job satisfaction, besides putting our company firmly on a path of accelerated growth and profits.

As part of the restructuring process, president R Ramakrishnan has been elevated to the position of president and chief operating officer. The company is being reorganised into five SBUs, namely engineering and projects BU, appliance BU, lighting BU, luminaries BU and fans BU. The heads for the new BUs are Lalit Mehta, P S Tandon, Harsh Mittal, G P Satsangi and A S Radhakrishna, respectively.

The company has introduced many new products in the last two years in fans, appliances, lighting and luminaries. Bajaj fans and room heaters have registered the fastest growth in their categories in the last two years. Bajaj water heaters, OTGs and irons lead in their respective segments. Sizeable investments have also been carried out in setting up a wind energy project at Satara and a state-of-the-art tower manufacturing and galvanising plant at Ranjangaon, near Pune.