"Containing a crisis without allowing it to blow up is where the skills of the communication person and the PR agency come into play," declares K S Susindar, general manager, group corporate communications, Murugappa group. "Crisis does not call for reaction. It calls for response and a quick one at that," elaborates the 40-year old professional.

Susindar ought to know, having successfully tackled a recent crisis at Tata Teleservices, Andhra Pradesh, where he handled the company's communication and marketing.

Susindar recalls the episode, "On a busy, working day the police entered the company premises and took into custody some of our employees from their work place on the basis of a complaint lodged by a business rival."

To make matters worse, the rival company had even arranged for some photographers to be present to photograph the officials being taken into custody by the police.

There was enormous pressure within the company to contact the media and talk about the police action against the detained officials who were were merely engaged in carrying out the company's routine business.

However, Susindar's advice prevailed. "With four of my colleagues in custody, I advised against taking a strong anti-police stance."

Instead, the regional and the national media was contacted by the company directly and through its public relations agency. The press was apprised of the situation, and requested to desist from publishing the photographs of the officials being taken in to custody.

"Though some publications carried the story, it did not generate much adverse publicity for our company. Our statement on the episode was also published, since the media appreciated our stance.Moreover, we did not antagonise the police, either."

"Though the issue took some time to settle down and some publications did carry a story, we made it a point to remain in touch with the media throughout," he remarks.

Of his 16 years as a communications professional, Susindar, a post graduate in English literature and management, spent the first 9 with Mudra Communications and MAA Bozell, both advertising agencies.

Later, he moved to TVS-Suzuki (now TVS Motors) to handle its media and communications." Working on 8 active brands of two-wheelers and managing advertising worth Rs. 45 crore, it was my exclusive task to build 'brand TVS'," he says.

According to Susinder, the TVS brand of two-wheelers did not enjoy a strong presence in the north in those days. In fact, not a single TVS brand, which was a big national seller at that time, had a presence in the north. Even its motorcycles carried Suzuki's name on the petrol tank.

"Despite all these constraints, TVS was building itself as a national brand using non conventional media - exhibitions, events, racing - an exclusive TVS racing team had been formed and branded to enhance visibility."

He says, "The Murugappa Group's corporate brand has some similar constraints. It is going to be a lot more challenging to build the corporate brand here as each company has a strong brand operateing in the market."

All these years, the family-run Chettiar group had maintained a low profile. Therefore, the media was surprised to receive an invitation for a meeting without an agenda recently. Excerpts:

How do you see your role in this assignment?
I must give you a brief background on the organisation before proceeding to the task as I see it.

Murugappa group is one of the oldest family-run business houses in the world. The group has always maintained a low profile and did not really have a great need to be visible as a group entity in India.

This, despite being the only Indian company to win the international IMA award for the 'best managed family' run business in the world. Of late, the group has begun to feel the need to have a strong image. This essentially means reputation management.

A precursor to a strong image is a strong corporate brand. As I see it, my first responsibility will be to build a strong corporate brand.

What will be your strategy for communicating with the company's various stakeholders ?
I would be comfortable talking about them once I put them through for action. However, targeting different stakeholders calls for planning. I would first plan the media campaign, construct the message that suits the media and the target segments.

Do you think communication managers in India play an effective role in meeting corporate objectives?
The most important thing is to realise that communications has a small but significant function in a large organisation. But it is equally important to believe that your organisation is communicating all the time and most often it need not be at your initiative There are no major impediments if the top management lends itself to the belief and sets the tone.

How important are image audits? Have you conducted any ?
Image audits are likely to turn out to be more in demand than they currently are, particularly, since in the last few years there have been many instances of issues of corporate governance globally. The frequency of image audits depend on the type of business an organisation is involved in. For a service organization, a periodic study would be meaningful.

I have used reputed research agencies to conduct these studies. I have expressed this as a need in all the large organisations that I have worked for. Ideally it should be conducted across various stakeholders but often gets reduced to dominant stakeholders, due to time and budgetary constraints.

How is PR different from reputation management? It is said that PR and communications are just aspects of reputation management. Your view.
PR is basically a communication tool. It helps manage the reputation of an organisation or an individual. Reputation largely depends on the character of the organisation or individual as perceived by stakeholders. This is a result of consolidation of the image based on their past and current behavior with respect to issues that put pressure on the system. These pressures could be from within or outside.

Reputation management involves creating a positive predisposition with the stakeholders, which arises out of identifying and building upon the core strength of the organisation or an individual. This core strength should act like a versatile heavy-duty hydraulic tool that can swing in any direction to handle the pressure and get back to position.

What's your view of companies that concentrate on PR, without making it part of an overall advertising enterprise?
Advertising and PR are communication tools. There should be an overall communication strategy. A direct letter to the customer is as important and creates a different impact compared to advertising. A message carried by the media as news adds far more credibility than an advertisement.The choice of using advertising or PR should be based on the response desired.

What is your company's strategy?
We will be using advertising and PR towards effectively building the corporate brand.

As a communication professional do you find dealing with the media a challenge?
As a communication professional I am comfortable in dealing with the media. I would like to believe that it remains a challenge so that it gives me a lot of scope for improvement.

Can a company leverage its website to enhance its image?
Corporate websites are a very important communication tool. Besides the look, feel, navigation and content, the overall user-friendliness, information updates convey a much stronger message. Many Indian corporates are focusing on their websites. We would be revamping our group website as part of our overall corporate communication programme.

How do you see the PR profession evolving in the future, particularly in India?
PR will soon have to generate much more OTS (opportunity to see) in the media than what perhaps is expected from advertising. Activities would get diversified in terms of conducting industry conferences, lobbying with the government and mobilising public support on issues. Relationship management would definitely be the cutting edge.