Much before Danny Boyle sold India’s shit-soaked poverty to a global audience

Ratan Tata had already made an example out of the nation’s spirit of innovation – with the world’s cheapest car, no less! But can the Nano revive Tata Motors, which recently posted its first quarterly loss (of $58.5 million) in seven years? Pawan Chabra & Surbhi Chawla’s incisive analysis...

When mentor JRD Tata tapped Ratan Naval Tata in 1991 and asked him to take over the baton of the Tata Group, Ratan, then 54, gregariously went ahead and appointed himself Chairman of the group’s largest companies. The ageing old guard at these units sniggered and viewed the move as an ego trip by the younger Tata. But Ratan was thinking differently. The economy had just got deregulated and he realised that old, pedantic strategies would be insufficient for Indian businesses to deal with the unfolding era. His emphasis on flab-cutting and a new strategic direction for the group put Tata’s businesses on the fast track.

Almost fifteen years later, the word ‘ego’ has come back to haunt Ratan Tata. This time the scenario was spanning continents. What we do know is that he initially wagered 220 pence per share, but eventually paid almost triple that amount – 660 pence per share – for the Anglo-Dutch steel major, Corus. What we don’t know however, is whether he was prompted by the strategic implications of creating the world’s 5th largest steel producer or by the mere desire to pander to his ego, which refused to accept defeat in the face of a fierce takeover battle with Brazilian rival Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). Tata Steel’s balance sheet has still not recovered from the Corus onslaught!

But it was with the Nano (the world’s cheapest car) that Ratan Tata’s ego applied for top honours. Combined with the $2.3 billion JLR acquisition, Tata Motors and Ratan indeed became top of the mind on the global automotive map. He announced the Nano launch for end-2008. Then Singur happened and Tata had to shift his Nano dream to Sanand in Gujarat. The Nano got delayed – anathema for the now global auto czar.

Simultaneously, the global recession began digging deeper holes into Tata Motors’ financials, input costs began going up and the Rs.1,00,000 price tag for the Nano was not looking conducive any more. Recalls Abhishek Jain, Exec. Director, Precision Pipes (a vendor for Nano), “There was a lot of pressure on cost through out the production process of the Nano!” But does that stop Ratan Tata? Hardly! The man is on a roll – he announced the launch of Nano for March 23, 2009 – at least the bookings are slated to start on that date! The ‘ego’ word is being bandied about yet again! “It’s all about ego for Ratan Tata. The date March 23 is strategically chosen as he wants to launch it in this fiscal, overshadowing his inability to launch it in the last calendar year,” concludes an industry insider on condition of anonymity.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Most CMDs of state-run banks have taken a leaf out of Barack Obama’s ‘change’ mantra to send out fever-pitch messages to consumers. Stylish TV ads, chic logos and slick new launches are communicating their change. But just as Obama is discovering the difference between ‘campaigning’ and ‘implementation’, PSBs will need to wake up and smell the coffee, says Aditi Prasad. For now however life rocks for PSBs - as the global turmoil is boosting their credibility among the young and old alike

Sujeet Beura is the dapper, 33-year-old Accounts Director at a thriving ad agency in Mumbai. When he is not fighting the mad traffic to get to work, Beura concentrates his creative energies on ways to add value to client State Bank of India (SBI) – his agency is one of the eight empanelled with the bank. The fact that the global financial crisis has cast a shadow on SBI’s biggest competitor and private bank ICICI is simply a convenience that divine intervention has pushed his way. So convinced is Beura of SBI’s expertise that sitting in his plush office at Church Gate, all he can think about is shifting his personal savings account to the state-run bank, a move he wouldn’t have contemplated a year ago. After all, SBI then was for the old and doddering, while smarter and sexier private & foreign banks were for his generation.

But things have changed over the last few months. For one, ATMs of his ‘private bank’ are almost always ‘out of order’ – or at least when he needs urgent cash; and two, the global crisis has made him jittery and he wants his hard-earned money safe from the clutches of private and foreign banks. “SBI is more reliable. God forbid there’s some financial chaos here; then at least my money would be safe,” he avers. He swears that his preference for SBI is not dictated by the mere fact that the bank is a client but because of their long-standing credibility. “Besides, I’m 33 and planning to take my first home loan now and SBI is offering the most competitive interest rates,” he adds.

Beura’s musings are not unfounded. The findings of the exclusive 4Ps B&M and ICMR survey echo a similar sentiment. More than 51% respondents said that they trust state-run banks more when it comes to credibility and future security. Interestingly, the survey has been conducted in India’s five metro cities (across 836 respondents) – where till only some time ago private and foreign banks dominated both in actual market share and in consumer mind space. Welcome news for PSBs, many of whom are now vying to win back market share in these very metros. SBI for one, which hogs the chunkiest market share at an all-India level (42% of its branches are located in rural areas, with little competition from private banks), is planning its next ad campaign in a sleeker avatar to appeal to both retail and corporate consumers in these big cities. Explains Beura: “Currently SBI is reassuring people with the slogan The Banker for Every Indian. The next quarter, they are likely to launch a new positioning for SBI, targeted specifically at the metro audience.” Nationalised banks had lost the plot in metros and big cities when private banks came in. In aggregate deposits, the share of PSBs declined from 92% in FY 1991 to 73.9% in FY 2008; in advances, the share of PSBs fell from 92% to 72.5% in the same period, the losses mostly accruing from metros.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Detail of all IIPM branches
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION