introduction

People’s Leasing Co Ltd (PLC) is a group of company People’s Leasing & Finance PLC was established

in 22nd August 1995 currently the leading leasing & finance company in Sri Lanka, with business

operations in leasing & hire purchase, loans, insurance, Islamic Finance, micro finance, investments, fleet

management and property development. Peoples Leasing Company is fully owned subsidiary of Peoples

Bank. In 2010 PLC is ranked as A+ by CRIB. The PLC Company brand is rated AA- by Brand Finance

UK and 2012-12-04 got finance license to PLC. PLC has become a success story to be the market leader

in the leasing sector in Sri Lanka, by acquiring 20% of the market share and though a wide network

comprising of 55 regional branches and 127 window offices located through PB branches.

What is planning.

In any company or business we should have plan. Because plan will tell us where we are and where we

should go. Not only that but also it will show us the steps to reach that goals. We can say planning is

simply involves defining organizational goals and ways to meet them. The planning process starts from

the developing of plans. That means the strategy planning process. Strategy planning involves making

vision, mission and main goals of accompany. Then the plan should translate to the tactical plans and

strategy map. After that it should translate to the operational level plans. Then the other management

objects become a major part of the process. That means when executing the plan organizing, leading and

controlling play the act. After that company should monitor and learn the process.

Hierarchy of PLC.

According to people’s leasing and finance company it has same planning process as many other

companies. That is board of directors, chief executive officer and senior management makes the top level

plans. But they have a good IT system to help making decisions and plans. One of the systems is call as

decision support system (DSS). That is connected system to the MIS which is centralizes system of core

business system. Other one is business intelligence (BI) system which is more connecting to the external

environment data. Then tactical goals and plans are making by the middle level management. This

process also help by IT system call management information system (MIS). This system is centralizing

system of core business system. That gives a clear idea of operational level status. Then the operational

level planning and goals come to the action. This has been done by lower level management like branch

managers. They also have an IT system to get idea of operational level and make plans. That system is

call as core business system.

Planning methods of PLC.

Either PLC using the normal process of planning, they use very identical processes as well. In methods of

PLC planning process they have two day get to gather of all levels of management to discuss about

annual plans of PLC. That is call as annual brain storming session. In that meeting they give chance to all

managers and assistant managers to give their ideas directly to top level management. Not only has that

but also lower level management get chance to review bad decisions and faults that have been done by

any department. Annual recovery officers meeting and annual marketing officers meeting are same as

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brain storm session but recovery officers and marketing officers are involved accordingly without middle

and low level management. Those three meetings happens periodic time of four months. That means

every four months top level management meets ground level / operational level responsible employees of

PLC to discuss the plans as well as to have a review plans that already implemented. These three

occasions have reduced the filtering of ideas. PLC has another identical method of planning. That is

online visual discussion with each and every manager before implementing executive committee

decisions. That means before top level management decision implement to the company, they discuss

with every manager through web camera to get clear idea of middle and top level managers about the

decision. That give a chance to see the real facial expressions of the about the indecision than the vocal

desire. The next method they use is monthly branch wise meeting. That is the method they use to make

operational level plans most of the time. They know the business types are various according to the area

of the branch. Then they could have good plans to the branch wisely.

Vision and mission of PLC .

The plans of PLC start from the vision statement of them. That means the main target or achievement

PLC is trying to achieve in next few years. According to the PLC the vision is “To provide dedicated

value added customer service to accomplish organizational service excellence whilst maintaining a

sustainable competitive advantage”. For achieve this vision they make mission by answering what is our

business? Who are our customers? And what is our value to them? The mission of PLC is “To become

legendary in the financial service scene as a provider of customer-friendly, creative and innovative total

solutions”. In this mission statement we can clearly identify three things as customer friendly, creative

and innovative total solutions. That means PLC is paying more attention to be customer friendly. They

know how important that is. They practice their employees for that, document management system with

paperless office environment , Introducing successful business plans for their customers and many other

things has done by PLC to be customer friendly. Then the creativeness of PLC has play major part of the

company. It starts from the planning process like things brain storm session and others. Then the core

business system, MIS, DSS and BI of IT system make PLC more creative. The next main phrase is

innovative total solutions. The PLC tries to fulfill each and every need of the customer in their business

area. They start their business as a leasing and hire purchasing company. After that the starts subsidiary

companies as Loans, Insurance, Islamic Finance, Micro Finance, Investments, Fleet Management and

Property development. Then 2012 they got the finance license also. That means they do their best to be

innovative to give total solutions to the customers.

SWOT analysis of planning process of PLC .

After PLC make their vision and mission they need to make strategy goal and plans. Then strategy plans

converted into tactical goal and plans. Then they make operational goal and plans. For all of that they

have to consider external and internal environments. Then the opportunities and threats from the external

environment, strength and weaknesses of internal environment are considered.

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Strengths of PLC.

Plc has much strength to make good plans in their company. Extended branch network over the

country is one of them. Currently PLC has 55 branches and 127 window offices that are located at PB

branches throughout the country. PLC has set up its branches in all the main cities. The picture shows

how PLC has accessed to both urban and rural community. Other one is Subsidiary of People’s

Bank .People’s Bank, the 2nd largest commercial bank in Sri Lanka possess 95.33% stake of PLC (Post

IPO 72%) and being a subsidiary of People’s Bank, PLC is inherited lot of competitive advantages in

terms of access to rural folk, Corporate advisory, Management Services, Company Image etc, which are

not inherent to the company’s competitors. PLC accounts for over 20% market share in

disbursements with a wide spread business network. Leasing & Hire Purchasing is the core business

of PLC and PLC pioneered leasing & Hire purchases for buses in Sri Lanka and continues to be the

market leader. Cost leadership through window offices is a major strength that plc has got.127 Window

offices provide the competitive advantage to PLC in terms of cost reduction. Average monthly cost for

maintaining a branch is LKR 90,000 and for a window office it is only LKR 45,000. Further to this, the

initial set-up cost is low. This is a rare strength that other competitors do not possess. The cost saving will

be improved further with the expected increases of window offices. The lowest Cost-to-Income ratio is a

direct result of maintaining the Window office at lowest operational cost.

Opportunities of PLC.

Opportunities that PLC has considered in planning process are followings. Increasing per capital

income has improved the standard of living of the population is one of them. In 2010, Sri Lanka reported

a per capita income of USD 2,399 and is expected to increase to USD 4,000 in 2016. This will facilitate

to increase the credit demand within the private sector and will result in an increased demand for leasing

and hire purchases. The ratio of private sector credit to the GDP of the economy is low compared to other

Asian countries, reflecting a potential growth for credit demand in the future. Other one is the Brand

image.PLC is a subsidiary of People’s Bank who owns 85.1% of the company. PLC inherited some of

the success through People’s Bank. The company achieved many milestones and has received many

awards for its contribution to the business world. Next opportunity that PLC has is Mega economic

development projects in the country. With the implementation of Mega economic development

projects particularly, with the construction projects it would lead to increase in demand for heavy

vehicles for these projects. In addition, development on roads will lead to increase in demand for the

Buses, Lorries and other dual purpose vehicles. Last one is Potential growths on Micro finance and

Islamic finance segments. These two sectors are newly emerged niche markets and are at an early

growth stage. It is expected that Rs.102Bn will be required to fulfill the finance requirements of micro

finance segment during 2010-2016 period under the “Mahinda Chinthana” Vision. PLC will be a

beneficiary of this as to its island wide presence. As to the Islamic Finance segment, continuous

developments are taking place to introducing more Islamic Finance products.

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Threats of PLC.

There are some Threats plc has considered in planning process. Intensified competition in all the

operating sectors is one of them. PLC’s main operations are Leasing & Hire Purchases, Micro Finance,

and Islamic Finance and insurance. These segments are highly competitive industries. Highly regulated

business environment is another one. The Sri Lankan financial market is a highly regulated, and

legislations are amended or new regulations are introduced regularly by the regulatory bodies. The most

recent directive was that there should be a minimum liquid asset requirement and the maintenance of a

minimum capital adequacy ratio for Specialized Leasing Companies (SLC), based on this directive; SLCs

have to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 10% and a minimum core capital ratio of 5% from

01st Jan 2012 onwards. This could lead to a reduction in funds that could be disbursed by PLC. This

will further increase the confidence amongst the public in regard to financial institutions. Next threat is

Increase in interest rates. The economy is exhibiting overheating signs this has resulted in inflationary

pressures. This could lead to an increase in interest rates to battle the rising inflation. Further evidence to

this due to, Bank deposit rates, Treasury bill rates and Prime lending rates continuously increasing. These

increased rates will decrease the demand for the credit in terms of Hire purchase and Leases.

Weaknesses of PLC.

Weaknesses that PLC considered in planning process are Lack of product mix. PLC revenue stream

depends mainly on eight business segments. Diversification will facilitate to mitigate business risk and

enhance the corporate image. When we considered existing internal disputes over share Issue the

printed media highlight the unresolved issue between senior management and the trade union of the

Peoples Bank group regarding the IPO. Though this is at an infant stage, it is the responsibility of the

senior management to intervene in due course and resolve the issue in a satisfactory manner.

Strategy goal and plans .

After considering SWOT analysis then PLC makes the path to achieve their mission. They have main

strategy goal of be the premier leasing and finance company of Sri Lanka. For that they Promote

employees and train them by human recourse department to achieve their goals. Build and maintaining

good relationship with customers by marketing department to make new businesses as well as recovery

process well. By that process PLC increase their revenues in existing market. The process is belongs to

finance department of PLC. By developing a strategy map to align goals of PLC they finally accomplish

their mission.

When we consider strategy plans of PLC, they plan to facilitate a high level of integrity and

professionalism, and enhance productivity to maximize profitability. Then customer can easily meet the

officer according to his needs one who very professional. Use young fresh blood in their company as

much as possible is another plan. PLC wants to be creative in the business, and then they plan using the

young employees are the best way for that. 90% of last three years recruitments of employees are under

30 years age. Being innovative by having many new subsidiary companies they try to be complete

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Financial Services Provider for customers. Promoting the People’s leasing group image is also a strategy

plan of PLC. PLC use as philosophy to make environment that employee motivates grow with them and

develop individual goals. Expansion of the branch network by connecting to the Mother Company and

excellence in Customer Service are main strategy plans of PLC.

Tactical goal and plans.

After the strategy goal and plans, then comes tactical goal and plans. PLC has many tactical goals. But

main goal is increasing the customer base associated services also will be expanded. For that and also

other goals they have few tactical plans. First one is giving the targets to branches type wisely to

branches. That means they have branches type like A grade target with 50Mn, B grade target with 40Mn,

C grade target with 30Mn, mini branches target with 20Mn and window office target with 10Mn. They

select main business type according to the area. Some areas are good for micro finance, some areas for

Islamic finance and some for property development. According to that they do the marketing. Give more

responsibility to ground level managers, Evaluating the branches process and Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) projects are also tactical plans of PLC.

Operational goal and plans.

All the high level plans finally implement on ground level. Then the operational goals and plans come to

the process. Main operational goal of PLC is achieving the monthly targets all island wide branches and

maintain a good customer relationship. To achieve that goal they have operational plans. Customer

relationship management is main operational plan. They don’t use brokers for businesses. Customer

relationship businesses are the favor system they use. Achieve the monthly target of the branch (financial

budget) as every company. Human recourse practice is another operational plan they use to have best

professionalized employees in correct area. Provide a courteous, efficient and speedy service to

customers is also a operational plan of PLC as every company. Human recourse demand forecasting is

very good operational plan of PLC. In any case of free space of employee they have another one to

replace that immediately. Meet the requirement of each and every customer is also main operational plan

of PLC. That means if any branch won’t provide facility that is in the company but not in the branch, then

connect the customer to a branch which is providing that facility customer wants. Winning the award of

best branch is also one operational plan of PLC.

Special thanks to Mr. M.G.G. Hemakumara, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Human Resource Advancement,

University of Colombo, Mr. Saman Liyanage chief manager of PLC, Mr. Nandana Withana chief

manager administration and logistic of PLC and Mr. Dulip Gamage branch manager Ja-Ela of PLC.

References -Annual reports of PLC 2010/2011, 2011/2012, 2012/2013, sustainability report of plc 2012,

New Ear of Management and IPO reports of PLC by SCR and APS companies.

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