Bajaj is a household name in India and with few such names and brands Indian emotions identify themselves very closely. Editorial in hindustan about rift between the son and the father and my curiosity was already there about this whole issue since bajaj announced closure of scooter business.
Rahul bajaj's statements on TV " I am deeply hurt by my sons decision to close bajaj scooter and I am not happy" has made me sad too and his son's statement that my fathers emotions don't make much sense because businesses run on logics and not emotions angered me bit because it portrays the reality's of modern businesses instant decisions and their so insensitive ways of working where on the face they may be loud with ads and lines of emotions asking people to buy their product, ironical!
I went through Rahul bajajs tenure with bajaj Auto and how he took the company to new heights from the period of 1965 till now. It was a company of approx Rs 72 million and Mr bajaj made it a company worth Rs 46.16 billion and that too during so called "license raj" period in India. Honda entered India and stock exchange fell in 2001, everyone said bajaj is a closed chapter but again it rose to heights with his business tactics and intelligence that he acquired with his experiences through years. He restructured the company with world class factory and brought pulsar to Indian consumers. I feel today Rajiv bajaj is riding on the same pulsar because he wants to make bajaj world's biggest bike brand at the cost of his father's emotions and family values. To make true ones high end dreams why not start from scratch and prove that if one can really make a world class company and get the experience as what it takes to reach such heights. It's always odd when I see people behaving emotionally but inside they are already dead. We all talk businesses and practicality but nothing in absolute forms work and it's more on emotions that we survive. How long one can survive in the harsh world of businesses and its ugly games? At the end in the evening we all return to our loved ones and it's our people's love that energises us to rise again next morning and do better constructive businesses which have hearts in them.
Understanding all this made me sad for the person because it was he who made bajaj what bajaj is today, it was this man's vision which today has been blurred by his own son. I say blurred because his vision [may be today its narrow for his son ] and hard work of years is more important than being a world leader in bike segment. Even honda said that bajaj's decision to close scooter was wrong. He could have reduced volumes or thought of other alternatives for his father's emotions with scooters of bajaj and such small gesture wouldn't have harmed Bajaj from being a world leader in Bikes. It would have been an excellent example of greater values and prestige not only for bajaj but for indian society too and may be a tribute to his father's hard work. Life is not just about sky-high dreams and billions of dollars, it's more about how you lived your life as human and even for the richest, too much of money and fame ends up with charity to find peace and solace to feel that they are still human.
Volumes fall and rise and scooters still sell and Honda knows that. If Rajiv bajaj cannot understand his father and his hard work of years then how will he understand consumers mindset. HE could have taken this as a challenge and continued with scooters too even as a small chunk of Bajaj auto.
In my house people felt bad on closure news of scooter , my dad has one since I was a kid of 7 years and we are common people of India and its same with middle class everywhere because we people thrive more on emotions as that's what we all need at the end of the day. Absolute emotions or harsh logics of business degrades everything around. Best is fusion and examples we have seen for ages with Bajaj, Tata or Birla. We Indians love them, talk about them, trust them not because they are rich but they connected well with Indian masses using path of emotions for their businesses and won trust by their so long associations with Indian consumer. Fiat, a brand so much into Indian hearts like bajaj but it couldn't use logics of business with modern times and tested Indian emotions for long which almost wiped its brand existence in India and till today I see this brand so nervous into the sleeves of Tata. Here its very clear that change with changing times but its emotional connections too with a brand that sells product and spreads awareness about a brand and its quality by word of mouth of millions.
I read few comments of few people in reply to bajaj closure on scooter news on rediff that bajaj scooter was a scrap and such negative remarks. I thought best people understand and read in detail about things before commenting. Answer a question that which big company of world class is absolutely clean and honest. In US or Japan even car companies take their cars back from consumers because of flaws and manufacturing defects but then we don't say that they are selling scraps.
