Business

Right team key to success — Kim

Y. S. Kim, Managing Director of Hyundai Motor India Ltd, is now off to the U.S. to oversee a greenfield project being put up by the South Korean auto maker in Montogomery, Alabama. In an interview to<145,4> K. T. Jagannathan, Mr. Kim narrates his success story in India. Excerpts:<18>

QUESTION: You are heading to Bush country. What is your brief?

ANSWER: The U.S. venture is Hyundai Motor Company's most ambitious global expansion project till date with a total investment of over $1 billion. It is indeed a privilege and a challenge for me to head Hyundai Motor America at this crucial juncture. My brief this time, as was the case when I came to India six years ago, is to create the team and the infrastructure that will eventually contribute to making Hyundai one of the top five automakers in the world.

From India — a developing country — to the U.S. Clearly, they are not identical playgrounds. Can Indian experiment be transplanted on America? How easy or difficult will that prove to be? Alternatively, how different could it turn out to be?

There is a fundamental difference in our approach to these two markets. While India was entirely a greenfield project, we are already a known brand in the U.S. with some best selling models such as the Sonata and the Santa Fe in the marketplace. The challenge there is to create an indigenous manufacturing base and a local flavour for the brand.

What kind of lessons have you leant in setting up a greenfield project in India? How far these could help in your new endeavour?

I would say that in India we were extremely lucky to get in place a good team at the top. That has contributed a lot to the success of the project — helping us achieve the momentum needed to roll out in a record 17 months. I think the biggest learning that I will carry with me to the U.S. is: Getting our team right before we attempt any thing else.

Looking back, what has been your experience — as the head of a car maker — in India. Is India a friendly environment? Are people here efficient?

We ended the financial year 2001-02 with a turnover of Rs. 3,403 crores and sales of 93,244 units, emerging both as India's second largest car manufacturer for the second year in a row and as a leader in every market

segment that we were present in. I think that answers your question better than anything else.

What is the high and low points of your stay at HMIL?

I am happy to say that every moment of my tenure at HMIL was personally and professionally a high point for me. My only regret is that I am not here long enough to see HMIL emerge as India's number one car maker.

Santro is known well in the Indian marketplace. A lot of accent is also laid on taking competition head on. How do you see HMIL evolve in the coming days and years when Maruti loses its public sector tag?

I believe that the primary reason for HMIL's success is that we never allowed ourselves to be complacent. We were continuously innovating at the marketplace, taking ourselves head on the competition.

I would like to see HMIL carry that spirit along with it to become India's biggest automotive company.

You are now wanted elsewhere for yet another important job. How the organisation is equipped to take on the top-level shuffles?

As I mentioned earlier, we were lucky to have a good top management in place pretty early on and that has helped us create strong internal systems, processes and also strong succession plans early in the day. That is the reason why you never saw even a blip in our operations anywhere along these major management transitions.

I guess HMIL has managed — under your stewardship — to blend a perfect cocktail out of the Indo-Korean co-operation. What happens now?

Nothing will change. As in the past, this transition too will be seamless. B. V. R. Subbu as the new President of HMIL will now have a greater responsibility and will play a big role in being the balancing force in the new order of things.

From now onwards, where is HMIL heading?

In my mind, HMIL has only two goals — to ensure absolute customer delight through delivering state-of-the-art products to the customer and giving them superior service and to become the market leader for passenger cars in India

What message you have for your successor?

My successor will start off with the twin advantage of having a winning team on board and the luxury of not having to reinvent the wheel.

Notwithstanding whatever personal management traits he will bring to the table, one thing that I would definitely like to see him do is to leverage the distinct strengths of HMIL and its people to transform the company into one of South Asia's finest and most successful automobile companies. People say that I am a dreamer, but let me assure you that this one is not a distant dream.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Legislative options for protection
• Hindustan Zinc under new owner
• News summarising services
• Right team key to success — Kim
• New diesels and `The Scorpio'
• Changes in TDS provisions

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu