DHIRAJLAL HIRACHAND AMBANI

SABKA SAPNA MERA APNA

• Hirachand Ambani was a village school teacher with less income given to him.

• Hirachand and Jamnaben had two daughters - Trilochanaben and Jasuben and three sons - Ramnikbhai, Dhirubhai and Natubhai. Dhirubhai was the second son.

• Dhirubhai was precocious and highly intelligent. He was also highly impatient of the oppressive grinding mill of the school classroom.

• He chose work which used his physical ability to the maximum rather than cramming school lessons.

• Why do you keep screaming for money? I will make heaps of money one day"

EARLY LIFE

• “ I need your money. The family needs it. You must work now. Ramnikbhai has arranged a job for you in Aden. You go there”.

• On reaching Aden, Dhirubhai joined office on the very day of his arrival. It was a clerk's job.

• Those days Aden was the second busiest trading and oil bunkering port in the world after London handling over 6,300 ships a year.

• To learn the tricks of the trade he offered to work free for a Gujarati trading firm. There he learnt accounting, book keeping, preparing shipping papers and documents

LIFE AT ADEN

• Dhirubhai often asked journalists to write about his rags-to-riches background.

• He was proud of it and people should get inspiration from this.

• People will have hope that they too can become successful.

• He belongs to zero group because he started with nothing.

THE ZERO CLUB

• In feb 1966 ambani built a spanking new mill at Naroda, 25 km from ahmedabad.

• By 1983,Reliance would become India’s largest composite textile mill employing 10000 workers.

• Between 1977 and 1980,almost daily a new and exclusive vimal outlet would open its doors to business.

• Sales doubled every two years from Rs 49m in 1970 to Rs 2097m in 1980.

GROWTH IS A WAY OF LIFE

• In nov 1977,Dhirubhai had a hard time convincing people to trust him with their money.

• Despite the dip in profits, Ambani declared a 27% dividend.

• The 1979 issue(worsted mill) was quickly followed by one in 1980(mordenizing its textile mill)

• In 1979, Reliance needed money to finance a worsted spinning mill.

EQUITY CULT

• In 1982, Reliance Industries came up against a rights issue regarding partly convertible debentures.

• It was rumored that company was making all efforts to ensure that their stock prices did not slide an inch. 

• To complete the transaction, the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had bought shares of Reliance, by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani.

• With this, the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused an enormous uproar in the market.

DHIRUBHAI’S CONTROL OVER STOCK EXCHANGE

• Reliance is now 10 times bigger and its profits have increased.

• Reliance today is well handled by his sons Mukesh and Anil Ambani.

• Motivated manpower is the most important thing.

• At Reliance they work like anything, leave no stone unturned, work round the clock, to achieve something which is best.

• The visibility and success of Reliance has made others develop the courage to think big.

• Others may think that he has finally arrived, he himself thinks that he has just begun

THERE IS NO INVITATION TO MAKE PROFIT

RAHUL KUMAR BAJAJ

INTRODUCTION

•Rahul Bajaj born 10 June 1938 is an Indian businessman, politician and philanthropies.

•He is the chairman of Indian conglomerate Bajaj Group and member of parliament.

•Bajaj comes from the business house started by a Rajasthani Marwadi businessman  Jamnalal Bajaj.

•He was awarded the third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan in 2001.

EARLY LIFE

•Rahul Bajaj is an alumnus of Harvard Business School in USA, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Government Law College, Mumbai and Cathedral and John Connon School.

•He took over the reins of Bajaj Group in 1965. Under his stewardship, the turnover of the Bajaj Auto the flagship company has risen from Rs.72 million to Rs.46.16 billion.

•Rahul Bajaj created one of India's best companies in the difficult days of the license-permit raj.

TEMPO TANTRUMS

•His first job was as a deputy general manager in Bajaj Tempo ltd.

•His boss was Naval.k.firodia chief executive of Bajaj Auto and managing director of Bajaj Tempo.

•In1957, Bajaj Tempo was promoted to make three-wheelers using German technology.

•Now there is a rift between Florida's and Bajaj's

•Floridias walked off with Bajaj Tempo and Bajajs held on to Bajaj Auto.

YOU CAN’T BEAT BAJAJ

•Despite all obstacles by congress party, BAJAJ Auto prospered. In its start-up year(1962), it manufactured 3995 scooters.

•By 1971,the BAJAJ scooter was a completely local product without any imported Italian parts. since 1994,it has been producing over a million two-wheelers annually.

•Rahul Bajaj made the Bajaj scooter so popular that a flourishing black market developed. A customer with a Chetak or super could sell it the next moment at double the price.

COMPETITION

•In 1986,the two people who most worried Bajaj- the Firodias and Japan’s Honda Motor Company-tied up with each other to produce scooters in Bajaj’s own backyard.

•For years Honda had been eyeing India and its huge domestic market. Honda entered into a technical collaboration with the Munjals to make motorcycles through Hero Honda Motors, and a joint equity venture with the Firodias to make scooters through Kinetic Honda.

•Still Bajaj auto sold more scooters than Honda and were the leading company in market.

•Rahul Bajaj had nothing against foreigners or tieing up with them but he did not want to share power,authority,and ownership with a foreigner in his own country. only weak do that

HAMARA BAJAJ

•This iconic ad in 1989 reflected the pride that Indians took in the name of ‘Bajaj’ which was synonymous with their sole vehicle of dreams: a scooter.

•The fact that Bajaj is now positioned second in the motor cycle business and has excited the scootor market is a sign of a change in power equation between consumer and manufacturer.

•This is the world of consumers, and brands have to take the shortest route to their hearts and minds, hopefully Rahul Bajaj’s thinking will give a fresh impetus to this debate.

ADITYA VIKRAM BIRLA

TEMPLE BELLS AND LADDOOS

ON NOVEMBER 14,1943 at 11:07 p.m on Sunday in room no.3 of Birla house, Aditya Birla was born.

Aditya Birla was the only son of Basant Kumar and Sarala .

When Aditya Birla was born, temple bells pealed and laddoos were distributed .

Aditya spent most of his childhood in Calcutta, living in Birla Park until 1955.

His first school was the Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar at 4 Ironside Road, founded specially for him

After two and a half years, he went on to the Hindi High School.

After his matriculation, he joined St. Xavier's College, graduating in science.

HUNGER FOR BUSINESS

Like his grandfather, early on in his career, Aditya displayed an incredible hunger for business.

On November day in 1963, aditya written a letter to his parents in Calcutta:

Ma, So far, I thought of only studies--studies and studies. Now I feel that studies will be completed thereafter, I have to work. I now feel that I should enter business at the earliest--and create something really big--something really big--really BIG. I now realize that studies would be over soon. Until recently, the aim was to join MIT--then it shifted to getting the degree from MIT. Now the aim is to become very big and important in business. Big and important not only in business--but also in other aspects of life.

SOMETHING REALLY BIG

After completing a degree in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT),he was married to Rajashri.

His father had lined up not one but two projects for his only son.

The first was a small spinning mill for which BK had acquired an industrial license and the second job was to overhaul Hindustan Gas, a Rs 30m Company.

The Eastern Spinning Mill wasn't the something big' of the MIT-returned youth's dreams, but the Rs 8m project offered tremendous opportunity.

Handing the valuable license over to Aditya in July 1964, BK told him, "This permission is just a piece of paper. If you are interested, take it up. If not, tear it up.“

Close by and around the same time that Aditya bought Indian Rayon for Rs 3m in October 1966, small unknown yarn trader was building a spinning mill at Naroda in Gujarat for Rs 0.3m.

Six months later, Dhirubhai Ambani's Reliance Textile Industries couldn't produce fast enough while Birla's investment looked as if it would go up in smoke.

BRIJ MOHAN KHAITAN

• The Harrods bombing was a car bombing that occurred at Harrods department store in London on 17 December 1983.

•Brij mohan and Pradip Khaitan, a cousin close business associate. They had flown into London that morning for an important meeting with Richard Magor, BM's partner.

• A Scotland Yard investigation revealed later that dynamite had been concealed in the car next to the Khaitans' Volvo.

•Pradip and Brij mohan Khaitan were both thrown about twenty yards away. They were unconscious for 4 to 5 minutes.

HARROD BOMBINGS

• Brij was bleeding badly, but he patted pradip on the cheek and said, "Don't worry, we're still living, we aren't dead yet.”

• Richard Magor, joined hands with one George Williamson to promote Magor to manage tea gardens in Assam.

HARROD BOMBINGS

• Mulling over offer, the thirty-four-year-old Khaitan figured a one-third share in Williamson Magor.

• There was also the little matter of prestige. Many Marwaris were cornering British tea gardens and becoming Burra sahibs.

• In 1964,Khaitan was appointed as managing director of Willinamson Magors.

• Matters came to head when Pat Williamsons died a few months later, Khaitam become a chairman of Willinamson Magors.

• This was the first step towards becoming the world’s biggest individual tea planter.

FROM BURRA BAZAAR TO BURRA SAHIB

Gardens of FEAR

• On Tuesday, February 11, 1991 at Lahowal. Three gangsters burst into the office of D.K. Chowdhury, pumped nine bullets into him and escaped on scooters before they could be caught.

• ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom), a terrorist organization was behind this.

• "Donations' were frequently extorted from living in far-flung and isolated tea estates, but the tents were small.

• The commander of ULFA demanded ,Khaitan alone have to shell out Rs 23.5m to buy peace.

GARDENS OF FEAR

• Khaitan refused to pay it. Instead he increase its gardens security.

• Today the gardens are guarded night and day by Khaitan's private army. Two thousand armed guards, forty per garden, patrol its perimeters constantly.

• No manager is allowed to go outside the garden without some protection. If he does, and he is kidnapped ,the management is not responsible for his ransom

• Khaitan's protective attitude towards his executives has earned him their unflinching loyalty.

• I was the last person to pay and I was the softest Target in the whole f Assam. I've gone through nights of literally torture in my mind, putting my head on the pillow and not knowing who will be the person to be killed tomorrow morning. That was the time that l decided to build a good school in Assam. I have put in Rs 22crores into the project, brought in the finest faculty--the principal of London's Westminster School.”Can a mere school buy peace with ULFA? "No. I want to prove that a good school will produce a good student, and that a good student will produce a good citizen, and a good citizen will produce a good country.1 have gone out of my way to put money back into Assam, and people will realize it someday."

RATAN NAVAL TATA

INTRODUCTION

Ratan Naval Tata born on 28th December 1937 is the present chairman of Tata sons and Tata group.

In 1962, after graduating from Cornell university with a degree in Architecture and structural engineering, Ratan joined the family business.

Ratan’s childhood was troubled as Naval and Sonoo didn’t get along with each other.

“I would probably want to do something more for the uplift of the people of India.I have a strong desire not to make money but to see happiness created in a place were there isn’t.”

A SRATEGIC PLAN

In october 1978 he took over the chairmanship of Tata industries.

Ratan Tata wrote out a new plan for the group called 1983 Tata “strategic plan”.

“There was a need to look into the future and plan for it more than in the past,and to look at new business areas in a different kind of way”

He foresaw that india would one day stop being a sellers market.

CORPORATE SPURS

Trouble at truck manufacturers pune had started brewing.

Nobody anticipated that an assault on Ratan’s position would come not from an autocratic Tata executive Russi Moody but an unknown trade union leader Rajan Nair.

Ratan launched measures to build bridges between the management and the workforce.

Nair announced that he and his supporters would go on an indefinite fast at Shaniwarwada fort.

For Tata, the Telco crisis became the test of his managerial ability.

Tata’s victory: Tata believed it was a Vindication of principles and values which the group had so zealously protected and propagated all along.

QUESTIONING THE UNQUESTIONABLE

Aware of the criticism and whispering going on behind his back, Ratan understands the challenges that face him. He knows that the decisions he takes today will decide the future.

Ratan wants to radically change the Tata culture, make it more competitive and agile.

“change is not going to come by merely making that a mandate. change is not going to come by writing letters to various group companies. change is going to come from the competition that environment provides.”

WHAT WE LEARNT FROM THIS BOOK

DHIRAJLAL HIRACHAND AMBANI: “Dream with your eyes open”, “its difficult but not impossible”, “Be innovative”.

RAHUL BAJAJ: “Know the path you want to take”, “Be a risk taker”.

ADITYA BIRLA:

BRIJ MOHAN KHAITAN:

RATAN TATA: “Be committed”, “Be Courageous”, “move closer to the goal even if the goal keeps shifting”