Jairam Varadaraj, MD, ELGI Equipments Ltd (third from left), receiving the Madras Management Association Award for Managerial Excellence from Thomas Dose, MD, BMW Group Plant Chennai. Also seen from the left are R Vijayakumar, ED, MMA; D Lakshminarayanan, President, MMA; and AR Unnikrishnan, Senior V-P, MMA, at the 70th AGM of MMA in Chennai on Friday

In the current environment, being incrementally better is not enough, and businesses have to learn to turn the ship around, said Thomas Dose, Managing Director, BMW Group Plant, Chennai, on Friday.

The best skill to do that is to make it simple and not over complicate the task, he said. Do not listen to what the management books and colleges have to say on this, he added. 

Dose was speaking at the Platinum Jubilee Annual General Meeting of the Madras Management Association (MMA) in Chennai. 

Offering his key message to the first-generation business owners, Dose, the chief guest at the event, also asked them to figure out ways to bring the spirit of the founder to the next generation. 

The event saw MMA launch several special initiatives, including the Platinum Jubilee MMA Awards for Managerial Excellence, the Special Platinum Jubilee Issue of Business Mandate, Volume 3 of Turning Points: Management Lessons from Legends, a Platinum Jubilee Coffee Table Book and the Platinum Jubilee Logo for the management association. 

Major highlight

A major highlight of the evening was also to honour companies with 24th MMA Awards for Managerial Excellence 2026. ELGI Equipments Ltd, Apollo Hospitals, Indus Life Sciences Private Ltd and SSN College of Engineering were the winners across categories. 

The evening rounded off by honouring all the past presidents of MMA on this occasion, a starry line-up of the who’s who of Tamil Nadu’s business ecosystem. The Platinum Jubilee celebration marks 70 years of MMA’s service to management education, leadership development, industry engagement and nation-building. The MMA Managing Committee at its meeting held on Friday also elected AR Unnikrishnan, Managing Director, Saint-Gobain India Pvt Ltd – Glass Group as President of MMA for 2026-27. MP Surya Prakas, Executive Director, Pon Pure Chemicals India Pvt Ltd, was elected as Sr Vice-President, among other appointments.

The Hindu Group and the businessline are the media partners for the MMA Awards for Managerial Excellence.

Published on July 10, 2026