Business Analysis
"The situation is grave, very grave." Ishaat Hussain, group finance director and CFO of Tata Steel in the 1990s, remembers telling union leaders in Jamshedpur. The year was 1993, a difficult one for the Tata Group. Free market winds were forcing flagship Tata Steel to trim its employee base. Eventually, over a span of 13 years, more than 20,000 workers were retrenched from the company's Jamshedpur plant. Although the smooth process of de-linking so many workers without creating tensions in a small town like Jamshedpur has been rated highly by management experts, Hussain remembers feeling nervous.
"How did we do it?" he asks, and answers, "By being sensitive and honest. I made a presentation to the unions to show them what the financial position of the company really was and why we needed to retrench all those workers."
Tata Steel spent₹800 crore to ensure that their former workers got a fair deal. Several analysts and consultants were dismayed to think of the strain these payouts would put on the company's financials. "However, it was not a completely altruistic decision. We were also being practical businessmen," says Hussain, who has been with the group for nearly three decades. He is keen to point out the fine balance the Group maintains as it protects stakeholders' interests while adhering to the Tata value system. "I hate typecasting people, but there is one thing known to all Tata people — that the means are as important as the end," says Hussain.
It's not difficult to see why there are two Tata enterprises in the Top 10 BW-IMRB Most Respected Companies list this year — Tata Steel and Tata Motors. The Tata Group has earned respect of the kind that is difficult to emulate. India and Indians look up to the House of Tatas for its particular brand of compassionate capitalism. LEADERSHIP WITH TRUST
A. Sen, 32, who has been working with a private company in Mumbai for the last five years, agrees, "In Mumbai, Tatas are seen as a huge conglomerate, but in Kolkata, they stand for social welfare: whether in the beautifully planned city of Jamshedpur, in the academic institutions they support, or the Tata Memorial Hospital that treats the poorest of the poor. In the east, we think that the Tatas are genuine people; they don't cheat unlike many other industrialists of stature."
India has long benefited from the Tatas' generosity in institution building - whether it is nuclear research (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), cancer treatment and research (Tata Memorial Hospital) in Mumbai and, now, Kolkata too, or social studies (Tata Institute of Social Sciences).
The Tata family's considerable contribution to science and education began in 1896, even before Tata Steel was a reality, when Jamsetji Tata offered half his fortune — a princely 14 buildings and four pieces of land worth ₹30 lakh to the British government to set up a University of Science. It was only in 1904, a year after Jamsetji's death, that the government agreed to set up the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore with the authorities' funds equalling that of Jamsetji's.
Ratan Tata, the Tata Group's current chairman, continued to honour the tradition of investing in the community. It was under his stewardship that, in 2006, the group decided to build a cancer hospital in Kolkata. After Tata Steel acquired Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus to become the sixth largest steelmaker in the world, it quickly drafted plans to engage with people in distress areas like Port Talbot in South Wales, where Corus operates. As Hussain says: "Neither do we displace the management where we go (as with Corus), nor do we disrupt the communities we go into. People have heard of us. Hopefully, through our work, we will demonstrate to them our leadership with trust' philosophy of operating in the businesses that we are in."
100 YEARS OF SOLIDARITY
"When compared to many of its peers, over the past hundred years, the Tata Group has proved that you can be socially responsible and still make money," says BCG India chairman Arun Maira, who was formerly an executive director at Telco. It is a philosophy that has served the Tata Group well. The Group's revenues and market capitalisation have risen by 275 per cent and 700 per cent respectively in the last 10 years.
"We don't have stock options; we get paid good salaries Hussain says. "Mr Ratan Tata is not on any millionaires' list, leave alone any billionaires' list. I must say the fact that I come here and spend the better part of my waking life knowing that a substantial part of my effort goes back to charities is a huge motivating factor."
While 66 per cent of Tata Sons is owned by charitable trusts set up by the Group's founders, philanthropy is not the only reason the Tatas are seen as the most respected business group in the country. For investors like Janak Mathuradas, 54, a resident of Kalbadevi, Mumbai, who has 50 per cent of his portfolio in Tata Group stocks, the Tatas mean more than just hefty dividends. His family has held on to Tata Group shares, like Tata Steel, Tata Power, Tata Motors and TCS, for the last four generations. "In the old days, Tata Group shares were known as 'widow shares', as they offered returns you could quite conceivably live off. Tata companies have a clean management, they offer handsome shareholder returns, and almost all of them are market leaders. We have not sold our shares. Instead we have re-Invested the dividend income. I feel emotionally close to the Group."
For young management graduates, being wooed by global and Indian companies, the Tata Group stands for freedom to pursue one's dreams. "Not all young graduates from business schools look for the same thing," says Saballeel Nandi, 31, a senior manager in the Tata Group's executive office. "However, they all do look for a place where you have the freedom to follow your dreams, where you are held accountable but also given the flexibility to make mistakes, and where you can escape the monotony of a daily job through a change in roles and portfolios. The Tata Group offers you all that. I joined Tata Motors in 2001 and was given the flexibility to move from IT to marketing to sales. Two years ago, I joined the Group executive office. Besides, whether it is at a conference or when you interact with outsiders, your visiting card gets you respect respect not for the group's market capitalization or size, but for its legacy."
SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER
Some of that respect also comes from the Tata Group's ability to establish leadership positions across sectors as diverse as automobiles, chemicals, consumer products, telecommunications and information technology, which has come about especially after 1991. The House of Tatas has 96 operating companies, of which 28 were listed with a market capitalisation of roughly 2,91,100 crore last week. The Group's profits of ₹11,380 crore arise out of operations in India and 80 countries worldwide. Excluding Corus' staffers, the Tata Group has about 270,000 employees. "The Tata Group has turned on its head the management theory that conglomerates are messy creatures that don't make money or create value for their investors," says Maira, - The man on the street agrees. "The Tata group won't sink because of its deep pockets. It gives good dividends and treats its employees well. I also like the fact that the group has products and services for the middle class," says Basant D., 45, a daily commuter from Kalyan to mid-town Mumbai and an avid dabbler in stocks.
Having attained the leadership position in domestic markets, the Tata Group is now setting its sights on the global market. It is always raising the bar, always setting new benchmarks, whether it is by buying a company the size of Corus or by promising a Rs 1 lakh car that has caught the imagination of carmakers and buyers worldwide. Several of the Tata Group companies are among the biggest in their category worldwide. Tata Tea is the world's second largest company in the branded tea segment (after the Tetley buyout in 2000). Tata Chemicals is the sixth largest manufacture of soda ash globally. Tata Motors is one of the top five manufacturers of vehicles in the world. Tata Steel is now the sixth largest steelmaker. In the next five years, the Group plans to invest ₹1,02,500 crore. in sectors such as automobiles, power, hotels, steel and telecom.
A gentle giant that has made every effort to win goodwill. the Tata Group is not without its share of challenges. The Group has its hands full with the ongoing integration of workforce, operations and values in its global buy-outs. In India, the Group is facing a debilitating backlash from protesting farmers at Singur, the venue from where the first ₹1-lakh car will be rolled out. Environment groups such as Greenpeace have mounted a campaign against the destruction of a turtle habitat a proposed Tata project in Orissa is likely to cause. The ₹1 lakh car has raised concerns of negative ecological impact. To remain India's most respected group, the Tatas must continue to create value for both shareholders and communities. It's a fine line to walk. Respect is never easily earned - or kept - but nobody knows the game better than the House of Tatas.
DIRECTIONS: The questions that follow relate to the preceding passage. Evaluate, in terms of the passage, each of the items given. Then select your answer from one of the following classifications.
A) A MAJOR OBJECTIVE in making the decision: one of the goals sought by the decision maker.
B) A MAJOR FACTOR in making the decision: an aspect of the problem, specifically mentioned in the passage, that fundamentally affects and/or determines the decision.
C) A MINOR FACTOR in making the decision: a less important element bearing on or affecting a Major Factor, rather than a Major Objective directly.
D) A MAJOR ASSUMPTION in making the decision: a projection or supposition arrived at by the decision maker before considering the factors and alternatives.
E) AN UNIMPORTANT ISSUE in making the decision: an item lacking significant impact on, or relationship to, the decision.
21. Retrenchment of 20,000 workers by Jamshedpur Plant of Tata Steel and the group's further success.