This book is totally focussed on what is the Tata brand all about? What are its values? How do people look at it, in India and across the world? There are certain facts which answer the questions regarding to the value system that is followed by the TATA’s.
It is basically a 140-year-old group for which it is specially recognized. All the Indians have trust in the brand and believe in the brand’s product. And when I mentioned product it is not just confined to it but it also refers to whole group consisting of the TISCO, TAJ hotels, Automobile, Telecom, IT industries etc. Irrespective to the sector it is in, the value system always remains same believing the BEST. Hence the biggest strength of the TATA group is considered to be the value system. It is also observed that the mission of the company is not just making money but taking social responsibility as well. Starting as a small group in India, now the company has become one of the biggest business groups in India drawing 65 per cent of its revenue from outside the country. The author mentions a statement which helps us to identify the value system of the group by saying that “The deep-rooted values have not only become the pride of the company but the entire nation which was reflected during the Mumbai attacks”. Explaining this context at the time of the Mumbai attack at the TAJ hotel when the terrorists were attacking the visitors/tourists inside the hotel, the staff of TAJ sacrificed their life’s to protect their value system by providing the best hospitality to the maximum and even extended it to the cost of their life.
Now, looking at the Tata as a business group and as a brand in itself. Being old, it has a long, well defined and well-articulated history. It has multiple numbers of brands as they make and service anything from “Salt to Steel”. They have dealt with various decades in India, the British Raj, the young democratic setup, license Raj, Nationalization and finally the liberalization and globalization. Not many industrial groups possess this ability in such a wide way. On an overview we can look at the variety of industries, from hard-core engineering (TISCO) to multi format retail to services as wide as hospitality to information technology (TCS). They have businesses that carry Tata names clearly. But some might be looked in to so clearly and some not at all. They all are owned and cross-owned businesses with Tata sons being the parent or umbrella company which in turn is owned by a series a trusts as mentioned above.
In this book the author starts off giving the brief history of Tata group and its founders. He talks about the reputation of Tata and brand image of “Tata”. The Reputation which has been built over a century in running the business successfully across the country was mentioned clearly over last few decades. Brand itself is not a single brand but consists of many sub brands, at least one for each segment of business they are into. A study of the co-existence and inter-relations between these brands are visible from the author’s perspective. He has also looked at perceptions about the group and the family.
The author "Morgen Witzel" gets involved himself when he visited TISCO and then he starts mentioning about the multiple connections through various segments among the people belonging to various brands within the Tata group. Let me borrow couple of lines for my review where it is mentioned that “The reputation he says is based on the long association of Tata’s with the society through their social work and investing in educational and research institutes.” This clearly explains the whole value of the TATA’s. The best example to prove this fact is the tribal in Jharkhand where TATA steel is located. That is why the author looks at the brand from different perspectives based on his assumptions on various stakeholders like consumers, employees, financial community, media, society and even the politicians.
Comparatively since last few years they have added the new dimension of Innovation to this brand through products like Tata Nano and by entering into new age segments like IT and Telecom. The launch of Nano could not excite the high class family in the country but could definitely grab the attention of the low & middle class families. Irrespective of the success or failure of the brand, the launch of NANO created a huge impact in the automobile industry in the world. One key aspect he has looked at is the Brand Tata in India and outside India. This is extremely important as the Tata group goes global in a more visible way. He very broadly looks at the key markets outside India where Tata are expanding their vicinity levels and how they are perceived there.
Hence all I can mention is that this book is easy to understand and will definitely help an individual in understanding the value of a brand and the image that is carried out among the people in and around the country. To understand industrialization in INDIA since past decades this book will definitely add a new edge of learning and maintaining the brand value over years.
No comments:
Post a Comment