Ramesh Narasimhan has loved cars since he was young. The holder of an MBA from Australia's Monash University has turned his passion for cars into a successful career, and two decades on he still finds it fun to come to work every day.
"I love driving, I was one of those guys who used to take care of the car -- a lot. Wash it, wax it, make sure there were no scratches. I used to 'bleed' if there was a scratch," Mr Narasimhan, nattily dressed in black, tells Asia Focus, at the Bangkok office of Yokohama-based Nissan Motor.
Now the president of Nissan Motor (Thailand), the 49-year-old India-born executive says his two favourite vehicles are the sporty GT-R and the electric Leaf -- both Nissan icons.
"When I was a kid I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but when I discovered numbers and finance, I just knew that I had found my passion," he recalls. "And working in the auto industry, overseeing finance and leading management, is a dream come true for me. So coming to work every day just doesn't seem like work."
Before taking the helm at Nissan's Thai unit -- now the only fully fledged production centre of the Japanese automaker in Southeast Asia -- in April 2019, Mr Narasimhan was president and managing director of Nissan Philippines for three years. Prior to joining Nissan in 2014 as chief financial officer of Nissan Australia and New Zealand, he was with Ford Motor Co for 13 years including three years in China.
"I love my job and coming to work. I feel very fortunate to be doing what I do every day," he says with enthusiasm. "Because of my passion for the end product, the job has turned out to be great fun. And when you're having fun, then the impact that you have as an individual is much more because you know you're there to add value."
His long-term aspiration for Nissan in Thailand is to have a double-digit market share but "we have to lay down the foundation first", he stresses, adding that at the moment the company sells just 6.5% of the cars bought in Thailand. "One thing that I'm refraining from doing is chasing volume. I think that for Nissan in the past, we have been chasing volume. That comes at the expense of the brand."
"The first thing we have to fix is that Nissan as a brand needs to be strong. Nissan as a brand has to be more aspirational than today. And we need to connect more with the customers. We have already started on that journey," he says.
The Nissan Almera, he says, has done really well in the eco-car segment with a double-digit market share. The all-new Nissan Kicks e-POWER, a compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) that offers a 100% electric drive experience without the need for external charging, has already contributed to an improved local market share since its launch in May this year.
According to Mr Narasimhan, Nissan in Thailand ranked first in the JD Power 2019 Thailand Customer Service Index (CSI) Study, an authoritative annual survey of after-sales customer satisfaction. The brand was singled out for particularly high performance in three key areas -- service advisory, vehicle pickup and service quality.
"My mission is to continue to ensure that Nissan in Thailand is more dynamic, nimble and driven by people with passion -- from all my colleagues, to our dealer partners and suppliers," he says.
"I have high growth targets for Thailand, supported by a roadmap to help us become the leading automotive brand in Thailand over time. Nissan has to be nimble and ensure that its employees are passionate, determined and have a positive mindset."
Mr Narasimhan outlines four key strategies for achieving his goals. The first is to uplift the Nissan brand with a greater focus on offering new products in the right segments. The second priority is to continue improving dealer engagement to focus on the customer experience and quality of sales. The other two priorities are maximising customer satisfaction through consistent high-quality products and services, and empowering staff to be able to react quickly to an ever-changing environment.
"The big part of fixing the foundation is also developing talents within Nissan here," he says. "That is what we are working on -- how we can improve the local talents. We have fantastic people here but we need to improve and empower them even more so that they can drive the business for us."
Not long before we spoke, Nissan announced plans to hire an additional 2,000 people in Thailand, an encouraging sign at a time when the local economy is struggling to get back on its feet because of the coronavirus pandemic.
With a total headcount of 7,000, including 5,000 people on its production lines, Nissan's total capacity in the country is 250,000 units, half of which are slated for export with the Kicks, Navara and Terra the major export models. Vehicles made in Thailand are shipped to more than 100 markets.
BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY
Not long after finishing his MBA in Melbourne, Mr Narasimhan started working at the Australian operations of Ford Motor Co. It turned out to be a valuable learning experience as he gained exposure to most aspects of the auto industry.
"Because my background is finance, so mainly I had financial roles. At Ford I was lucky because I worked in business strategy, servicing, product development and manufacturing," he says.
"I got a very good experience and gained knowledge about broad aspects of the business. I learned through various experiences what it takes for a car company, and I'm very happy because of that."
In 2014, Mr Narasimhan took a position with Nissan in Australia as chief financial officer, and two years later he was posted to Nissan Philippines as managing director. There he played a leading role in significantly improving the performance of the Japanese automaker.
"In the previous year, Nissan ranked seventh and we were selling 12,000 units per year. The year I left, within three years, we had grown to 40,000 vehicles with a market share of around 10%, from less than 4%, and we became No.3 in the market," he says.
"We were the fastest-growing brand for three consecutive years. I think the Philippine market is very kind in that sense," he jokes, before pointing out the factors that he believes contributed to the success.
"First internally, we had a great team, a lot of passion. I've said a number of times that the culture of the organisation is very critical. We focused on what I called three pillars -- trust, transparency and empowerment. I trust the team. They also trust me. We have a good alignment in terms of delivering what we have committed to. We were very transparent with each other. If there is an opportunity, we discuss it immediately, or when there is a problem, we address it immediately."
As well, he notes, the employees in the Philippines were ready to take risks and learn from the results one way or another. "If there is a risk that an action becomes a failure, we use it as a learning experience to improve, not as a criticism of the employee. I think that really helps the team to try different things.
"Also, we gave them just broad direction. They were experts, so let's let the experts do their jobs. I think that really helps. We also had some strategies in terms of what we want to target, and I think those strategies worked really well in our favour. We have partners who are willing to work with us. All of that really helps Nissan to grow."
Together with an increase in the number of dealerships, Nissan also introduced the Tierra, the only new model to arrive during Mr Narasimhan's three-year tenure. "I never say that is because of me. That's because of the team, because there is no way one person can make it happen. But I think the team was motivated and passionate in driving it."
In contrast to the culture of other Japanese automakers in the region, where the top executives are Japanese, Mr Narasimhan says Nissan is a very diversified company. His predecessor in Thailand, Antoine Barthes, is a Frenchman. This in part reflects the company's long-time business alliance with Renault.
"Along with diversity, you get different viewpoints, different thought processes, different experiences that we have gone through. That is the strength of Nissan. People bring diverse experiences," he says.
"If you see the top management, even in Japan, it's a very diversified set of people. For a group of five people, we have Americans, Europeans, with some French and Dutch. The COO (chief operating officer) is Indian.
"It just shows that the company is willing to have … diversity in terms of experience, knowledge and background, which is great. Even at Nissan Thailand, we have Thai people, Indian, Australias, French … a total of seven nationalities."
"This is a great thing about a company like this one. You make friends from all over the world. Apart from what they bring to the table for business, you also make friends everywhere. That's fantastic."
While he was born and raised in Chennai, India, Mr Narasimhan attended university and spent the first years of his professional life in Australia before moving to the Philippines. "The culture is similar. As Asians, we are family-oriented. We are polite people. We are very friendly people. We have a lot of drive to achieve things," he says of his first experience in Southeast Asia.
"But we are also hierarchical, so we respect the boss and stuff like that. That's very similar. The only difference between Thailand and the Philippines is that in the Philippines, they speak more English than in Thailand. To me, other than the language and food, there are similarities."
Given that the job facing him in Thailand is tougher, Mr Narasimhan jokes that maybe Nissan might keep him here longer than three years, perhaps until the company reaches the 10% market share he hopes to achieve.
"I love Thailand … friendly people. I love the team here. They are fantastic. The market is tough, no doubt. From the Nissan brand perspective, I think, we are weaker here and there's a lot of work to be done. So it will take longer for us to establish what we want to achieve," he says.
CONTINUED SELF IMPROVEMENT
Besides work, Mr Narasimhan is a bookworm and sports enthusiast, both of which, he says, are for self-improvement.
"I read all kinds of books. Normally I read four of five different books at a time. I read business books. I also love fiction. Sometimes I even read my kids' books because that's my relaxation," he says with a smile. That includes Harry Potter, his daughter's favourite character.
"I love the story of Harry Potter. It relaxes me. I don't have to constantly keep thinking about business. When you read it, it's fun. Harry Potter is just one. I read a lot of fiction, suspense stories. I have a lot of different interests in reading."
"I read a number of business books, more of the leadership type," he says. "You'll never stop investing in your growth. You always have to ask yourself, 'How can I improve further?' I do tend to read quite a bit, especially on having a positive mindset, anything that can influence me to improve further.
"Also, how to be a better person? I think part of being a leader is not about having brilliant ideas. It is actually about being a better person so that you can support the people around you."
Right now, he is reading The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek, which has a positive mindset theme. Another favourite is a book his human resources director in the Philippines gave him. "It's about how the leader needs to be passionate and to persevere even through tough times. How do you keep focus on your objectives and keep driving toward the end goal?
"I am also a huge fan of communicating as much as possible, and creating as many employee connections as possible," he says.
Keeping fit is also a passion. "I actually love racquet sports. I used to play squash quite a lot. Now as you get older, squash becomes harder. So I play badminton for exercise. And I love Thailand for Muay Thai. I'm in the process of learning it. I have a trainer who comes every Saturday morning and I punch and learn. Just for fun. It helps me to relax.
"Now I have less time to exercise actually, which is not very good. So Saturday and Sunday morning, I do it for fun, and the side benefit is also that is exercise."
One thing that not many colleagues at Nissan Thailand know about their boss is that he has been a vegetarian since birth. "My whole family are (vegetarians). It's just something I've got used to since birth. Healthy or not, it depends on how you make the vegetarian food," he says matter-of-factly.
"Now for me, the feeling of wanting to eat meat doesn't happen. That's all. It's a philosophy that I've been taught since birth. It's really as simple as that."
