• Inspiration

The Mahindra brand logo will read as “Mahindra Rise” from now onwards. The Group’s new tagline reflects a new strategy, accepts no limits in creativity and alternate thinking and is a drive to bring about positive change. It’s a call to action—a core purpose that will galvanize employees, customers and stakeholders to come together and form a more cohesive and formidable unit.

This is not some corporate branding but a new strategic move that will cost the Mahindra Group around Rs.120 crore over the next three years. It will render strength to Anand Mahindra’s federation of companies.

But, why “Rise” is the new Mahindra mantra? Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra and Mahindra explains, “About 13 years ago we felt the need to define a core purpose for the group. A core purpose is important for every company but it becomes even more important for a group of companies to create alignment. The idea of having a core purpose intrigued me. It stems from a kind of hypothesis.”

Exemplifying how one can arrive at the core purpose of one’s company, Mahindra said, “What if you were working in a company and a competitor takes over it for the sole purpose of liquidation and competition? The competitor continues to pay everybody well. No one in the company has any monetary reason to regret the liquidation of the company. But what is it that you will still miss about the company before liquidation and about going to work every day? If you are able to figure this out, you are close to defining the core purpose of your company. In other words, what makes people go for work every day and transcends the aim of earning roti, kapda aur makan is your core purpose.”

It was 13 years back when the company’s objective was redefined and so started the drive of defining the core purpose of the company. “At the time of independence, the idea was to demonstrate that Indians were second to none. The idea worked well. It energized everybody and the results were for everybody to see. As time passed by, two things happened—we grew, India grew in stature and Indian companies grew and we became increasingly global as a corporation,” Mahindra reminisced.

But how was this relevant? Yes, Mahindra did have a purpose when he asked his office of strategy management to work on the core purpose of the company, which had a number of foreign expats feeling that lack of connect. “If I am Mr. Chi running the company’s Chinese operations, why would I get up every day and work to prove that the Indians were second to none? If we can be a company that engenders consumers and whose employees can shape up their destiny, we can have value,
position, trust and a viable business model,” Mahindra signs off.

©Entrepreneur October 2011

Tags:
Anand Mahindra, Mahindra and Mahindra, Menaka Doshi, Rise