Abstract
Shyam, General Manager, Sales of Balaram Beverages is going through a dilemma while selecting the right candidate for the recently created DGM position under him. All three candidates are quite impressive; all have relevant knowledge of geography and channels, possess required skill sets and have performance histories. They all are experienced in managing people and their candidature for the DGM position is quite legit. But before discussing who should be the most befitting candidate, Shyam should go through few other parameters which are as follows.
First, let us have a close look on the organization’s vision, short- and long-term business objectives. Coca-Cola, the principal of BBPL (Balaram Beverages Private Limited), is focused towards ‘long-term business growth’ through consumer experience, product affordability and brand loyalty. BBPL’s growth strategy is primarily two-pronged; first ‘Growing the Core’ the carbonated segment and second ‘Building the New’ the NARTD (Non areated ready to drink) category. Taking a cue from Ansoff’s Growth Matrix 1 Shyam needs to be conceptually clear on how to drive the growths with the core and developing product portfolio (Figure 1):
Now let’s get into the second point. What are the key deliverables expected out of the newly created DGM position? Why has this position been created? As mentioned in the case, the DGM position has been created to ‘deliver current business and sales figures’, providing Shyam more time to focus on developmental work. So referring to the above diagram, the DGM will primarily be focusing on two boxes on the left side, ‘market penetration’ and ‘market development’, whereas Shyam will concentrate in the balance two on the right side; ‘product development’ and ‘diversification’. In nutshell, the DGM is to manage ‘today for today’ whereas the GM sales will focus on ‘today for tomorrow’.
Now let’s consider the key knowledge and skills set of the DGM position to perform as per the expectations of the organization. The right candidate should have a deep insight of the core business (e.g., carbonated drinks). The candidate, with his relevant work experience, is expected to know all possible growth opportunities and growth drivers (e.g., its pockets, channels, shoppers, competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and RTM (Route to Market)) for the carbonate drink segment where Coke is clearly the leader with a whopping 65 per cent market share.
Now step three … let us take three candidates one by one.
Let us start with Sandeep Gandhi. He has required experience, worked in Route to Market Manager and Area Sales Manager profiles, performed steadily and has shown good growths consistently. He also led various market development activities. He is old dependable employee of BBPL and satisfies most of the knowledge and skills the DGM position demands for, and hence seems to be a good fit for the position.
The second candidate is Arun Mohan. A son of the soil, comes with a solid FMCG (Fast moving consumer goods) experience with differentiated distribution and retailing knowledge. He has good personal exposure of various markets and channels, which are not available with BBPL and would be relevant for NARTD business. Moreover, Arun is hardworking, capable and result oriented. He has many good chords to be an effective sales leader, but Arun’s fitment is more towards ‘product development’ and ‘diversification’ which is not within the scope of the DGM position at this moment. Moreover, Arun is immobile and worked in one FMCG company for 15 long years; hence his ability to adjust in a different kind of business is still to be seen.
Last but not the least is Vimal Dhingra. He has worked extensively in rural markets and expanded the rural reach of Coke by tapping remote villages through appointing sub distributors, has good knowledge of the competition (e.g., Pepsico) business strategies. He is a super performer and loves to deliver numbers. Vimal satisfies most of the relevant knowledge and skills (e.g., RTM, market development, achievement of targets and competition) required to be the DGM.
Now we have two contenders and Shyam needs to choose one of them. Though both Sandeep and Vimal possess similar sets of functional competencies, where Vimal surpasses Sandeep is in his winning attitude. He is ambitious, adventurous, capable and self-motivated. To consistently perform in such a senior leadership position through a strong and energetic team, one needs these leadership behaviours along with the functional aptitudes.
Apart from that, taking back Sandeep in a higher position might send a wrong signal to the employees (as they do not have any idea what Sandeep did so great outside the organization!!!!). On the other hand, offering this position to Vimal would actually encourage the sales team members. They have no iota of doubt about the capacity and capability of Vimal. And if he is rewarded with this DGM position, two messages would go clearly to the employees; first, the company encourages performance driven culture and second, BBPL takes a lot of effort to retain its talents.
After Vimal’s selection, Shyam should clearly chart out his expectations from Vimal. He should also give him a clarity on the support and cooperation Vimal would receive from Shyam. He should also convey Vimal an underlined message tactically that Vimal is the best fit among all candidates; hence he got the position and not because he threatened to leave BBPL. He is definitely an asset to the organization but he is not indispensable. Simultaneously, Shyam should also keep Sandeep in his close network. In case Vimal fails to deliver expected results or threatens to leave BBPL again, Sandeep could be readily available to takeover.