26th February 2011 -An Eventful Day for FADA & its Members

Keeping the momentum, FADA organised 3 important events at Hotel Leela Kempinski, Mumbai on 26th February 2011.

The day at Hotel Leela Kempinski started with a Workshop on Strategic HR at which 3-member team of Pune-based Transforma Management Partners Pvt Ltd addressed and interacted with the participants. The response was overwhelming with meeting room being full to the capacity.

The day-long interaction witnessed engrossing discussion. The message came out loud and clear that while hard infrastructure and processes were important, the manpower and work environment is the most important factor in sustaining growth. A McKinsey study of 732 dealerships in USA has revealed that the top performing dealerships were the dealerships that had strategic HR practices in place and that these top performing dealerships had 320% higher profitability compared to the average performing dealerships. Another important learning that came to the fore was that right recruitment is the key to the success. While skills and knowledge are important, dealerships should focus more on recruiting people with right attitude and train them for aptitude.

The Workshop on Strategic HR was followed by a meeting of FADA Council. Among various issues discussed was a proposal from NADA that has offered to organise a 4-week training program on dealership management at their Headquarters in McLean, VA, USA for automobile dealers in India. The details of program are published elsewhere in this issue for the information of FADA members.

Highlight of the day was the Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards presentation ceremony that commenced at 7.30 p.m. with a panel discussion on the topic: Addressing Growth Aspirations of Automobile Dealers in India. Panelists at this panel discussion were: Ravi Pisharody, President, CVBU, Tata Motors; Dilip Chenoy, CEO, NSDC; Arun Malhotra, Sr Vice President, Mahindra and Mahindra; Deepak Mokashi, GM - Sales, Hero Honda Motors; Nikunj Sanghi, President, FADA; and Kailash Gupta, Past President, FADA.

Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards (ADEA) were instituted jointly by FADA and Auto Monitor magazine to recognise and reward automobile dealers excelling in various functional areas of dealership management, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and community service in the year 2009. The legacy being carried forward from the previous year, ADEA 2010 was the second edition of awards.

There was a palpable enthusiasm and excitement at the glittering awards function with automobile dealers nominated for various awards in attendance in addition to the members of automobile dealer fraternity, representatives of auto industry, allied businesses and media.

The response to the second edition of Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards, viz. ADEA 2010 can be gauged from the fact that total number of applications witnessed a 61% increase at 537 from across 21 States compared to 334 from across 14 States in the year 2009.

The applications received were screened and validated by CARE - a credit rating and consulting concern and the winners adjudged by an independent jury comprising eminent persons. In nutshell, the whole process of screening, validation and selection was done in a transparent and professional manner by competent teams.

Awards presentation was a touching moment for the automobile dealers who emerged winners in various categories. In addition, Nitin Dossa, Executive Chairman, WICC and Dilip Chenoy, CEO, NSDC were also felicitated with special awards for their contribution to the auto industry in India.

FADA congratulates the winners, hoping that they will set new benchmarks of excellence going forward.

A few facts about ADEA 2010 ▪  Total applicants this year: 537 (in 2009 - 334)   ▪  Total States covered this year: 21 (in 2009 - 14)   ▪  No. of respondents (customers) surveyed this year -12000+   ▪  Highest No. of nominations in a category - 144 (4-Wheelers)   ▪  New judging parameter added - Safety Initiatives Index   ▪  Total No. of days taken to complete the survey process -50 days   ▪  No. of volunteers engaged in the validation survey – 75   ▪  No. of awards - 14   ▪  No. of judging parameters - 6   ▪  No. of categories - 4   Highlights of ADEA 2010 ▪  Innovative delegate kit for participants, which contained a small plant   ▪  ADEA presentation event covered by all major business channels like CNBC TV18, Zee Business and TV9   ▪  Involvement and participation of the industry