ITC Limited

History and Evolution

·         ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited.

·         As the Company's ownership progressively Indianised, the name of the Company was changed from Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited to India Tobacco Company Limited in 1970 and then to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. 

·         In recognition of the Company's multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide range of businesses - Fast Moving Consumer Goods comprising Foods, Personal Care, Cigarettes and Cigars, Branded Apparel, Education and Stationery Products, Incense Sticks and Safety Matches,  Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business and Information Technology - the full stops in the Company's name were removed effective September 18, 2001.

·         The Company now stands rechristened 'ITC Limited'.

The ITC Profile

—  ITC Limited which previously stood for ‘ Imperial Tobacco Company’ one of India's foremost private sector companies with a market capitalization of nearly US $ 33 billion and a turnover of over US $7 billion.

—  ITC is rated among the World's Best Big Companies, Asia's 'Fab 50' and the World's Most Reputable Companies by Forbes magazine and among India's Most Valuable Companies by Business Today.

—  ITC ranks among India's '10 Most Valuable (Company) Brands', in a study conducted by Brand Finance and published by the Economic Times. ITC also ranks among Asia's 50 best performing companies compiled by Business Week.

ITC
One of India’s most valuable and admired companies

—  ITC features on the Forbes Global 2000 rankings for 2007 at position 1256

—  ITC is the only Indian FMCG company that features on the Forbes Global 2000 rankings for 2009 at position 987

—  ITC also featured on the Forbes World's Most reputable Companies List at position 95

—   It employs over 26,000 people at more than 60 locations across India and is listed on Forbes 2000.

—  ITC Limited completed 100 years on 24 August 2010.

ITC Diversified Business

—  ITC has a diversified presence in

—  FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods),

—  Hotels,

—  Paperboards & Specialty Papers,

—  Packaging,

—  Agri-Business

—  Information Technology.

—  While ITC is rapidly gaining market share even in its nascent businesses of Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Branded Apparel, Personal Care and Stationery.

 In July 2012, the company disclosed an ambitious plan to invest Rs 25,000 crore, in the next five to seven years, in a number of ventures that includes health and nutrition R&D space.

Awards & Accolades

—  ‘ITC received the FICCI Outstanding Vision Corporate Triple Impact Award 2007 for invaluable contribution to the triple bottom line benchmarks of building economic, social and natural capital for the nation.

—  Sustainability Leadership Award 2007 conferred on Chairman Y C Deveshwar by the Sustainability Forum, Zurich and SAM/SPG at the International Sustainability Leadership Symposium

—  Business Today Award for the Best Managed Company – Retail and Consumer Products, has been conferred on ITC in recognition of its outstanding initiatives in the consumer products segment.

—  Ryutaro Hashimoto Incentive Prize 2007 for Environment & Development from the Asia Pacific Forum

—  In the first of its kind S&P Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) ratings released recently, ITC ranked second among top Indian companies.

—  The Company has won the Corporate Social Responsibility Crown Award for Water Practices from UNESCO and Water Digest for its distinguished work carried out in the water sector in India.

—  ITC Limited won the top UNIDO award at the International Conference on Sharing Innovative Agribusiness Solutions 2008 at Cairo in recognition for its initiatives in agri business.

—  ITC has been conferred the ICAI Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting with its Annual Report and Accounts, adjudged as a commendable entry under the “Manufacturing and Trading Enterprises” category.

—  The Best Corporate Social Responsibility Practice Award 2008 jointly instituted by the Bombay Stock Exchange, Times Foundation and the NASSCOM Foundation.

—  e-Choupal initiative wins global recognition:

—  Stockholm Challenge Award 2006 in the Economic Development category which recognises initiatives that leverage Information Technology to improve living conditions and foster economic growth in all parts of the world.

—  First Indian Company to win the Development Gateway Award 2005 for the most exemplary contribution in the field of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) for development during the last 10 years

—  World Business Award 2004: International Chamber of Commerce & the HRH Prince of Wales  &  International Business forum

—  Harvard University case study

—  Recognized in World Development Report 2008 published by World Bank

—  Applauded by President of India Dr APJ Kalam in his “special address during the national symposium to commemorate 60th year of independence” 

Corporate Strategies

—  Sustain multiple drivers of growth, matching internal capabilities with emerging market opportunities

—  Pursue World class competitiveness in all businesses and across the entire value chain

—  Best-in-class in terms of:

—  Internal Vitality

—  Market Standing

—  Profitability

—  Strategy of Organisation and Governance processes geared to manage multiple businesses

—  Blend core competencies and leverage ITC umbrella strengths to create new avenues of growth

Core Values

Organization Structure

 Policy on Human Rights

—  Consideration of Human Rights Impacts Across the Supply Chain

—  Policy to Ensure Respect for Human Rights Policy across the Supply Chain

—  Policy to Prevent Discrimination at Workplace

—  Policy on Freedom of Association

—  Policy Prohibiting Child Labour and Preventing Forced Labour from Workplace

—  Policy on Information and Consultation on Changes

—  HIV/AIDS: Policy Guidelines

—  Compliance

—  Prevention through Awareness

—  Safe and Healthy Workplace

—  Non-discrimination

—  Confidentiality

ITC's EHS Policy

—  To contribute to sustainable development through the establishment and implementation of environment standards that are scientifically tested and meet the requirement of relevant laws, regulations and codes of practice.

—  To take account of environment, occupational health and safety in planning and decision-making.

—  To instil a sense of duty in every employee towards personal safety, as well as that of others who may be affected by the employee’s actions.

—  To provide and maintain facilities, equipment, operations and working conditions which are safe for employees, visitors and contractors at the Company’s premises.

—  To ensure safe handling, storage, use and disposal of all substances and materials that are classified as hazardous to health and environment.

Policy on Social Investments / CSR

—  To pursue a corporate strategy that enables realisation of the twin goals of shareholder value enhancement and societal value creation in a mutually reinforcing and synergistic manner.

—  To implement Social Investments / CSR programmes primarily in the economic vicinity of your Company’s operations with a view to ensuring the long term sustainability of such interventions.

—  To contribute to sustainable development in areas of strategic interest through initiatives designed in a manner that addresses the challenges faced by the Indian society especially in rural India.

—  To align and integrate Social Investments / CSR programmes with the business value chains of your Company and make them outcome oriented. To support creation of on and off-farm sustainable livelihood sources thereby empowering stakeholder communities to conserve and manage their resources.

ITC IT E-Waste Policy

—  Preferential dealing with IT vendors having sound E-Waste management processes

—  Extending the useful life of IT assets to postpone / minimize generation of E-Waste

—  Responsible disposal processes conforming to regulatory requirements and best practices

Few milestones in social responsibility

—  e – Choupal

—  4 million farmers empowered

—  6,500 e - Choupals installed

—  Social & Farm Forestry

—  1,25,868 hectares greened

—  generating 56.64 million person - days of employment

—  Watershed Development

—  94,143 hectares

—  brought under soil and moisture conservation

—  Women's Empowerment

—  16,212 women members

—  1379 self - help groups

—  Livestock Development

—  8.38 lakhs Artificial Insemination doses

—  274 Cattle Development Centres

—  Primary Education

—  Covering 2,71,710 children

—  through 2,573 Supplementary Learning Centres till date

e-Choupal

—  e-Choupal leverages the Internet to empower small and marginal farmers
—  It provides

—  farming know-how and services
—  timely and relevant weather information
—   transparent price discovery and access to wider markets
—  Enables economic capacity to proliferate at the base of the rural economy
—  Today 4 million farmers use e-Choupal to advantage
—  bargaining as virtual buyers’ co-operatives
—  adopting best practices
—  matching up to food safety norms
—  Being linked to futures markets
—  helping small farmers to better manage risk

Financial Report

Three Monks No Water

The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water.

Few things about the film:

The story of the three Monks is an anime film directed by A Da. The film has got many recognitions including:

i>             outstanding film award at China's Ministry of Culture.

ii>            Best animated film prize at the first Golden Rooster Awards in 1981.

iii>           four international awards including a Silver Bear for Short Film at the 32nd Berlin Film Festival in 1982.

Plot:

A young monk lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. The arrival of a third monk prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.

Lets discuss and analyze the various situations that arises in the film and also relate to real life situation.

The one

We find that in this case there is only one monk and he carries two bucket of water. It may be sufficient for the monastery as consumer is also one. Here innovative ideas are not being implemented as there is one person so demand being very less and it is getting fulfilled by the resources bought by the same person. In organization this self sufficiency attitude is required for example there is only one member in a team and he is responsible for all the deliverables, then he had to take care of all the requirements and necessary activities to be done without depending on other person.

Twosome

Two monks share the load of a single bucket of water. Still they find it difficult because there is no coordination between them. Both of them wants to be in the easy state and wants that other person to do all the work. This situation is very common in any organization. Every team member hardly put equal efforts, here dependency arises and sometimes team work is hampered.

Threesome

The work comes to a still as third monk enters the monastery the other two force him to go and fetch water. This particular case is a perfect example of social loafing in an organization where people start exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone. Moreover the lack of proper coordination between the members in the team results in complete organizational failure.

Crunch situation

But we see that in the face of crunch situation, all the three members forget their internal differences and work in a synchronized manner to improve the situation. This results in work being properly distributed in which results in highest efficiency when compared to all other previous cases.

This particular instance highlights that the manager must have a strategy for crisis management. This situation is also very common especially with IT industry as I have been there, during the time of deadline the pressure increases in numerously and at that time everyone realizes and meet the deadlines with team effort. The role of manager is very critical in the crunch situation as at that time employees do their job properly but there must be someone who can steer the ship and give proper direction.

Use of Innovative ideas

We saw that after the crunch situation is over, the monks went for innovative ideas due to which work-load is reduced with the help implementation of those innovative methods and proper coordination. Thus the management of any company should focus on technological advancement and innovative ideas so as to increase efficiency

Valley Crossing

We have been discussing about the valley crossing in our lecture classes for quite some time. There are organizational lessons to be learned from the valley crossing. The first thing which comes to my mind is team work.A team of 3 members had to switch over from left side of the valley to the right side of the valley by taking the support of the pole, this exercise wasn’t exactly done in the way as shown in the cartoon but the most important managerial concept was explained with the help of this exercise.

Teamwork has been defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole." However, there is no universally-accepted definition of "teamwork" in the academic literature.

Team work is very important in each and everyone’s life. It has been witnessed many times that a good team can win many difficulties and achieve great heights. It becomes easier when team members help each other and make other’s job easier. Another important aspect is that while working in a team, a bonding  and unity is formed which really helps to fight odd situations. Hence it helps us to achieve excellence in together effort.

Team Effort helps to equally distribute the load. It is another very important aspect in team work. It helps 

In one study, teamwork quality as measured in this manner correlated with team performance in the areas of effectiveness (i.e., producing high quality work) and efficiency (i.e., meeting schedules and budgets).Team members’ ratings of their satisfaction with a team is correlated with the level of teamwork processes present

This particular exercise was to be performed in groups of three members each. Task given to  a group is to  switch over from left side of the valley to the right side of the valley by taking  the support  of the  pole as shown in the cartoon. Direct jumping and attempts are considered FATAL and not welcomed at all. The basic motto of the task is to enable the students to understand the teamwork and Organization and Management  through experiencing this task. 

All the three members  have interchanging roles in the completion of the task .If we look closely at the table of the steps of the exercise we would notice that the here friends have equal distribution of risky ,half-risky and no-risky. Therefore all three members roles are designed “EQUALLY STRONG”. A big part of this exercise is in the preparation of the exercise. All the movement must be properly synchronous for proper completion of the task. All the three members while crossing the river communicate and coordinate with each other through sound/signal. We also see that the structuring of the Team Roles is very important the completion of the task.

As a manager one need to come out with step by step plan in order to help the three members to cross the valley. In order for the three persons to cross the valley the width of the valley must be slightly larger than a single step of one person but must be smaller than two steps. Moreover few technical specifications must be taken into account i.e. strength of the pole, creating markings on pole etc. The managers needs to specify the variety of roles when the three cross the valley.