How Britannia Industries stays large by staying small
At Britannia Industries, “ting ting ti-ting” is much more than a popular jingle that became synonymous with the brand. At the century-old packaged food conglomerate, it is a way of life. So much so that ask Ritesh Rana, head-human resources, what the company offers its 2,000-odd employees and pat comes the reply, “We make tings happen. Inviting, igniting, creating and respecting—those are the four tings of our culture.”
At Britannia, a ₹65,735-crore company (by market cap as on July 22), they practise what they preach. The company has a culture of hiring former executives, which makes it “inviting”. Rana himself came back in 2012 after stints at Intel, GE Money and Max NewYork Life Insurance. So did some of the other senior executives such as Arvinder Singh, head of quality, and Kannan SN, head of taxation.
“The first thing we changed was this whole thing about approachability. We opened the door and split that second floor to different parts of the office so that there was no corner where only the senior people sit. Everyone was dispersed and everyone now sits with their own people and team,” says Berry.
Berry is also a big proponent of promoting people from within the organisation than making high-profile hires from outside.
“We give an opportunity to people within the organisation and let them sink or swim. As it happened, everybody is swimming,” he says. About two-thirds of Britannia’s 30-people leadership team are old hands who have grown within the organisation.
The company has also embraced technology to communicate with its workforce, especially the younger lot. For instance, about a year and a half ago, Britannia adopted Workplace by Facebook and artificial intelligence-powered chat bots to drive communication among the rank and file.
Says Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive vice president at TeamLease, “For an organisation looking to stay relevant and grow into the future, while one should respect the past, it should plan itself keeping in mind the future. The fact that Britannia has been around for 100 years... it must have been doing something constantly right.”
The cultural shift at Britannia is, however, still a work in progress. Says Berry, “We used to be a siloed organisation. We have come together. From 3 on 10, we have moved to 6-7 on 10, but certainly not a 10 on 10. Certain pockets need to be impacted. Also, there has been a dramatic improvement in team work, but we are not completely there. Speed of execution has moved up considerably, but again, 7-8 on 10. We still have an opportunity to move up to a perfect organisation stature.”
(This story appears in the 16 August, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)