Middle Management and Visibility to the Top
Essay by nikky • October 22, 2011 • Essay • 533 Words (3 Pages) • 1,645 Views
Middle management and visibility to the top
M moved to the company's Mumbai office in 1971, and got married thereafter. His wife
worked as a copywriter in the advertising industry. In Mumbai, M reported to the head of the
spare parts group, who got additional responsibility for ancillary development. In a business
environment where managerial and cost accounting talent was scarce, domestic ancillary supplier
firms lacked the expertise to build robust production costing models. M quickly found himself
engaged in mentoring these suppliers on systems, processes and practices. He learnt from such
interactions what to avoid, when one ran a business. M also started appreciating the typical
stresses faced by an entrepreneur.
"Seizing an opportunity is great, but a stroke of luck is always helpful" said M when
speaking about his next phase of growth at this firm. He had been designated as the secretary of
the Price Panel, which determined the price-volume mix for the forthcoming year. While other
members of this panel were from senior management, M was the hands-on manager. He had
developed a price chart comparing the cost curves of different supplier firms and was involved in
supplier negotiations.
He believed that his educational background (specifically IIM) and his assignment on the
Price Panel - which was extremely sensitive to the business - had helped him earn the trust of
senior management at the firm.
His work on the Price Panel had been noticed by a senior executive at the firm. In an
unexpected turn of events, this executive was subsequently promoted as the CEO, when the
incumbent passed away due to a brief illness. M immediately moved to work at the firm's head
office and became the secretary of the price panel. This gave M an opportunity to engage with
chief executives of a number of suppliers and deepened his understanding of how entrepreneurs
operated. This would help hugely in his days as an entrepreneur on planning, decision making
and execution.
In 1976, M and his wife decided to move out of Mumbai, since
...
...