“Tata Namak. Ye Desh Ka Namak Hai”. (Tata
Salt. It is the salt of motherland.) – TATA Salt Advertisement
This is a famous idiom in Hindi –
“I have eaten the salt of my motherland” (English literal translation which means,
“I owe loyalty to my motherland”). If you go around anywhere in India, even in
the remotest village with no electricity, it will be difficult for you not to
come across any TATA product. At present, TATA group is a conglomerate of over
100 companies around the world and does business in a range of products and services
spanning over a range of entities - as basic product as salt to as
sophisticated technologically advanced service as telecommunication network. The
Tata group was formed in 1868 when Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, with an eye to compete
with British, started a textile mill. He wanted to create economic self - reliance
in the country and achieve world-wide respect for India. Often called as
“father of Indian industry,” Sir JN Tata believed that “the community is not just another stakeholder
in our business, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence”
[1]
Today there is a city called as
Jamshedpur in the honor of Jamshedji Tata
in an eastern state of Democratic Republic of India. It has been close to 149
years ever since the introduction of the first business by the TATA group. The
group has evolved itself strategically and expanded its business into a large
set of domains. But there is one thing in TATA which has remained the same
throughout the century. Their core values and purpose. It is said that for a
firm to create impact on the market and to be successful in the longer run, the
company must have clear core values and a unique purpose that sets them apart
from the others. [2]. These core values must remain unchanged in spite of ever
changing dimensions of the business. Tata has withstood the changes in the
economy of India from the License Raj of the 1960s to the post -liberalization
period after 1991 without compromising on its core values. This is the reason
why it has been consistently called – India’s number 1 brand. [3]
TATA group has been “driven by
five core values”: Integrity, understanding, excellence, unity and
responsibility. [4]. TATA group has lived to its purpose in the face of
changing political, macro-economic, global and technological scenarios. In an
interview with CNN when asked if TATA group has ever indulged in bribery and
corruption, Ratan Tata, the grandson of Jamshedji Tata and the then chairman of
the TATA group said,” No, we have succeeded in growing in the manner we have
without in fact partaking in this. We have also been -- I would say that we
could have grown faster and could have prospered more as a group. But we have
never - we have never in fact partake in this kind of activity” [5].
Clearly, TATA group has created an
example for the rest of the young Indian brands to follow, and it also exemplifies
the importance of core values and purpose for any firm to be successful over
the longer run. Business isn’t done just with a focus of earning revenue, but it
is also done to serve people and a purpose.
References:
2) “Building
your company’s Vision”, Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras, September-October 1996
Issue, Harvard Business Review, Harvard Publications.
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