Tata

Morgen Witzel

Description

A series of high-profile acquisitions, including Jaguar Land Rover and Corus Steel, together with the launch of the Nano (the world's first Rs. 1 Lakh/ below US$ 2500 car), is set to change our perception of India': on the threshold of becoming a truly global brand.*s oldest and most respected corporate brand. With a major international presence, in a variety of areas including steel, tea, chemicals, communications and software, Tata now stands 65th in the world brand valuation league. But what is the Tata brand all about? What are its values? How do people perceive it, in India and around the world? In this absorbing and informed book Morgen Witzel digs into the heart of the Tata enterprise, describes its origins, how Tata's reputation and image evolved, and how the group has worked to transform that image into a powerful and valuable brand. Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand goes to the core of the Tata ethos to explore the unique relationship between the Tata group and the Indian people, a relationship that goes beyond the achievements of a successful business to its social contributions for its employees and the society at large. Finally it asks how that reputation will be perceived and understood as Tata moves into global markets. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or an interested Tata loyalist this book will help you understand the durability of the brand and inspire you with the values it holds onto in the global economy.

Sujets

• Histoire
• India

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 03 août 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• EAN13: 9788184753912
• Langue: English

Extrait

MORGEN WITZEL
TATA
THE EVOLUTION OF A CORPORATE BRAND
Foreword by RAM CHARAN
Contents
Dedication
FOREWORD by Ram Charan
PREFACE
1. FROM VALUES TO VALUE
2. THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW
3. A TRUST FOR THE PEOPLE
4. CHANGING THE FACE OF TATA
5. BRAND SYMBIOSIS
6. TATA AND ITS CUSTOMERS
7. TATA S PEOPLE: THE EMPLOYER BRAND
8. THE TATA FINANCIAL BRAND
9. WE DON T DO PHILANTHROPY
10. NOT JUST A BRAND STORY
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX: LIST OF TATA COMPANIES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
COPYRIGHT PAGE
This book is respectfully dedicated to Mr R.M. Lala, historian of the Tata group, who has done so much to keep the history and values of the group alive. We who write about Tata today follow in his footsteps.
Foreword
Tata is special among all multinational corporations in the world. Its mission is more than just economic; it is both societal and economic.
Tata is over 140 years old, with twenty-eight publicly listed companies, operations in over eighty countries and exporting products and services to over eighty-five countries. From small beginnings in India, Tata now has a major international reach with 65 per cent of the group s revenues drawn from outside India. Latest figures show revenues of $70.8 billion in the financial year ending 31 March 2009. But Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand is not just a story of a successful financial powerhouse. This is the story of the values of Tata: about what lies beneath the day-to-day activities, its DNA and how it underscores its economic success while fulfilling its societal mission.
Understanding the positioning of the Tata brand and its values highlights four key elements of note. First, right from its early beginnings, it was clear that the mission and the working of the various companies within the Tata group is societal. From all the companies in the world I have known Tata is unique in this perspective.
Other large companies founded by entrepreneurs and achieving a high economic wealth did this with their focus on economic wealth generation first, deciding subsequently that they must give something back to society. The founders in those companies often created philanthropic organizations to carry out a chosen single social cause.
In the western world we have examples of industrialists and entrepreneurs like John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Each converted a huge fortune from his businesses and then launched charitable foundations in their names, identifying specific social causes which they could support through their foundations. This act has earned them accolades around the world and they have become icons in America and elsewhere. Companies must however realize that a societal mission is broader than a philanthropic organization with a social cause.
What makes Tata different is that its societal work is a key part of its total mission. Tata organizations will identify the societal needs of the region wherever the company operates. They identify what rests underneath the society each individual company operates within and how it can create hope and value in the society as well as create economic value for its shareholders and for its other constituencies, employees, partners and the like.
Tata, as a well-established, international organization, also continues to focus on those areas by which most global corporations will be judged. When we explore the Tata mission and focus on the actual workings inside the company we see that while their purpose is truly societal, this purpose is instrumental to serve the economic aspects of the organization as well. This is the differentiating part of Tata. In most western countries the larger part of an organization is to create economic progress, working on the basis that the business of business is business . This is too narrow and western companies need to come to terms with the idea that societal work is a part of their total mission.
Second, these western world icons did not create successors who would continue to ensure their companies would carry out their newly defined social purpose. In the Tata group, in comparison, all their economic enterprises have in their DNA succession planning that would continue to ensure a societal purpose in addition to the pursuit of generating economic wealth.
Third, the global trajectory of economic and societal growth is clearly shifting towards the not-haves of the past. The Tata societal purpose powered by its economic success is going to be the model of the future.
The western world must come to terms with the fact that local society can develop local talent. An example of how Tata demonstrated their commitment to this idea can be found in a rather remote south Indian city of Hosur in Tamil Nadu. Here, in 1987, the Tata group formed a joint venture with the government of the region and opened the first factory of the watchmaker Titan.
An immediate decision had to be made in terms of where the personnel for the factory would be sourced. One choice was to hire professional engineers from the city of Bangalore to staff the factory. This went against the grain of all that Tata stood for. Despite the area around Hosur being very poor, agriculture almost the only industry and no skilled labour available locally, the company knew that this area and its people were their responsibility. Despite the poverty, the local primary education system was sound and was producing plenty of well-educated boys and girls. These were the new recruits to be turned into world-class horologists.
Four hundred young people were recruited and brought to Hosur. Titan immediately provided the support necessary. Many had never seen a city before or lived in anything but a simple hut. Accommodation was built and foster parents lived with the young people teaching them the life skills necessary for living in a city. Titan also provided sports and cultural activities, and the facilities to help its workers study for degrees and even take postgraduate courses after hours.
At the factory, trainers and engineers taught the young workers how to use precision machinery.
Titan is now a highly successful enterprise employing thousands of people in Tamil Nadu-it has three factories in Hosur alone, with nearly all the workers coming from the surrounding villages. It provides employment indirectly to thousands more in firms making watch straps, casings and other components. In 2001, Titan was voted India s most admired brand and proved it was a truly societal organization.
Finally, the Tata group has resolved once for all, through its financial and market performance, that having a societal purpose does not in any way reduce its intensity to compete and win. In fact, it is the other way round. It is clear that Tatas not only achieve and remain at the top level within their chosen markets but they also excel in building the long-term value for all constituencies, including their shareholders. At the same time they develop and export socially responsible, highly competent managers and leaders to other companies in India and abroad.
All these ideas are embedded in the five-letter word called TRUST. Many companies talk about this idea but don t practise it. Trust is in the DNA of all those who work in Tata. It is a behavioural trait; it is a differentiator; it is the standard for all corporations of the future. And it is Tata.
In my professional work in America and Europe many CEOs ask me for the names of Indian CEOs they could recruit for American and European boards. Mr Ratan Tata s name always comes first. He is described as humble, modest, thoughtful, with an experience that is hard to match in western societies. This is what future leaders need to aspire to.
Morgen Witzel has completed painstaking and comprehensive research and is able to demonstrate through his observations that the societal purpose of Tata is reflected in the Tata brand and it is not just a PR stunt but it is real. It is inspiring, it is factual, and I think the story is a challenge to other organizations.
This is the story in the book.
May 2010
Ram Charan
Preface
The purpose of this book is to describe the Tata corporate brand: what it is, how it has evolved, how it functions, what the perceptions of others might be. I think anyone with an interest in corporate branding will find this case study of some use. Large-scale profiles of corporate brands are fairly rare, and scholars, brand marketers and others may well find comparative material here that will help them in their own work. Seeing what the Tata group has done-or has not done-could help answer a few more general questions about what corporate brands are and how they work.
The Tata group is in the midst of great changes as it expands and grows internationally.
I also hope that this book will be useful to anyone interested in the Tata group. There have been many excellent histories of the Tata group and the Tata family, but the group is in the midst of great changes as it expands and grows internationally. Especially outside of India, where detailed knowledge about the Tata group is still limited to a fairly small number of people, this book might help explain Tata s values and purpose.
Given Tata s growing size and international reach-in 2009, 65 per cent of the group s revenues were drawn from outside India-it seems only natural that people both within India and outside would want to know more about the group, its brand and what that brand stands for. But here another caveat is in order. To show what the brand is and how it is perceived, I have also delved into some of the Tata group companies and their brands. As the book shows, it is impossible to understand the Tata corporate brand without understanding the symbiotic relationship that brand has with the various Tata company brands and product/service brands. Nevertheless, this book should not be taken as a complete profile of the Tata group. Many