Published on March 02, 2020
Tata Steel wanted to benchmark its Annual Business Planning (ABP) process with a few Tata companies, so that they can leverage the learnings in their revised ABP for 20-21. To support Tata Steel’s quest for benchmarking of its process, TBExG facilitated EPIC Best Practice sharing sessions on ABP with Voltas Unitary Products Business Group (UPBG) on November 20, 2019, and Titan on January 6-7, 2020.
Voltas UPBG has a high degree of dependence on China for annual sourcing of components and complete products. Therefore, in its ABP it considers factors such as significant inbound and outbound supply chain management, channel management & development and new product design for energy efficiency and government regulations on energy efficiency. In the discussion Dinesh Singh, Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, from Voltas, shared the following features of its ABP process with Tata Steel:
- Strategic planning process
- Long term and short-term planning cycles
- Market and competitor analysis
- In-depth involvement of board in the strategy and guidance from the board on initiatives enhance market share despite being No. 1 for the last eight years and board tracking the same on every quarter
- Outcomes of the strategy planning process
- Strategy cascade and review process at corporate and business unit level
- Product innovation and branding process
Likewise, in another session with Titan, the Titan Jewellery team shared its business planning and long-term planning process with Tata Steel. The first day was spent on a plant tour to Titan’s Jewellery manufacturing unit at Hosur, Tamil Nadu, and understanding their strategy deployment process. Day 2 constituted a visit to Titan’s corporate headquarters in Bengaluru (Integrity Campus) followed by a discussion with Ajoy Chawla, CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan, to understand their strategy development and innovation & new business development processes.
Titan has a rhythm of making large or new strategic interventions every two to three years where their five-year plans and targets are re-evaluated, and necessary structural changes are made. The entire senior management team, relevant employees and external experts are engaged during this strategy development process. In the session, Titan shared the two core principles that serve as foundation for its business strategy decisions. Titan also elaborated on key elements of its strategy deployment process such as concept of war room and KPIs with 1/3/9 weightages. Titan also showcased its governance architecture for innovation and new businesses incubation. Through this session, Tata Steel also got an opportunity to explore the ‘biophilic design’ of Titan’s new campus - green architecture that not only improves workplace environment but also saves costs.