The rare jewel of effective leadership Billy C Sichone89 The Serengetti Eye wear Company Few companies have

gone into a coma and recovered like Serengeti EyewearCompany did. Being a subsidiary of the Corning Inc, Serengeti was destined forthe company grave having continuously been dogged by financial losses inprevious years. In 1985, the last straw broke the camels back as a decision toshut down Serengeti was passed. As expected, not all agreed to the decision.Zaki Mustafa was one of them and thus requested that the ailing company begiven another chance of resuscitation. After protracted discussions andpersuasion, Serengeti won another chance to prove its viability.Having been given the leeway, Mustafa and friends asked for independencefrom the bureaucratic Corning Incorporation. Thus, the new Serengetimanagement team took the mantle over the company and then went right aheadto do the organisational surgery which, among many things included thefollowing:1. The company workforce reduced from 135 to 35 , and these 35 were unswervinglycommitted to the company. The remnant were not the best but the resolved. Assuch, Serengeti had people with one goal and aim.2. The second was to reposition the products in the market. Hitherto, the productswere not properly positioned. Repositioning meant that the company revisited itstarget, marketing strategies and response to the customers. It aimed for a productniche.3. Quality and good pricing were carefully implanted into the products, which had notbeen the case hitherto.4. Customer sensitivity was noticed as a major weakness in the past. This time, theCustomer was to be king and every effort was made to maintain satisfaction as wellas product loyalty. In the past, what was produced was not what customers neededand wanted but what Corning perceived people would want.5. Personalised service was emphasised. As seen in No.4 above, the customertransactions were impersonal. The Mustafa regime determined to interact moreclosely with clients.6. Partnerships with clients became the norm. This meant that some of the Serengetistaff members were to be attached to the outside suppliers to ensure quality andtimeliness of products outsourced. Also, the consumers could freely contribute inthe product design they wanted developed.7.

The Brand name was heightened so that the customers knew that they were dealingwith the high quality, reliable and technical Corning products.8. Teamwork was noted as the key to success in those turbulent times. This samephilosophy is still deeply ingrained in the company culture.9. Modern Management principles were imbibed by Mustafa and associates. Thisentailed allowing a free and informal working atmosphere to prevail. People werenot strictly supervised or held in suspicion. This strengthened the team spirit.10. The company survived closure and then was weaned off from the main so that itcould operate independently. In these turbulent times, a company must be fluid,agile, always learning and flexible, which was made possible independent of thebureaucratic Corning Corporation.11. The marketing strategies were sharpened placing the products on the market,ensuring that the Opinion leaders were seen wearing the glasses as well as givingout some free glasses in the initial stages.

The rare jewel of effective leadership Billy C Sichone9012. Specialists, who easily discern the customers taste, have been doing the designingof new products.In a nutshell, Mustafa led Serengeti in the turn-around by repositioningproducts, customer sensitivity, ensuring continuous quality improvements,modern management practices, and Company sovereignty. These attributespropelled Serengeti eyewear out of the financial quagmire. Having come out of the near death mishap, Serengeti awoke from its slumber and continues to thisvery day. Serengeti has made headway and is a force to reckon on the market. Ithas sustained its growth basically because of three reasons. The first is

thatSerengeti has won back the distributors confidence. In the past, mutual trustwas lost but a lot of work has gone into mending the fences . The distributionchannel is now thriving and in addition, the distribution channels have beenbroadened touching a wider coverage. The second reason is because Serengetihas gone international. After successfully establishing itself locally, it went onto the international scene where it sold its products. It has a presence in Europe,Canada and Asia where production and research is carried out. The third reasonis the continued expansion of product lines. When Serengeti was coming back to life, its product line reduced from 230 to 53 because it had to concentrate onits core competence products. Now that that scenario is past, Serengeti hasflapped its product wings again. These innovations and products have beenimmensely popular and in keeping with the continuously changing consumertastes. The advent of new technological feats has boosted the company,especially the Serengeti Drivers sunglasses. The afore mentioned three reasonshave been possible because the company has had excellent paragmatic leaderswho have had an eagles eye towards what ought to be done. There has beenconstant reading of the times to the effect that the company is always alert, notsitting on its laurels. Serengeti has had a number of hurdles along its pilgrimageto success, hence the need to watch out. Among the many problems has beenthe interference from the Corning Inc top management who have many timestried to curtail the companies apparent independence. Probably there have beensome fears in the Corning management circles that Serengeti has been tooliberated and may eventually prove difficult to keep under the Corningumbrella. But this cannot be, for the legal papers are in place! Closelyconnected to the problem we have advanced, is the fact that the unprofitableyears have been footholds for adversaries to attempt fostering absolute controlover the Serengeti. In as much as the company (i.e. Serengeti) would like toinstitute a Just in time inventory environment, it has proved elusive in certainyears, as was the case in 1990 when more stock was marooned in thewarehouses because of poor sales. Apart from those problems, the usualoperational hurdles have begun to cling to the company. As Serengeti has beengrowing in both sales volume and staff, so has been the complexity as well.Back in 1985, with only 35 staff, every member of staff was counted upon,including the top executive, who would also take part the daily chores, such aspacking! The picture is entirely different today potentially giving room to ageneration to come up that knows not those earlier ethics of diligence, self sacrifice, resilience and simplicity in relations. Thus far, the tenaciously heldprinciples of teamwork and strategic orientated thinking have held the companytogether like supper glue amidst all the storms. As the future lies enshrouded inmystery, Serengeti stands a great chance to bull dose her way to the future. Thisis because Mustafa is an excellent general manager. He is one in whom all the

The rare jewel of effective leadership Billy C Sichone91attributes of a 21 st

manager reside. Mustafa has excellent management stylebecause he has the following values wielded on his heart. Firstly, he holds thatthe rigid type of management is obsolete, as people are mature enough, notneeding a watch dog kind of approach. He firmly also believes that peoplemust be allowed to express themselves, be involved in brainstorming sessions,smooth information flow to all and that staff imbibe shared values, withoutwhich, the company is doomed. He makes people feel they are worth muchmore and that they could be better if they exerted themselves. Further more, heholds that mutual trust is crucial if teamwork is to be a reality. The teamwork conviction entails that the relationships must be excellent and should go beyondthe office environment. It is worth noting that in those earlier years, some lowlyplaced staff did come to terms with the team and family spirit that was beingcultivated in the company. Secondly, Mustafa has gone beyond the ordinarymanager in that he ensures that his staff is well cared for in all spheres. He hasbeen heard to say I regard myself not just a business manager, but a surrogatefather to our people. I say to our employees, You worry about your work, I llworry about you. I am a friend, and I do it because I get a lot of pleasure out of it. What a manger!! Here is an epitome of a caring manager! This shows thathe does not only care about the balance sheet or profits but uses the same in adifferent but effective way. Trust and value are mystically married in his chest.With the rapid ascendance to the limelight has meant that all decisions have abearing and repercussions on the company image. In the past, the companycould afford some errors and not injure the sales or image but today, everymove is watched by both friends and rivals. Against this background, Serengetigot entangled with the Eclipse launch question. Eclipse was a new product thatwas developed and was to be launched on the market by Serengeti. As always,the idea was floated around and there were many opinions over the same. Somethought that this had to be shelved, as it would be a failure in the light of otherstronger brands like Ray ban. It was feared that a collision with Ray ban wouldactually Eclipse Serengetis image all together! Others however thought thatthe launch was overdue and had to be launched immediately. In my opinion, Ithink that the product should have been launched provided the following aretaken into account:1. Enough market research has been done and favours the launch.2. The price and quality are what customers want and accept.3. Ability to under cut Ray ban on pricing.4. Aggressive sustainable and progressive marketing strategies will be employed.5. Must emphasise the unique qualities of the product, establishing a product niche.6. Team approach is still as strong as before.7. A test launch must first be instituted and in some cases, market segregationemployed initially.On the above premise, I would strongly have recommended that the launch.Thus far, Serengeti has proved its robustness, flexibility, and strategic foresighttherefore we are confident that it will continue glide among the agilemultinational giants of tomorrow!