Tata Group Discuss the Corporate

Tata Group Discuss the corporate and international level strategies the Tata Group appears to be following. Fully explain your choices by defining the strategies (in your words) applying them to Tata Group and providing factual support (case information and strategic moves they have made (acquisitions, product lines, etc.) as well as any financial changes the company has experienced (profit/loss, share prices, ROE, etc.). The Tata Group is comprised of seven different business sectors including information technology and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals.

As of July 2010 the company had recorded revenues of $70.8B with total assets of $51.7B, employing over 360,000 professionals globally. Following the successful acquisition of Corus, Tata Steel was named Tata Steel Europe, generating $12.26B in revenue in their latest fiscal year, a 34.96% growth in sales over the previous year. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) generated $46.28B in revenues for the latest fiscal year, an increase of 73.5% from the previous fiscal year.

TCS is now also a recognized leader in process improvement technologies for aerospace companies, one of the highest growth markets the company now is leading the world in from a revenue and customer growth standpoint (Balasubramanyam, 2010). Tata Motors generated 16.34B in revenues in the latest fiscal year, posting an impressive 151.8% growth in revenues over the previous year.

Tata Group's rapid growth in TCS, Tata Motors and Tata Steel illustrates the company's approach to corporate strategy is to concentrate on selective mergers and acquisitions paying close attention to stakeholder interests and the potential they have to derail the success of the new initiative (Evans, 2010). Tata Group for example worked very closely with unions, government agencies and taxation authorities to ensure that each of these stakeholders would have an interest in seeing the alliance, merger or acquisition succeed over time (Evans, 2010).

The rapid growth of the company's top three divisions is proof of how effective this approach to defining new market development is. In addition, Tata Group continues to invest heavily in sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs as well, which further underscores their commitment to respecting and strengthening stakeholder, regional and national government objectives (Sen, 2009).

In conjunction with their corporate strategy of expansion that seeks to alleviate resistance to change through intensive collaboration and shared ownership at the local level (Evans, 2010) the company also takes a portfolio-based approach to their businesses. This is seen from a strategic standpoint with the entrance into the passenger car, auto components, telecommunications, insurance, home entertainment and pharmaceutical R&D markets.

The company used this portfolio-based approach to also transition from cosmetics, paints, branded white goods, IT and telecom hardware and textiles, all industries known for their price competition and consolidation. Figure 1 provides an overview of the Business Sectors of Tata Group and the breakout of revenue. Figure 1: Tata Group Business Sector Analysis Source: http://www.tata.com/pdf/Tata_Group_presentation.pdf Referring to question 2, discuss the benefits and risks of each of Tata's group chosen strategies.

Ensure that your explanations are specific to Tata Group and the environment (India and international) in which they operate, rather than providing a general discussion. Tata Group relies on a very methodical, focused approach to defining its expansion strategy. First, specific industries are targeted where Tata has a significant strength from an intellectual property (IP) standpoint, in addition to an established business. Potential firms to partner with through a joint venture or acquire through stock and cash-based transactions are next defined (Lamont, 2010).

Tata does not rush into the acquisition or joint venture process however. They work to build consensus with the key stakeholders that will define the success or failure of their global expansion strategy. In the case of acquiring Land Rover and Jaguar, the company met for nearly a year with UK-based unions at the company's plants (Evans, 2010).

Next, the Tata Group will often define share objectives of how the acquisition din fusion of investment from them will increase the social good and get the entire region more enriched through CSR programs and initiatives (Sen, 2009). It is no surprise that Tata follows this sequence, as foreign companies entering India must do all these steps successfully. These process steps are used across all industries the company competes in.

The benefits of this strategy are that it gets the stakeholders involved in the ownership and success of the joint venture or acquisition early on, overcoming resistance to change. Second, this approach also ensures that the systems and procedures of the company being partnered with or acquired will be more easily integrated into Tata's as there is much more focus on how to communicate successfully early on in discussions. Third, Tata seeks to bring CSR-based funding to communities, many of.