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The power of determination

R Manikandan does not like to glorify his achievements. He wants to give his best and make sure that whichever company he works for reaches its targets. At LG, his focus is on building the IT image of the company, says Atanu Kumar Das

Let’s meet a man who spent most of childhood days in a small town called Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. He always dreamt of becoming someone important. His years at school were nothing special in academic terms, but he was always determined to do well in life. This determination proved to be a critical asset in his career.

When he was a 11th standard student, his teacher told him that he would never be able to pursue any engineering course as he had performed very poorly in his mathematics exams. The teacher even went on to say that he was not even capable of passing his BSc degree. This provoked him to excel and he stunned everybody by scoring 100 percent marks in his 12th standard exams. Today R Manikandan is the deputy general manager, sales & marketing (IT products) at LG Electronics India.

Manikandan went on to get second rank in his engineering degree from Coimbatore College. After that, there was no turning back. He has held numerous positions in customer support, product management, sales and marketing, and worked in companies such as Lathan India (a Tata group company), Godrej, Tech Pacific and Acer Communications and Multimedia prior to joining LG Electronics in 2001.

He was in Acer for two years, and during that time he really worked hard to build the company’s brand equity in the IT space. “I remember when I joined Acer it was a very new company, and the challenge that was ahead of me was to make this company’s name recognised in the market.” In 1999, when he joined Acer Communications and Multimedia, they used to sell 500 scanners a month; when he left, the company was selling 4,500 scanners a month. “It is sad that Acer Communications and Multimedia is no more, because it has now been renamed as Benq. But I really loved the challenge of building the Acer Communications and Multimedia name in the market, and I can happily say that I was successful in my job.”

Manikandan feels that his best stint as a professional has been his current job, where he has been entrusted with the task of making LG a well-known IT brand. Today, 10 percent of LG’s revenues in India comes from its IT division, and there can be no overlooking the fact that its PC sales have been a major contributing factor. “We launched the LG MyPC about a year back, and today we are the third-largest PC brand in India in terms of value,” Manikandan adds. His immediate goal is to make LG the top PC brand in the country

LG is eyeing 12 percent of its revenue from the IT division this year, or about Rs 750-800 crore. “IT was not making a major contribution When I joined LG but now the scenario has changed,” points out Manikandan.

He feels that the company’s regional distribution strategy was a key factor in its growth. “When we started operations in India everyone was worried if the regional distribution policy would work as there were hardly any big companies which worked with this strategy. But I felt that it is always best to be unconventional and this has really paid off. Today we can boast of being present in almost every nook and corner of this country,” Manikandan states.

LG is also planning to come up with servers by the end of November. Come January 2005, the company intends to launch mid-level laptops. Manikandan is more excited by this than anybody else because he knows that with more new products in the company’s portfolio, fresh challenges are on the horizon. “Life becomes very boring if there are no challenges, and in this company there is hardly any scope for mistakes. I really hope to make the best of my position here and take LG to the top,” says he.

Life seems to be moving at a fast pace for Manikandan, and he is hopeful that one day he will be the CEO of a company. Going by his record, it is likely that his dream will be fulfilled. He is grateful to his wife who he feels is the reason behind his success. Whenever he is free, he loves to spend time with her and their nine-year-old daughter.

He also loves watching television and reading books.