Down To Earth: The Rolls Royce Ghost (EWB) and the “Quality Quotient”

Business India dtd May 13,2012 carried a special report on  Kerala titled “ Kerala Taking Flight”. The  report talks about various plans & initiatives by the government and other bodies for the economic development of the state. Interestingly it carried a page titled “Management medicine” wherein  it featured basically two institutions and two personalities in the field of management education even though the subtitle mentioned that “The state boasts an IIM and a host of institutions of higher learning”. The two institutions it  talked about were IIM Kozhikode and the SCMS Group of educational institutions and the two people mentioned were Prof.Debashis Chatterjee, Director  of  IIMK  and G.P.C.Nayar, Chairman of Kochi-based SCMS group of institutions. Prof.Chattrejee  talked about the IIMK  as “a socially sensitive school. We are bringing in the socially underprivileged , not just economically deprived.”Prof.Chatterjee also talks about the Indian approach of looking at deep-driving values and what the institute does for achieving this.More realistic and what management(and other higher education) needs in the current context.

 On the other hand,Mr.Nayar, with whose institutions  I was associated with for about three years as a faculty and who needs to be admired for his vision of building an educational empire in a politically unfriendly Kerala, defined the institutions in terms of the “new Rolls Royce Ghost extended wheelbase(EWB)”  as the “quality quotient” of the group and to depict ” excellence in every aspect.”  One only wonders what Mr.Nayar wants to propagate. Is it that excellence comes only at high costs? Or excellence is depicted by the new and costly personal belongings  or gadgets that one possesses? Is he trying to create a feeling among the aspiring young managers that their excellence will be measured in terms of the wealth they amass? Is Mr.Nayar  conveying an indirect  message that “greed is good”  under  the pretext of quality? One may be even tempted to ask whether he has  been rewarding his employees well above the industry standards to live his message that  excellence in quality comes at a higher cost. Ousted Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain could have also taken a cue from Mr.Nayar while trying to refurbish his office suite at a cost of about $1.22 million with quality materials like Area Rug costing $87,784,Mahogany Pedestal Table costing $25,713,19th Century Credenza costing $68,179,Pendant Light Furniture costing $19,751,4 Pairs of Curtains priced $28,09,Pair of Guest Chairs  valued  $87,784,George IV Chair costing $18,468, Parchment Waste Can $1,405,Roman Shade Fabric $10,967,Roman Shades valued $7,315,Coffee Table costing $5,852,Commode on Legs costing $35,115 etc.  If we go by Mr.Nayar’s argument, Mr.Thain did wonderfully well to demonstrate the “quality quotient “ that the company stood for. And if we go by what Business India describes about Mr.Nayar, Mr.Thain  must also have been “down to earth”. Mr.Mukesh Ambani also must have been “down to earth” while he built his home “Antilia” at a cost of about $2 billion.

My generation was first inspired by simplicities of stalwarts like Prakash Tandon who on his last day at Hindustan Lever (the current Hindustan Unilever)did not want to be chauffer-driven to his home and chose to drive his Fiat instead after the farewell meeting and later by Mr.Darbari Seth, former Chairman of Tata Chemicals, who consciously decided to use a Maruti 800 instead of the Merc he was eligible while visiting the Tata headquarters(Bombay House) at Bombay.Later and today, we have been and are equally inspired by the simple and humble living styles of the former Indian President Dr.Abdul Kalam, billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and Wipro founder Premji.

While which brand of car one should own or use is strictly a personal choice, leaders like G.P.C.Nayar has to be unequivocal in his approach while sending out messages to the generations of future. An overwhelming majority of respondents to a limited sample survey conducted orally either in person or over phone by me among students, faculties and members of the public immediately after the news of Mr.G.P.C. becoming the first proud owner of a Rolls Royce Ghost in India, felt that through this he might be sending a wrong signal to the society as a whole that he runs his institutions as for-profit business and not necessarily as serving a social need.

Of course,I am not unduly surprised; I still remember an afternoon gathering at SCMS during my initial days there in 2004 in  connection with a book launch where the former VC of MG University, Dr. Syriac Thomas was present as the chief-guest. In his presidential address, Mr.G.P.C. Nayar had highlighted the four things that brings quality and makes an institution successful- Administration/Management, Infrastructure, Library    and  Faculty in that order. The present way of pushing the Rolls Royce can be seen to be a natural extension of the same thinking. Of course, in his Chief Guest’s address, the VC unequivocally said that he would rather have a prized Nobel-laureate on his faculty than spend too much on infrastructure.

Last, but not the least, one may continue to wonder what “down to earth” really means.