Friday, August 31, 2012

STRATAGEM INTERVIEW : INTERTEK

He works for a company that makes a billion simply by certifying other companies. Mark Loughead is the COO at Intertek, whose first-half revenue for 2010 rose by 4.9% to £652 million. B&E met Mark up to question him on the future of the certification business by Neha Saraiya

B&E: Especially in the Indian context, certification is perceived more as a kind of marketing gimmick which companies adopt without actually paying attention to the customer’s benefit. How do you plan to change that perception?
ML: Well, all this belongs to the changing environment. But we, as a company are trying hard to create much more value to the entire process of certification so that our business could be more effective in nature and beneficial in cost. This will even lure other companies to seriously think of it.

B&E: So are those only big companies that are implementing certification in their products and services or are even the smaller players considering this option as a serious business?
ML: Surprisingly, not only big companies, but even small and medium companies are willing to implement certification standards. Like textiles for example. They want to be in the process of keeping the technology in a different position and still make the maximum use of it.

B&E: On another front, many companies often associate certification as a CSR activity and don’t actually think of it as a true responsibility?
ML: Well, certification is an important part of the whole policy process and it is very demanding. For example, there is no actual US government policy or legislation demanding that there cannot be child labour. It’s all about the policy and it matters how the concerned management thinks. People are only ready to move up from their current position and the companies to set up a standard. It is all formed within our thinking processes.

B&E: Within the next two years time, how do you see this market performing particularly in India?
ML: Currently, almost around one third of our business comes from America, Europe and Asia. But going forward, we see ourself at a very good point in India. We are still working on it, making acquisitions and developing teams.

B&E: Apparently, you have a typical glocal strategy...
ML: As we are a global company having 90% of our operations outside India, we need to effectively run our local operations at various global locations using local people. When we decide to sell any of our services globally, then we have to understand the customs and needs of the nation in which we operate. It’s only after understanding the local needs, that we implement our testing skills.


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