Page 44 - AIMA : Foundation Day Souvenir

OH! THOSE lAlA COMPANIES
A generic name for family-run businesses in India, ‘lala companies’ have unique attributes—great rewards...and greater punishment, if the lala stops liking your face! Having worked for such a company, for 33 out of his total 48 years as a professional, Krishan Kalra, Trustee, Climate Project Foundation India, recounts some interesting memories.
Krishan Kalra
Having spent the first five years—after getting my engineering degree from Delhi University— with professional enterprises like the American oil company ESSO Standard and, arguably’ India’s finest engineering group, L&T, I landed a job with a lala group. At that time, it was a highly ranked entity in terms of turnover and also boasted the celebrated ‘senior management trainees (SMTs)’ scheme. Their salaries were at par with multinationals like Hindustan Lever, ITC, ICI, Metal Box, etc.
It was a wonderful learning experience, until one found out that every single decision was taken by one person at the top—the Lala ji—without whose signature, not a thing would move in the gargantuan enterprise. Every appointment, increment, perquisite, transfer, and termination had to come with an‘office order’signed by him. Along with the frustration of having virtually no delegation of authority, one also admired enormous hold of the top man who seemed to know every little thing that happened in the group even if it was a couple of thousand miles away from where he was based.
The guy had an amazing ‘unit control system’ where bright young SMTs worked and churned out for him detailed progress report of each unit—factory or marketing—in real time. He also had an incredible memory and unbelievable capacity to run through every word of voluminous reports. And, of course, eight to 10 people were called home early in the morning to discuss the papers marked to them at night. One of the PAs would sort these out and phone up the poor sods to ‘swing by the kothi before heading to their offices’. It is a moot point that the discussion was more of a rebuke for the juvenile report or agenda sent by the guy and was often thrown at his face with orders to redo the same and submit before nightfall.
Today, many of these outfits have changed their ways significantly. With highly-educated scions taking over from the older generation, many of these companies have started inducting professionals in senior positions, giving them a free hand. Many owners are sending their children to renowned universities like Harvard, Stanford, etc., and their interaction with learned faculty and networking with students from advanced countries have changed their thinking and business philosophy. Raising funds from VCs puts additional pressures on them to improve governance. This professionalism has resulted in phenomenal growth of many family-owned businesses. And yet, I believe, most crucial
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