Here's why it's a big deal. Eli Goldratt--who through the character Jonahhelps Alex Rogo, harried plant manager, save his plant from extinction inThe Goal in just three months -- has now promised to raise India's GDP byone per cent in the next three years, by implementing the `Theory OfConstraint' in 1,200 Indian companies. The raise in GDP will be over andabove the government's budget.

The breakthrough came in May '99, when once again, the tetchy managementguru dismissed yet another CII invite saying he is not free till Spring 2000and anyway, why was the CII so insistent? His interest was piqued when theCII representative--Sarita Nagpal, senior counsellor, TQM Division--wroteback: `I want you to help change my country'.

On September 9, 1999, when the CII had just about given up hope, Goldrattsuddenly called from Israel: he would be willing to consider visiting India,if his conditions would be met. And he would only disclose thosepreconditions after a meeting with a CII representative--in Amsterdam. OnSeptember 28, Nagpal KLM-ed to Amsterdam for a 12-hour visit -- eightmarathon hours of which were spent being grilled by Goldratt at hisresidence.

Goldratt was not intimidating--picture him in comfy fur mules in a room litby a blazing mountain of candles, Beethovan in the background--but hisinterrogation was. Says Nagpal: ``After answering scores of questions on howthings work in India, he finally had me stumped with two questions. One:What percentage of GDP has gone up by the quality movement in India? Two:what percentage of the population did it impact?''

In the archetype Socratic fashion that he favours, Goldratt was only doingwhat he does best: use questions to encourage you to focus on your truegoal. For Indian business he had quickly sifted through the chaff anddefined the goal. ``Cost is not a constraint in India. As cost is not anissue, productivity is not an issue. What Indian business therefore needs todo is forget about minimising cost and instead maximise throughput, orsales. To such an extent that by the end of three years, India's GDP risesby one per cent. Minimum.''

Then he added derisively: ``If you can't do that, don't call yourself achange agent.'' For, according to Goldratt, unless the ``throughput''increases--and not by skips and hops, but leaps and bounds--quickly, it ain'tworth doing. Here, ``throughput'' is defined as the rate at which the systemgenerates money through sales (pay heed: not production, not quality, nottechnology, not people, only sales).

But then, in the Goldratt dictionary, there are new definitions foreverything--and they all include the word `money'. ``Inventory'' is all themoney the system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to sell.``Operational expense'' is the money the system spends in order to turninventory into throughput. Which makes ``the goal'' of a manufacturingcompany quite simple: to maximise throughput while simultaneously reducingboth inventory and operating expense.

If that clashes with what your B-school taught you, don't worry--it's not fornothing that Eli Goldratt won the reputation of being a slaughterer ofsacred cows. Here's one, for sample: ``Cost accounting is enemy number oneof productivity''. Here's another: ``It's a myth that the marketplace,suppliers, customers, the labour union or cashflows are constraints. Youjust have to know how to identify the constraint and leverage itinternally.''

Right now, the CII is scrambling to leverage Goldratt to best advantage.While the 1999 Quality Summit will showcase Goldratt and get him to sharehis Theory Of Constraints with 200 Indian CEOs--it's just the first step.Soon after, a cluster of 10 companies will be initiated into the Theory ofConstraint to create Indian success stories in twelve months.

In the first year too, 100 other companies (impacting 2,500 persons) are tobe covered by Goldratt's theory, followed by 350 companies in the secondyear and 850 companies in the third year. By working with more than 1,000companies over the next three years and covering sectors like engineeringand textiles and services like banks, insurance, hotels and airlines -- theGoldratt vision sees India hurtling to a one per cent increase in GDP, onthe back of a quality movement.

Sounds breathtaking? It's the Goldratt way: he helped the electronicdivision of Ford Motor Company bring down cycle time from 16 days to 1.General Motors stopped losing market share and surprised Wall Street withthe quickest car deliveries across America. Avery Dennison increased marketshare by 20 per cent. Increased capacity helped Texas Instruments deferinvestments of $600 million. Bethlehem Steel increased profits in 1998-99,the worst-ever year for steel. For a Jonah, Goldratt seems to bring onlygood luck.