Ratan Naval Tata is the present Chairman of the Tata Group, India's one of the largest conglomerate founded by Jamsedji Nawsherwanji Tata and consolidated and expanded by later generations of his family.
Ratan Tata was born as the first child of Soonoo & Naval Hormusji Tata in December 28, 1937, in Surat into the famous Tata family of Mumbai. His childhood was troubled, his parents separating in the mid-1940s, when he was about seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five. His mother moved out and both Ratan and his brother Jimmy were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai.
Education:
Ratan Tata completed his Bsc degree in architecture with structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962, and the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1975.
Personal:
Nothing is more personal about Ratan Tata, a shy man, rarely features in the society glossies, has lived for years in a book-crammed, dog-filled bachelor flat in Mumbai's Colaba district.
Ratan Tata has his own capital in Tata Sons the prime holding company of the Tata Son’s group. Though his share is just about 1%, but his personal holding is valued more than US$ 1 Billion.About 66 percent of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest two of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the families of the sons of Jamshedji Tata. Since this shareholding belonged to Ratan's ancestors and these trusts were created by them, Ratan N. Tata has an effective right over them.If all the value of this is added his Net Worth is estimated at above US$ 50 Billion, making Ratan N. Tata one of the richest people in the world. In 1971
Career:
He formally joined the Tata Group in December 1962, after turning down a job offer with IBM on the advice of JRD Tata. He was first sent to Jamshedpur plant of Tata to work at Tata Steel. He worked on the floor along with other blue-collar employees (workers) shoveling limestone and handling the blast furnaces which is the toughest physical work in the plant.
After some time he appointed the Director-in-Charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco), a company that was under the financial difficulty. Ratan advovated that the company should invest in developing high-technology products, rather than in consumer electronics. However J.R.D.Tata was reluctant to do so because of the historical financial performance of Nelco which had never even paid regular dividends. Further, Nelco had 2% market share in the consumer electronics market and a loss margin of 40% of sales when Ratan took over.
From 1972 to 1975, Nelco eventually surge to have a market share of 20%, and recovered its losses. In 1975 however, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, which led to an economic recession. This was followed by labor union problems in 1977, so even after demand improved, production did not keep up growing. Finally, the Tatas confronted the unions and, following a strike, a lockout was imposed for seven months. Ratan continued to believe in the fundamental soundness of Nelco, but the venture did not survive.
In 1977, Ratan was entrusted with Empress Mills, a textile mill controlled by the Tatas. When he took charge of the company, it was one of the few sick units in the Tata group. Ratan Tata managed to turn it around and finally it declared a dividend. However, competition from less labor-intensive enterprises had made a number of companies unviable, including those like the Empress which had large labor contingents and had spent too little on modernization. On Ratan's insistence, some investment was made, but it did not suffice. As the market for coarse and medium cotton cloth (which was all that the Empress produced) turned adverse, the Empress began to accumulate heavier losses. Bombay House, the Tata headquarters, was unwilling to divert funds from other group companies into an undertaking which would need to be nursed for a long time. So, some Tata directors, chiefly Nani Palkhivala, took the line that the Tatas should liquidate the mill, which was finally closed down in 1986. Ratan was severely disappointed with the decision, and in a later interview with the Hindustan Times would claim that the Empress had needed just Rs 50 lakh to turn it around.
In 1981, he was named director of Tata Industries; the Group's other holding company, where he became responsible for transforming it into the Group's strategy think-tank and a promoter of new ventures in high-technology businesses.
In 1991, he took over as group chairman from J.R.D. Tata, pushing out the old guard and ushering in younger managers. Since then, he has been instrumental in reshaping the fortunes of the Tata Group, which today has the largest market capitalization of any business house on the Indian Stock Market.
Under the Ratan Tata guidance, Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) went public and Tata Motors was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Tata Motors introduced his brainchild, the Tata Indica
On January 31, 2007, under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata, Tata Sons successfully acquired Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch steel and aluminum producer. With the acquisition, Ratan Tata became a celebrated personality in Indian corporate business culture. The merger created the fifth largest steel producing entity in the world.
On March 26, 2008, Tata Motors, under Ratan Tata, bought Jaguar & Land Rover from Ford Motor Company. The two iconic British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, were acquired for £1.15 billion ($2.3 billion)
Ratan Tata's dream was to manufacture a car costing Rs 100,000 (2010: approx. US$2,500). He realized his dream by launching the car in New Delhi Auto Expo on January 10, 2008 and finally started booking for customer in april 2009.Three models of the Tata Nano were announced, and Ratan Tata delivered on his commitment to developing a car costing only 1 lakh rupees, adding that "a promise is a promise," referring to his earlier promise to deliver this car at the said cost. Recently when his plant for Nano production was obstructed by Mamta Banerjee, his decision of going out of West Bengal was warmly welcomed.
On October 7, 2008, After a controversial stay in West Bengal, Ratan Tata and his men shifted their Rs 1-lakh car Nano project to Sanand near Ahmadabad at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), declaring that efforts will be made to roll out the world's cheapest car from a make-shift plant to meet the deadline. Praising Modi for speedy allocation of about 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) of centrally located land, Ratan Tata said that the company had a great deal of urgency in having a new location and was driven by the reputation of the state. He successfully made a secret deal with Narendra Modi who agreed to give him a soft loan to the tune of approximately $10 billion to make the car in Gujrat.
Strengthening an inheritance
Ratan Tata quietly but firmly began to assert the group's authority on the individual companies. He strengthened the unified brand image of the group. A major restructuring effort was undertaken, excess baggage was dropped and businesses were rationalized and consolidated. The effort ended with a leaner portfolio of 93 companies, focused on seven identified industry sectors – engineering, materials, energy, chemicals, services, consumer products, and information systems and communication.
Tata has been instrumental in promoting the Tata brand and the 'Made in India' tag not only in India but across the globe in sectors as diverse as steel, automobiles, chemicals and hospitality. His mandate for group companies was clear: shape up, or ship out; be among the top three players in your business or get out of it.
Under Tata's stewardship, the group is in a leadership position in information technology (TCS, CMC), steel (Tata Steel), chemicals (Tata Chemicals), tea (Tata Tea) and hospitality (Indian Hotels), and the Tata name is reaching new geographies through an aggressive 'internationalization' effort. The group now has a presence in 40 countries and exports to 140.
What has ensured the success of Tata's plans is his unwavering focus on the customer. Quality, he insists, must be the hallmark of all Tata products and services, no matter which segment of society or which country they are meant for. Good governance, fair business practices and social responsibility should be the guide for all Tata companies, in all locations and at all times.
Recent years have seen the group make rapid strides in its M&A and JV strategy across the globe. Since 2004 the Tata group has acquired over 30 companies, totaling about $2 billion. The group has also built strategic partnerships with global companies, in order to improve its competitive position
Awards and Recognition.
On the occasion of India's 58th Republic Day on 26 January 2000, Ratan Tata was honored with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest decoration that may be awarded to a civilian. On 26 January 2008 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan , the second highest civilian decoration. He was one of the recipients of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards-2008 given away at a ceremony on February 14 2008 in Mumbai. Ratan Tata accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 on behalf of the Tata family.
Ratan Tata serves in senior capacities in various organizations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. In March 2006 Tata was honored by Cornell University as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, considered the highest honor the university awards to distinguished individuals from the corporate sector.
Ratan Tata's foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booz Allen Hamilton. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation, University of Southern California and of his alma mater, Cornell University. He also serves as a board member on the Republic of South Africa's International Investment Council and is an Asia-Pacific advisory committee member for the New York Stock Exchange. Tata is on the board of governors of the East-West Center, the advisory board of RAND's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves on the programmed board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS initiative. In February 2004, Ratan Tata was conferred the title of honorary economic advisor to Hangzhou city in the Zhejiang province of China.
On March 26, 2008, Tata Motors, under Ratan Tata, bought Jaguar & Land Rover from Ford Motor Company. The two iconic British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, were acquired for $2.3 billion.
He recently received an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.He was listed among the 25 most powerful people in business named by Fortune magazine in November 2007. In May 2008 Mr Tata made it to the Time magazine's 2008 list of the World's 100 most influential people. Tata was hailed for unveiling his tiny Rs. one lakh car 'Nano'.
On 29 August 2008, the Government of Singapore conferred honorary citizenship on Ratan Tata, in recognition of his abiding business relationship with the island nation and his contribution to the growth of high-tech sectors in Singapore. Ratan Tata is the first Indian to receive this honor.
After the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Forbes opined Ratan Tata be brought into politics, calling him India's most respected business leader.
Leadership trade of Ratan Tata:
Barely a decade and a half ago, when Ratan N Tata took over as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, people in the markets and in management circles dismissed him as a person of no consequence. When he sold off Tata Oil Mills Company in 1993 people said he had no stomach for competition
Tata is one of Indian industry's most respected business leaders. Their regime has taken the group's annual revenues to $21.7 billion, or more than seven times their level when he took over as boss in 1991. He still has eight years to go before he retires at the age of 75.
Tata has successfully restructured and revitalized a group that was seen as slow, bureaucratic and unable to deal with the hurly-burly of today's intensely competitive world. Tata companies have made aggressive strides in India and abroad, leading the rush for overseas acquisitions by Indian groups, and ramping up market shares at home.
Under his leadership, the Tata group has emerged as India's largest business conglomerate, a modern, unified organisation ready for the challenges of a young economy and increasingly global marketplace. He has also ensured that while the group metamorphoses to meet the volatile demands of a borderless international market, its tradition of business ethics and commitment to society remain intact, and even become stronger.
When Tata took office in 1991, he inherited an unwieldy giant with over 250 companies, representing nearly every industry, loosely held together by the group management. The immediate challenge Tata faced was to galvanise this amorphous entity to face the challenges of a newly liberalised economy. It was a feat he executed with such skill, foresight and success that it has silenced his detractors.
Tata took over the helm of the group from his uncle, the legendary JRD Tata, after spending three decades in relatively smaller roles in group companies. His first stint was with Tata Steel, which he joined in December 1962, after returning from the United States with a degree in architecture from Cornell University and a brief assignment with the architectural firm of Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles.
Tata rose to the chairmanship of the Tata Group, at a pivotal moment in the country's economic history – the liberalisation of the Indian economy. The development seemed to be timed in his favor. He took over from JRD Tata, who, though a pioneer in his time had left the group unprepared for a new economy. While the group was still pursuing its manufacturing thrust, the younger Tata had anticipated the opportunities in the information-based industries
.
As he drives the group's expansion plans in other geographies, Ratan Tata is encouraging Tata companies in India to shift their focus from the urban to the rural and create products and services that address the needs of the bottom of the pyramid. The Taj group's recently launched Ginger chain of economy hotels, Tata Motor's proposed Rs 1-lakh small car, Titan's Sonata brand of watches, and Tata BP Solar's initiatives in harnessing solar energy to light up.
While scaling his biography I found that Ratan Tata is an participative man he always believe in team work and supports their employee and even work with them the way he worked with the blue color employee of the plant around the steel plant and the way he has encouraged the employee with the great deal of direction and participation it supports the leadership style of the RatanTata.He developed the group dynamics in the Tata industries under their guidance.
His philanthropist acts to support the country and people in the crisis time reflect their behavior of his participation. The concept of people car Nano is the product of his thinking. He is known for their great ethical value and credibility.
His above qualities made Tata the most ethical company of india
No comments:
Post a Comment