The Hindu Business Line : To integrate talent and turn M&As into competitive advantage

AFTER 25 mergers and acquisitions in the last decade, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has a major `people task' on hand. Integrating talent and turning M&As into a competitive advantage is one of the top priorities, says Dr Swati Piramal, Director, Strategic Alliances and Communications, NPIL.

She, along with the `upper deck' of her management team is working on shaping the `Nicholas of Tomorrow.' Helping them in the project is Dr Wayne Brockbank, Clinical Professor of Business at the University of Michigan and a renowned HR specialist.

`Nicholas of Tomorrow' in the first phase, is working on a top-down approach with about 70 of its top management focussing on turning talent into competitive advantage. In the next phase, these managers will evolve their own strategy to spread the `competitive advantage' word within their team members.

With about one-third of its 3,000 employees spread across 22 countries, the pressures that this Rs 1,100-crore pharma leader faces is no different from what a technology company deals with - pricing pressure, product innovation, acquiring and retaining talent and of course, the China impact.

"Of late, attracting and retaining talent is becoming a big issue in the pharma sector because action here happens after a lot of research and hard work. In research, results are not immediate and not many young people are excited by this," explains Dr Swati.

In this scenario, management quality and corporate culture is of utmost importance. The `people' aspect in M&As too cannot be ignored, she says. "First we identify the company, then we have to decide whether we have identified right and then go through the post-merger integration, in which we are gaining expertise," she added.

Integrate and integrate fast is the motto at NPIL with the post-merger time reduced to four months in India and `slightly more' when it's overseas, she says.