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Sambhar Mafia - Cooked To Kill!

Friday, July 01, 2005

No Goodbye for this TATA

The Asian edition of Newsweek magazine has a cover story on the resurgence of the TATA group (This link is working only in IE, I was unable to open it in Firefox. Is this because MSNBC/Newsweek is part of Microsoft?). Statistics says that most family businesses cease to exist beyond the third generation. But the TATA Group seems to be a clear exception. Newsweek (for the benefit of their international audience) says that the TATA Group is something like the GE of India. They went one step further and said that TATA Group is much more than GE as the Tatas use about 60% of their profits for community development work. Newsweek also draws parallels between TATA Sons (the holding company) and Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett’s firm). Let’s hope that the much awaited Rs. 1 lakh car (Ratan Tata’s pet project) comes out soon.

NewsWeek_Tata

[Pic Courtesy: Newsweek Asia Edition]

Succession issues

Although Ratan Tata is 67 years old, he looks more like somebody who is in his late 40’s / early 50’s. The Million Dollar Question on everybody’s mind is who will succeed Ratan Tata? Now that Ratan Tata’s tenure has been extended for a few more years, this talk will subside for some time.

17 Comments:

  • i am able to open it in both ...

    By Blogger Me, at 12:38 PM  

  • Me too.. it opens fine..

    By Blogger ioiio, at 12:42 PM  

  • @ME & IOIIO,

    Maybe there is some problem with my Firefox. Thanks for letting me know.

    By Blogger Kaps, at 12:49 PM  

  • me waiting for the one lakh car...........
    :)

    By Blogger monu, at 1:04 PM  

  • his tenure was extended to allow for succession issues to be solved,
    maybe a professional manager would take over with the family being just shareholders. that is good for both th egrp and family. afterall the advantage of a company is its divorce btwn ownership and mgmt

    By Blogger ada-paavi!!!!, at 1:23 PM  

  • Er..., Kaps, I think the magazine is called "Newsweek" ...

    Thanks for the link, though!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:32 PM  

  • When Aditya Birla passed away few years back, no body would have thought that Kumaramangalam Birla can do wonders after taking over. But, he did.

    So, there are lots of chances that TATA group will also get a talentd one to take over the empire.

    By Blogger Ram C, at 1:38 PM  

  • hey, I have just linked n my blog to an article which talks about the next revolution in motoring coming from the Tata car.. read it sometime...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:47 PM  

  • @Monu,
    Even if you get the 1 lakh car, it will be a nightmare to drive in Chennai roads. Given the way petrol prices are rising, you might end up paying more for the petrol, than for the car.

    @Srivatsan,
    Since Noel Tata is not a front runner, I suppose they will go in for a professional manager.

    @Abi,
    Thanks for pointing out. Newsweek has different cover pages for US edition, International Edition, Asian edition and European edition.
    Ratan Tata has been featured on the cover of the Asian edition (and not in the other editions). Hence I gave the credit to Newsweek Asian Edition.

    @Ram,
    Atleast AVB group had somebody as capable as Kumaramangalam Birla to run the empire.
    The Tata group has no such family member who is in the same league.

    By Blogger Kaps, at 1:50 PM  

  • Charu,
    I did read your piece on motoring. Will visit again to see the new link.

    By Blogger Kaps, at 1:53 PM  

  • It is really a fascinating story of diversification. In the early 90's, the TATA's looked like lost legends.

    By Blogger Nilu, at 5:40 PM  

  • hey Kaps!

    wats up dude? Hows life? Hows work?

    read ur posting on Tata Group. One thing is true, Kaps! There is so much happening within the group...and it's really exciting to be part of the group and especially part of the international business group.........

    Kaviraj Nair

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:14 PM  

  • The 1 lakh car is still a dream.. but i'm sure, they'll make it.. either by themselves or, the car prices would come down so low one day.. LOL..

    By Blogger Chez, at 6:57 PM  

  • may be some external guy will sit on the board

    By Blogger Suguna, at 7:07 AM  

  • @Nilu,
    The way TATA group has expanded in the recent past is something astounding.

    @Kaviraj,
    I am doing gr8! Glad 2 hear from an insider :-)

    @Magnus Astrum Anand,
    Given their commitment to the project, I am sure they can come out with the Rs. 1 lakh car.

    @Suguna,
    I don't think they have a choice. They will settle for an outsider.

    By Blogger Kaps, at 2:33 PM  

  • When JRD Tata passed away in late 1993, there were many who wrote obituary to the empire. Tatas have come a long way.

    By Blogger Chakra, at 6:00 PM  

  • u'r right ratan does look young for his age.and he looks oh sooooo handsome

    By Blogger Unknown, at 10:40 PM  

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