The Confluence of Three Cultures Define Sona Comstar

#Leadership #Culture #AutoComponents

Vivek Vikram Singh

Usually, having different cultures pose various challenges for the organization, but Sona Comstar adopted and embraced different cultures for better productivity. Vivek Vikram Singh, MD & Group CEO, Sona Comstar shares with Pro MFG Media their experience with various cultures adopted by the organization paved the way for their success in the industry.

Sona Comstar, an Indian-origin company and manufacturer for global automotive systems, and components is highly recognized for its four topnotch products – differential assembly, gears inside the differential, BLDC motors for two & three-wheelers, and BSG (belt starter generator). In 2020, the organization manufactured over 250 million gears, and being the world’s largest independent differential gear maker, it is highly significant.

Sona Comstar is a company that is driven by the amalgamation of three different cultures – American, Indian, and Japanese. These cultural influences essentially come from the various changes of ownership that the company has seen in its journey of evolution. One may see this as a challenge, however, the management at Sona Comstar draws positives from each of these cultures to thrive in an extremely competitive environment. Its American influence, which is one of agility, comes from its partner venture capitalist organization Blackstone. The frugal and cost-conscious approach comes from its Indian influence whereas the Japanese influence comes from its technology partnership with Mitsubishi and Toyota.

The confluence of these three cultures provides a very unique and significant edge to Sona Comstar. Customers view such confluences as one of the crucial ant traits of a truly global company. The reflection of its trait can be seen in their business mix with 44%, 25%, and 23% coming from the US, Europe, and India, respectively. The company’s largest manufacturing unit is based in India, but the cultural connections make them cosmopolitan. Such a culture has provided them agility. The minimum or zero communication with the team leader or the CEO, derived from Japanese culture, was a drawback, now with the American influence, it has become easier to communicate with the senior management.

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