In my previous posts, I discussed exit poll predictions and key reasons behind BJP’s astonishing success in recently concluded General Election 2019, especially in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and West Bengal (WB). This election was unprecedented in many ways, highest voter turn-outs, intense campaigning by political parties and extensive use of social media during the election campaigning, including Facebook, WhatsApp & Twitter. Never before in the History of India, we have seen political parties asking for votes from their supporters with so much conflicting ideologies and promises. 

In true sense, this election was a battlefield of ideas and result of the election has potential to shape the politics and direction for the nation in coming days. This election has a startling similarity with fierce corporate battles to win over market place and taught us lessons that are applicable to both corporate and daily life. There are several key factors that helped BJP to achieve this landslide victory, and these factors are trademark of successful corporate houses and their operations. Let us have a quick look at those key factors.   

 Leadership: Leadership is a key to success for any organization and corporate house.  While many believe that it is essential to have an able leader at the helm, others advocate for a rather democratic process of decision making where decisions are taken based on mutual agreements and consensus. However, traditionally, people of India believed in strong leaderships, provided the freedom of other democratic institutions that act as checks and balances, are not utterly violated or compromised.

From very first day of the campaign, BJP ensured that its message on leadership is decisively clear. They fought the election under one and only Mr. Narendra Modi, ably supported by his general, Mr. Amit Shah. Mr. Modi, being the Prime Ministerial candidate, left no stone unturned to convey his strong leadership style and visions for new India.

On the contrary, there was no single PM candidate projected from opposition parties. Rather, there were too many of them, who directly or indirectly indicated that they are in a fray to be the next Prime Minister of India, if the mandate were favorable to them. The list included Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Ms. Mawayati, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, Mr. K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), Mr. Y.S. Jagan Reddy, among many others. Like they say “Too many cooks spoil the broth”, lack of, rather too many leaderships from opposition failed to convey uniform messaging against incumbent government and as a result, it did not resonate well with people of India.

Similarly, in corporate world, leaders have played crucial roles during the crisis periods or when there was any need to steer the company to new directions. Jack Welch of G.E, Steve Jobs of Apple are some of the examples. So, we can conclude that lack of leadership from opposition played a crucial role behind the success of Mr. Modi and failure of opposition parties.

Strategy and Execution:  Strategy, planning and successful execution of those plans were a key factor behind the success of BJP led NDA. An election of this magnitude can’t be won in a day and needs meticulous preparation from the winning side. Right after last General Election in 2014, BJP, led by its president Mr. Amit Shah , started preparing for its battle in several upcoming assembly elections as well as for General Election 2019.

BJP top management knew that they almost reached its peak in its strongholds in terms of number of seats and vote share. So, in order to increase their vote share and seat numbers, they needed to look beyond their traditional strongholds of Hindi heartland and make inroads to unchartered territories, a phenomenon popularly known as “Blue Ocean Strategy” in marketing parlance.  To be successful in conquering new and unchartered territories, Mr. Shah prepared “Look East” strategy, one which underscored the importance of making strong presence for BJP in Eastern India, an area, where party had minimal presence earlier, barring Bihar. As per the grand plan, top leadership spent significant time in building their brand and supporter base in Eastern part of India, particularly in North East, West Bengal and Odisha. Their efforts paid off as BJP increased its seat tally in Odisha and West Bengal to 26, from their earlier tally of 3 in 2014, up by more than 700% over five years.

This is a very well-known and time-tested strategy that many successful corporate houses follow to increase their market share, when they see a stagnation of their products in existing markets. However, venturing into new markets need strategic planning, observations, and apt execution, to be successful. Also, the point needs to be noted that any misadventure can cost a company dearly, in terms of money, effort and reputation.

We can draw parallels between New Market entry strategy from corporates and winning seats from unchartered territories. In both cases, you need long term planning, ground level analysis and skillful executions, to make the venture a successful one.

Communication strategy and Channels: Skillful handling of Media and communication is a must for any successful election campaign. 2019 was no exception. Rather, in this recently concluded election, we have seen use of Media and other communication channels by political parties to influence the voters, like we saw never before. And like in many other fronts, NDA, specifically BJP, emerges victorious in the battle of communication and handling of social media.

With the advent of social media, the concept of communication saw a tectonic shift. In earlier days, handful of news channels was only source of information for the greatest number of people, making those media houses powerful players during the election campaign. However, due to fast expansion of internet network and connections, increasing use of smartphones and laptops and growing prominence of Facebook, Twitter and other social media in spreading information, changed the game completely. In today’s world, anyone with a smartphone and access to internet can express his/her views in social media and spread (mis)information among thousands and may even be among millions of people. This is the power and peril of social media. It’s difficult to control it and even more difficult to counter misinformation. Allegations, counter allegations can be leveled at a fast pace. Thus, effective management of social media has now become a must for any successful campaign- be it political or Business brand building or product promotion.

BJP’s IT cell was arguably the most active social media cell among all parties. It is estimated that more than two lakhs WhatsApp groups, having hundred members each, were created to dissipate information about party’s policy, election statistics and campaign updates among its supporter base. Also, extensive use of Twitter by all prominent BJP leaders, led by Mr. Modi, created a buzz in social media. BJP’s social media strategy, carefully drafted and adroitly implemented by skilled and loyal IT cell members, had a significant impact in shaping voters’ opinion in favor of BJP and its policies.

In this election, we saw how successful social media campaign can help a party garner significant votes and influence a target audience group, primarily people bellow the age of 35, in favor of its political agenda and policy. So, it won’t be surprising if corporates draw inspiration from the success of BJP’s social media policy and start deploying similar campaigns during their product launch or brand building exercises.

Take Risk but be Calculative: To be successful in the face of a fierce battle, one must be courageous, risk takers, yet calculative. Without courage and risk-taking abilities, great success can never be achieved. However, mindless risk taking can very well result into a fiasco, making it very difficult to recover from the situation again. And like all the previous examples, it was again BJP leadership, who exhibited courage and risk-taking abilities like no one else did, yet being calculative in terms of their campaigns, based on “Return on Investment” policy.

In 2018 Chhattisgarh assembly election, BJP lost badly to its rival Congress, despite having 10 sitting MPs from the state, out of total 11 seats. This was clearly a bad omen for BJP leadership and they realized the need of change to perform better during the general election 2019. They realized people’s anger against non-performance of sitting MPs and acted decisively. BJP top leadership decided not to field a single sitting MP in Chhattisgarh and fielded all new candidates from the state. Result- a great performance by BJP, winning 9 out of 11 seats in the state.

Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, when Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) joined hands, they seemed to have created a formidable force, having more than 40% supporter base in the state. However, BJP leadership did not give up in the face of stiff competition and took the challenge head-on. They also consolidated their vote share in UP and executed root level campaign to reduce support base of the opposition. Result- BJP won 64 out of 80 seats in UP, while SP-BSP alliance managed to win only 15 seats.

However, BJP leadership realized that they had a finite resource base and the effort needs to be channelized carefully. BJP had a very weak support base as well as vote share in Kerala. It would have been a herculean task for BJP central leadership to win many seats there. That’s why, they did not put significant effort in the state (which had 20 seats in offering), compared to the effort they put in West Bengal and Odisha (which had 63 seats in total). 

Channelizing your resources through best possible ways and ensuring maximum benefits with optimal effort is always a key factor for corporate success. Many business leaders carefully refrain themselves from venturing into markets where they see low return despite high investment and efforts.

Relationship Management: The world is small and maintaining good and cordial relationship with key stakeholders, and even with your competitors, always help. The same is applicable when one is fighting in an election or when one is engaged in a corporate battle. It is always advisable to fight a battle in election or corporate world, based on ideology, not based on personal relationship. The primary reason behind the concept is that in the world of Business or Politics, there is no permanent friend or eternal enemy. In these field, friends can turn foe quickly and vice-versa. So, it is always recommended to have a good personal rapport, even with your arch-rivals, if you are in a field of politics or Business. In this post, we will analyze how good relationship management helped some of the key leaders in this election.

One state, where BJP did not perform as well as it expected to, was Odisha. Though BJP made significant inroads in the state, Naveen Patnaik led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) did exceptionally well to retain 12 out of 21 seats in the state and winning assembly election with absolute majority, for the fourth time, an achievement that many political pundits though difficult to achieve. Mr. Patnaik, though fighting a fierce battle against BJP in his own state, always maintained cordial relationship with oppositions, including BJP leadership. As a result, he was always a sought-after leader by both UPA and NDA camps.

BJP, on the other hand, did play its card in terms of excellent relationship management. It had a tensed relationship with some of its allies like Shiv Sena and Janata Dal (United), led by Mr. Nitish Kumar. There were rumors that Mr. Nitish Kumar, who joined NDA recently after leaving old partner RJD, was unhappy with BJP and might switch side again. BJP leadership immediately started working on this and made significant efforts to ease out the tensions between allies. Mr. Shah made repeated visits to Shiv Sena HQ in Mumbai and JD(U) HQ in Patna. It even offered its own seats to JD(U) and large number of seats to Shiv Sena, compared to what it planned earlier. This flexibility and compromises from BJP leadership, to maintain good relationships with allies, once again paid off , with BJP and its allies winning 39 out of 40 seats in Bihar and 41 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra.

In corporate world also, one need to remember that relationship management is extremely important aspect of success, which may require some level of compromises and adjustment. However, the result of these adjustments will be long term, and any such adjustment can be termed as “Checkmate King by sacrificing pawn”

Author’s Note: All Views expressed on this site are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whosoever with which I have been, am now or will be affiliated.

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