Why? This time, Marico is not just tweaking the culture of organisation; it is actually sculpting the personality traits of its employees in such a way that they drive the corporate strategy forward. Innovatively. Intuitively. Instantly.

There are three new mantras for the ideal Marico employee: Show aggressive productivity; be relentlessly collaborative; have a path-breaking consumer touch. Says Marico Industries' chief human resources officer Rakesh Pandey: ``The new change taking place is environment-led. We foresee a high degree of competition in the future. And it is the pace of change in the industry which is leading the company to device a new culture within.''

Of course, this is not the first time that Marico is using the organisation culture to leverage corporate strategy. In 1990, it first spawned the 3Ps -- People, Product, Profitability -- movement to build a distinct and common `Marico' identity in the people who were streaming into the organisation from different industries, at different levels, and from a plethora of companies.

Then came a new slogan, `COMEWIN,' which focussed on the organisation's attention on its top five priorities: Consumer, Membership, Excellence, Wealth, Innovation. But, by the middle of 1999, Marico knew it would require yet another inflexion point in its culture-graph if it was to take on the new challenge: Nanosecond competition from strong local and international players in the FMCG sector. Says Mr Pandey: ``While the process of 3Ps then made the culture more explicit, now innovation is defined as the key factor in all dealings.''

Driving the employees to absorb the new characteristics are the Marico Innovation Process -- and a variable pay system, which promises to share the wealth created by competitive advantage, with employees, in April 2001. Says Chaitanya Deshpandey, divisional finance manager, Marico: ``Already, the speed at which communication takes place has quickened with the driving factor being the new HR policy.'' Then, he laughs: ``Of course, the variable pay factor has also raised the levels of enthusiasm.''

Some personality traits never change.