Quest Consumer Products Limited – Turnaround of Rural Territory
Suvendu Mondal (Suvendu), Regional Manager-North of Quest Consumer Products Limited (Quest Limited) was reading mails on his laptop on a warm evening of July 2016. It was his habit to respond to all the mails received on the same day itself. One of the mails was from Nitin Malhotra (Nitin), the mercurial Director (Sales) of Quest Limited. The subject line read, ‘West UP (Rural) – Action Plan for H2’. Suvendu was a little perplexed for West UP Rural territory had been a concern area in terms of performance for his region in the 1st half (H1) of the year which ended on June 2016. West UP was a key territory earmarked as a Rural Thrust Area under “Project Next Billion” for the ambitious strategic vision of Quest Limited.
About the Company
Quest Limited, the Indian arm of an US headquartered MNC with operations in over 100 countries and revenues of INR 1000 Crores, had been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 14% for last 5 years, thereby making it one of the lucrative markets in terms of growth and latent potential. Quest Limited operated in multiple product categories including Malt based Health food drink (HFD), Ketchup and Confectionery. It enjoyed dominant market shares in the competitive HFD category (~33%) and ketchups (~27%) and marginal market share of 12% in confectionery category as per latest market research panel data. It had multiple brands and SKUs in each of the category it operated in sync with regional preferences and market dynamics. (Exhibit I for Quest Limited Fact-file and Exhibit II for Quest Limited –North Region Structure).............
Setback
In Quest Limited’s Annual Performance modules, the Regional Manager’s annual goals were linked to the KPIs of the project and the deployment of manpower for these critical territories (Territories part of Project Next Billion) was vetted by him and thereby by default it became a high engagement area for Suvendu. The context and timing were both critical and Suvendu could sense that from the serious undertone of the mail. In the Head Office Review Meet held at Gurgaon in June 2016, Nitin had a one on one conversation with Suvendu to set the ball rolling for the turnaround of the vital West UP Rural territory. Suvendu was his blue-eyed boy and he had hand-picked him to head the largest and most important region of Quest Limited i.e. North Region. Nitin understood the internal organization dynamics too well and he also knew that this critical turnaround task had to be accomplished before detractors start pointing fingers. He also assessed that failure in doing so could be detrimental to Suvendu’s career. As a visionary leader...........
Dilemma
Armed with the data and insights, he prepared to survey some of the key rural markets to validate his hypothesis. He also made up his mind to base his blue-print for the territory on two planks: Personnel Development Plan (person specific insights) and Area Development Plan (area specific insights).........
Assignment Questions
1. You are required to document the various aspects which are contrary to Quest’s way of functioning in Shyam’s territory.
2. ...............
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Quest Limited Fact-file
Exhibit II: Quest Limited – Region Distribution Structure
Exhibit III: Career Graph of Dhruv (Senior Area Sales Manager)
Exhibit IV: Part I of Last Three Months Data of West UP (Rural) – Suvendu’s Dossier
Exhibit V: Part II of Last Three Months Data of West UP (Rural) – Suvendu’s Dossier
Exhibit VI: Dhruv’s Analysis Note (Part I)
Exhibit VII: Dhruv’s Analysis Note (Part II)
Exhibit VIII: Brand and Category Contribution at Territory Level
Exhibit IX: Efficiency and Investment Data at Territory Level
Exhibit X: Quest Limited’s SOP and Norms on Distribution Parameters