Deoras Is HLL Hair Care Head  ( May '13,2003, FE)

Mukul Deoras has become the new category head for Hindustan Lever’s (HLL) hair care business after the exit of Mr D Shiva Kumar. This segment is at a critical juncture, after HLL undertook price corrections to arrest the decline in growth. Mr Deoras was HLL category head, personal wash and general manager - marketing, oral care. The company is yet to fill up the former post.

Mr Shiva Kumar, who started his career at Ciba Geigy (now Novartis), has joined Philips India after a 14 year stint with HLL, during which, he worked as area sales manager for Lipton and has since moved between sales and marketing.

HLL, categorising in home, personal care and foods, has a total strength of over 40,000 employees, including 1,550 managers. It is organised into self-sufficient profit centres, supported by central functions and resources to leverage economies of scale. Executive Directors head profit centres, like detergents, personal products, beverages, foods, ice cream, and exports, in addition to functions of finance, human resources, technology, research, information technology and legal.

Each such centre has dedicated resources and assets in sales, marketing, commercial, innovation and manufacturing. Some, like detergents and personal products, in turn are further reorganised into smaller units around their categories. Typically, each function within a profit centre - sales, marketing, commercial, manufacturing - is headed by a general manager or a divisional vice president.