Silvio Napoli At Schindler India
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Was Silvio the right choice for general manager of SchindlerÐŽ¦s India operations? Why/Why not ÐŽV give details.
This question can be answered by taking following 3 things in consideration.
SilvioÐŽ¦s characteristics
This can be better explained by detailing his strengths and weaknesses.
1.1.1
Strengths:
As per Luc Bonnard, they trust him 100%, he has courage, he is young and flexible, he is generalist not specialist, and willing to go to India.
So here is the list of his strengths with the reason why this strength makes him the right candidate for the mentioned job.
Young age ÐŽV His young age brings enthusiasm, drive and thrives to show his capabilities to the world.
Aggressive and energetic ÐŽV
Courageous ÐŽV
Aggressiveness and courage is required when the new start-up is being laid out in India, as it requires getting lots of approvals from government officers.
Flexible ÐŽV India is in no way compared to Switzerland or for that matter many advanced European countries as far as personal comfort and people services are concerned. Person has to be flexible to get adjusted in this totally new environment.
Generalist ÐŽV To set-up a company in a new country, a person has to be all rounder and not a specialist.
MBA from Harvard Business School ÐŽV There are hardly any doubts about this Business school and the student coming from there is considered an excellent candidate for the management position in the company.
Top management had full faith in him ÐŽV This is the most important thing that Silvio had achieved during his tenure at the head quarters.
1.1.2
Weaknesses:
Strong headed and single minded
Impatient and short tampered
Over communicative
All the three weaknesses mentioned above can lead to dissatisfied subordinates and it can create enemies/ jealousy amongst the colleagues.
Note ÐŽV We may relate this to difficulties Mr Napoli faced getting support from design team in Europe.
He was new to India
Though he had spent 9 months analysing the business scenario in India and prepared a business plan, staying in India was very different thing for a person from Europe that itself creates lots of challenges.
Note: This section could have been better explained given the characteristics of the other candidates that were considered.
His past experience
He was a Rugby team captain for his university team. He was head of corporate planning. These 2 things clearly show he had the leadership capabilities.
The most important thing for this point is his work in Swatch project based on which the business plan for India project was made.
Mr. Napoli had headed the Swatch project that was aimed at developing a standardized elevator at a dramatically lower cost than the existing broad line of more customized products. It was an assignment that involved Mr. Napoli in sensitive discussions with SchindlerÐŽ¦s plants in Switzerland, France and Spain to discuss design, determine costs, and explore sourcing alternatives. S001, a standard elevator was developed as part of this project.
This experience was very helpful in 2 ways:
The business plan was to launch the same elevator in India
Mr. Napoli got a chance to interact with the design team in Europe that could have led to develop contact within the design team. Those contacts would have been very useful during the India operations.
The other most important thing was that the business plan for India operations was created by Mr. Napoli himself and as per Mr Bonnard ÐŽV ÐŽ§I believe that the people who make the business plan should have to realize it.ÐŽÐ
His work at Schindler India for the given period
The choice could be best justified by the outcome of it.
The outcome for the given period can be summarized as
No installation in 8 months, whereas the target for the first year is 50 units.
After 8 months, production has not been started yet. Design team in Europe is not giving proper support.
Indian management has different views on ÐŽÒno customisationÐŽ¦. Change was committed to the client in absence of Mr. Napoli, as per Napoli it was violation of the strategy.
Import duty and transfer cost went up in 6 months, financial planning was done with prices that were 6 months back, so now square off period will be more than expected.
When this is compared with the business plan, we can say it is clearly not on track. Based on this information we can conclude that the work was not done as per the plan and so the work was not good.
If we just look at the end result, we may overlook the best management team that Mr. Napoli had created. We may also overlook the groundwork Mr. Napoli had done for the start-up in India.
Summary:
After carefully evaluating all the 3 points mentioned above, I can conclude that Mr Napoli was certainly a good choice for the job looking at his strengths as his past experience and qualifications. In my view the problem was with the aggressive business plan. I can see 2 flows with the business plan.
It was very aggressive. 50 units in the first year considering the new location, new setup, new tie-ups with local manufacturers; was too ambitious.
No customisation policy. I feel that the pre study of the Indian consumers was not done properly otherwise this policy would not have been created. In Indian realty markets, flexibility amongst the products is the key thing for success. People even change the pre constructed houses, either for Vaastu/ Feng Sui or simply because of the looks. Elevators in residential as well as commercial projects also face the same choice. People may relate it to Vastu/ Feng Sui. I feel that SchindlerÐŽ¦s India