Blow Plast Limited, once had a near monopoly of the molded
luggage segment of the market. About two decades or so back, they went in for
major expansion and were recruiting heavily. It is a fact that they were
targeted for information ‘hit' by several organizations, large and small(some even international) who had been
eyeing the rapidly expanding Indian market and identified Blow Plast (of VIP
fame) as a focal point. Within a short span of time, although Blow Plast has not
exactly faded into obscurity, it has lost market share in the lower (cheaper
segment) which was flooded by a host of imitators from the small sector, all
surprisingly well-equipped in terms of know-how, designs and sophisticated
marketing strategies. Blowplast had to reach upwards into the premium segment
with Odyssey and other models, which do not always fare well against better,
cheaper (even leather-covered) models from the small sector. And the coming of
global major SAMSONITE has made the game even rougher. VIP underwear is now
better advertised than VIP luggage, making a strong case for the latter to
revamp its image, policies and security perceptions.
Even short-term
recruitment policies are usually not encouraged by many companies. One
prominent organization heavily involved in media and information technology has
stopped taking summer (management student) trainees.The reason: they had planned a specialty
supplement to their flagship publication, plans of which were under development
at the time of summer training. The plans were finalised by a team, which
included a student who was on summer training. Despite an undertaking not to
use material gleaned on-the-job for written project presentation, he had enough
material of value to a bitter rival publication from the South. Their
publication was a huge success, while the original project was practically
stillborn.
[Never
expose outsiders to sensitive information, to avoid vital-information
leakage].
Operate on the famous
‘need-to-know' principle if you regularly find your organization has data,
which would be of use to competitors.
In other words, don't always
let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.
Create an open, free and
frank' organizational culture, but stop at the point where sensitive
information, developmental plans and changes in strategy are concerned.
