{"id":338,"date":"2020-11-29T10:22:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T10:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commsnews.com\/?p=338"},"modified":"2020-12-12T13:16:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:16:16","slug":"the-fundamental-principles-of-business-will-not-change-suresh-narayanan-nestle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/?p=338","title":{"rendered":"The fundamental principles of business will not change: Suresh Narayanan, Nestle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 1 of Spectra, the online conference focused on reputation management, saw Economist and Thought Leader Rama Bijapurkar engaging Nestle India\u2019s Chairman and MD Suresh Narayanan in conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Rama Bijapurkar<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The duo began with how the pandemic has changed consumer behaviour and business. Narayanan said, \u201cFor businesses, the equation between people, purpose, partnerships and profit has changed. Some of the old models of increasing growth, market share, profits, number of partnerships and impact on people are also changing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Business targets versus fundamental reshaping<\/b><\/p>\n

Bijapurkar and Narayanan moved on to the oft-discussed business targets and a fundamental reshaping of organisations. Narayanan believes that there needs to be a balance of both, attributing the success of companies like Nestle to its leaders\u2019 thought processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies with longevity have had purpose, values, culture behaviour etched into their DNA. Businesses which have always been looking to engage the ecosystem rather than just building revenues and profits have typically also had the kind of leadership,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Narayan sees this manifestation at three organisational levels:<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> Central leadership<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> Core purpose<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> Revenue streams at the time of distress, resulting in mixed voices<\/span><\/p>\n

Would his answer have remained the same if Narayanan was at the helm of a courier company or a restaurant business that\u2019s affected by the pandemic?<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, he re-emphasised the importance of purpose. \u201cWe are at a situation today where business, society, purpose, people, partnership and profit are all enmeshed and no company can say that its only business objective is to keep making a profit year-on-year.\u201d The importance of Environment Governance and Sustainability is trying to bring certain features that are not part of the unidimensional profit maximisation model and making it a little more encompassing and intrusive, he explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

India\u2019s businesses and societal impact<\/b><\/p>\n

Narayanan stated that while the US and Europe are ahead when it comes to business\u2019 societal impact, India is starting that journey. He believes that the \u201cshrill cry of climate change, inequality or of societal goals and sustainability goals are coming from the West\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe country that talks about Vasusdhaiva Kutumbakam cannot be now talking about excluding parts of its own family from the impact of business. We are starting that journey but still need to accelerate and need champions of change,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pause, pivot or moat?<\/b><\/p>\n

Next, Bijapurkar asked whether companies need to pause, pivot or moat. Narayanan thinks they need to pause rather than pivot or moat since the fundamental principles of business \u2013 engagement, relationship, output, input and impact \u2013 aren\u2019t going to change. \u201cNo sociologist, economist or geopolitical expert can say 2021 will be a certain way. Pausing says two things \u2013 continuity and humility. Pivoting a business is showing overconfidence while moat suggests complacency,\u201d he felt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Businesses need to build on trust<\/b><\/p>\n

Narayanan doesn\u2019t think that the pandemic will change the Indian consumer\u2019s aspirations, attitudes, consumption and outcomes.<\/span><\/p>\n

He explained, \u201cThe consumer will become more acute in the trust placed in brands. Brands need to do the right things as far as the consumer experience is concerned and also for the larger impact in terms of business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He closed the session by saying that this new line of thought is not limited to the metros, also adding that the family as a unit has become stronger. Regardless of whether one earns Rs 10,000 or Rs 10 lakh a month, everyone worries about their families\u2019 well-being. It\u2019s just that the expressions could be different, he finishes.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 1 of Spectra, the online conference focused on reputation management, saw Economist and Thought Leader Rama Bijapurkar engaging Nestle India\u2019s Chairman and MD Suresh Narayanan in conversation. The duo began with how the pandemic has changed consumer behaviour and business. Narayanan said, \u201cFor businesses, the equation between people, purpose, partnerships and profit has changed. Some of the old models of increasing growth, market share, profits, number of partnerships and impact on people are also changing.\u201d Business targets versus fundamental reshaping Bijapurkar and Narayanan moved on to the oft-discussed business targets and a fundamental reshaping of organisations. Narayanan believes that <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event-coverage","category-spectra-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345,"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commsnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}