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ABSTRACT
Ratan Tata began his career at Tata Steel as an apprentice in 1962 and rose to become its chairman in 1991 -a position he held till 2012. He served the Tata Group in different capacities and steered the Group companies to flourish and gain competitive ground in the wake of liberalization, globalization and privatisation that incidentally coincided with his tenure as chairman of most iconic of India's corporate houses with legacy of over 150 years. This case study looks at his strategic vision to consolidate the position of the Tata Group and infuse competitiveness through augmenting operational efficiency and culture of innovations. He also altered the structure of the group companies so as to strengthen the position of the holding company and avert any hostile takeovers. True, his tenure as chairman of Tata Group resulted in a windfall and under his leadership the Group saw phenomenal jump in its revenue, market share and brand equity.
KEYWORDS: Ratan Tata, Tata Group, Leadership, India
INTRODUCTION
When India was opening up for globalization, liberalization and privatisation in 1991, the iconic Tata group was engineering a major organizational shake-up in terms of installing a nondescript Rata Tata as successor of JRD Tata. Even the top management team working closely with JRD Tata had no clue about the transition. Then, Ratan Tata had no success stories that could inspire his senior colleagues to accept him as the new chairman of Tata Group. However, no one had guts to question the wisdom of JRD Tata and thus began the Rata Tata era in Tata Group.
Initial challenge for Ratan Tata was to establish his authority and augment efficiency across the group companies which largely functioned independently. For long, the Tata group companies had functioned in a decentralized mode. But the decentralized arrangement was crumbling under the competitive forces that were knocking at the doors of the country in the wake of opening up of Indian economy at the behest of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. There could not have been a better and more interesting time to take charge...