In early November, when Vinita Bali announced her decision to quit the atlanta-based marketing consultancy firm Zyman Group, it made a small bylined story for the business pages of the city's prestigious daily, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Unusual for a consultant? Maybe, but in Bali's case there was good reason. As a marketing professional, Bali had worked for the city's-and one of the world's-best-known brand(s), Coca-Cola, for nine years in a variety of positions, the last of which was as Vice President for new business initiatives. Besides, her boss at the consulting firm was Coke's legendary former Chief of Marketing, Sergio Zyman. "He was very much a part of helping me make my decision," Bali told the Journal-Constitution. "I leave on fabulous terms with Sergio."

As Bali prepares to take the top job at Bangalore-based Britannia Industries, starting January 3, 2005, she will need her people skills more than ever. Biscuit-major Britannia hasn't had a CEO since Sunil Alagh was sacked in April 2003 for alleged financial irregularities, and the prospect of a major overhaul in the top management had left some of the senior executives on tenterhooks. Several of them even resigned, including Naveen Chopra, who was the head of marketing but left in end October this year to join Hutch, and J. Rajagopal, who was the acting company secretary. Pavan Malik, CEO, and Girish Kumar, Head of Marketing, Britannia New Zealand Foods- a joint venture with Fonterra-also quit the company recently. Louella Noronha (Product Manager) and R. Chandrasekhar (Group Product Manager) were some others who quit. But Bali's trickiest job will be the handling of Nikhil Sen, Britannia's Chief Operating Officer, who had been hoping to land the CEO's job ever since Alagh was ousted.

Nusli Wadia/Chairman/ Britannia Industries

"...Ms. Vinita Bali was found to be the most suitable candidate for the position of CEO"

How does Bali, sister of P&G India's Managing Director Vivek Bali, intend to handle such delicate issues even as she focusses on putting the shine back on Britannia? The lady herself wasn't available for comment, and all that Nusli Wadia, Bali's boss and Chairman of Britannia, would say in reply to a questionnaire faxed to him by BT was this: "...It is inappropriate to comment about the appointment of Ms. Vinita Bali other than that she was found to be the most suitable candidate for the position of CEO of Britannia by the Board of Britannia Industries Ltd. It is also inappropriate to discuss the CEO's role or the company's plans before she has even joined the company, which incidentally will be in January 2005."

A New Broom

Despite Wadia's reticence, it's easy to see what he'd like her to fix at Britannia. One has to be the company's management itself. The 49-year-old Bali not just has to steady the boat, but also bring in key executives who will be loyal to the new CEO and believe in the new vision. Says a person familiar with the issues at Britannia Gardens, the company's headquarters in Bangalore: "Wadia is of the opinion that most of his senior managers have a mindset problem and that they are unwilling to change. And he wants to clean up the place before Bali takes over."

That seems to be happening already. N. Sridhar has been brought in from Coke as the chief financial officer and currently reports directly to Chairman Wadia. A new coo may also be roped in, given that the incumbent, Sen, is rumoured to be on his way out. Why? "Post-Alagh, there was a tacit understanding that Sen would be the new CEO. Now he feels hugely let down," offers a person in the know. With a few other appointments in marketing and sales, Bali will be all set to get on with her new job.

Make that her real new job. She will have to set and deliver on long-term growth for Britannia. Fortunately for her, despite the lack of a CEO for the past year, Britannia has actually improved its performance. After sales fell some 6 per cent in 2002-03, they rebound 9 per cent last year at Rs 1,478 crore. This year, the topline is expected to touch Rs 1,550 crore. Both profits and stock price are up too (see The Financials).

But what has analysts concerned is the company's long-term growth. By 2005, Britannia wanted to be a Rs 3,000-crore giant, selling to one out of every three Indians. Clearly, that's one goal the company won't be able to achieve next year. Besides, businesses that would have diversified Britannia's interests and accelerated growth seem to be stuck in the slow lane. Take the dairy business for instance. Up against the might of co-operatives such as Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul) and National Dairy Development Board (Mother Dairy), and established players like Nestle, what Britannia needed was staying power. Yet, "a knee-jerk reaction to a temporary rise in liquid milk prices last July-August saw a fledgling Britannia New Zealand Foods get out of the liquid milk business altogether", says a competitor. But the JV is slated to get $7-8 million (Rs 31.5-36 crore) from the Kiwi partner, Fonterra, next year and that may well rejuvenate the venture.

No New Offerings

Despite the turnaround in the core business (which primarily includes biscuits, breads and cakes), some analysts are worried about future growth. There have been no recent product introductions from the Danone stable, and Britannia's attempt at building a premium image in cookies, with Pure Magic, has lacked punch because of resource constraints. "Nobody wants to risk a loss," says a knowledgeable source. That is not a recent phenomenon. Britannia's last blockbuster launch in biscuits was the low-priced Tiger, and that happened more than seven years ago. Since then, the company has been coasting on the strength of its other six power brands (MarieGold, Treat, Good Day, Fifty-Fifty, Milk Bikis, and Time Pass).

The Bali Essentials

The CEO-designate: Bali boasts an impressive CV WORK EXPERIENCE Late 1970s Starts her career at Voltas India, a Tata Group Company 1980: Joins Cadbury India 1984: Stint with Cadbury UK 1986: Returns to Cadbury India as GM, Marketing 1993: Moves to Cadbury South Africa as Head, Marketing 1994: Moves to Coca-Cola, Atlanta, Global Brand Director 1997: Becomes Vice President (Marketing), Latin America, Coca-Cola 1999: Becomes President of Andean Division, Coca-Cola (Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia) 2003: Joins Atlanta-based Zyman Marketing Group, headed by Sergio Zyman, Coke's former marketing chief 2004: Is named CEO-designate of Britannia Industries Limited OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES/INTERESTS » Board Member at Marico Industries, Mumbai » Board member of non-profit organisation American Foundation for the Blind, New York » Board member of non-profit organisation Centre For Strategic & International Studies, Washington

Even if everything is all right with Britannia's relationship with partner Danone, the lack of any evidence of the latter's active interest in the jv is disturbing to some analysts. Says Jigar Shah, Head of Research at Mumbai-based brokerage kr Choksey: "Had it not been for such passive vibes from Danone, the Britannia stock would have been at least 20 per cent higher, given its strong fundamentals." However, it's inconceivable that Danone is uninterested. Before Bali's appointment was announced, one of the names being bandied about as a successor to Alagh was that of Jeh Wadia, the younger of the two Wadia boys. It is likely-this is speculation by industry-that Danone may have wanted a more experienced professional to take over.

If Wadia and Danone agreed on Bali it is because, as the Mumbai-based Chairman of Britannia himself says, she proved to be the most appropriate person to head Britannia. Nobody would doubt that, going by her CV. Starting her career with Voltas in the late 70s, Bali (she is currently on the board of Marico Industries and could continue even after she moves to Bangalore) joined Cadbury in 1980 and went on to do international stints at Cadbury and Coke. Therefore, she has experience of marketing in both Indian and foreign markets.

Pricing Power

Distribution will not be among the many things that Bali will find broken at Britannia. With help from KPMG, Britannia is implementing an organisation-wide restructuring to become one of the lowest-cost biscuit producers in the world. No prizes for guessing what that's supposed to do. It will help immensely in gaining pricing power over both organised competition from Parle, Surya Foods and ITC, and catch upgrades from the huge Rs 2,000-crore unorganised manufacturers of biscuits. The setting up of an all new Rs 55.2-crore biscuit manufacturing plant in tax-sop heavy Uttaranchal will also help deliver better profits.

That's just as well, since Bali will need all the help she can muster to get Britannia firing on all cylinders. She may have returned to India for family reasons, but running Britannia won't be a cakewalk. Yet, she does have a friendly wind blowing behind her in the form of Wadia's faith and support. And as one silver-maned former CEO may tell you, when you have that blowing into your sail, no sea is too rough to conquer.

-additional reporting by Venkatesha Babu and Abir Pal