TATA - The Evolution Of A Corporate Brand
Author : Morgen Witzel
Publisher : Penguin Portfolio
Language : English
Paperback : 222 pages
ISBN : 9780670084067
PREFACE
The purpose of this book is to describe the Tata corporate brand: what it is, how it has evolved, how it functions, what the perceptions of others might be. I think anyone with an interest in corporate branding will find this case study of some use. Large-scale profiles of corporate brands are fairly rare, and scholars, brand marketers and others may well find comparative material here that will help them in their own work. Seeing what the Tata group has done—or has not done—could help answer a few more general questions about what corporate brands are and how they work.
The Tata group is in the midst of great changes as it expands and grows internationally.
I also hope that this book will be useful to anyone interested in the Tata group. There have been many excellent histories of the Tata group and the Tata family, but the group is in the midst of great changes as it expands and grows internationally. Especially outside of India, where detailed knowledge about the Tata group is still limited to a fairly small number of people, this book might help explain Tata's values and purpose.
Given Tata's growing size and international reach—in 2009, 65 per cent of the group's revenues were drawn from outside India—it seems only natural that people both within India and outside would want to know more about the group, its brand and what that brand stands for. But here another caveat is in order. To show what the brand is and how it is perceived, I have also delved into some of the Tata group companies and their brands. As the book shows, it is impossible to understand the Tata corporate brand without understanding the symbiotic relationship that brand has with the various Tata company brands and product/service brands. Nevertheless, this book should not be taken as a complete profile of the Tata group. Many Tata companies, including some large and old ones like Voltas and Tata Power, are barely mentioned. A full and complete description of the Tata group and its history would make for fascinating reading. But this book is not that book.
Nor have I set out to challenge the perceived wisdom about corporate brands, or to offer any grand unifying theory of corporate branding which will sweep aside what we already know; far from it. I have tried only to profile the Tata brand itself. Where I have drawn comparisons or made references to literature it usually is with one of two purposes in mind: (1) to explain elements of the Tata brand more clearly, or (2) to show how the Tata brand differs from other brands. I have not tried to compare the Tata brand with other corporate brands in order to prove that it is 'better' or 'stronger'. All good brands are strong in their own ways, and I see only limited value in trying to rate them against each other.
The Tata group talks not of conquering markets but of serving people.
I have a bias, of course. Every author does. Over the course of time as I have worked with the Tata group and its people, and listened to ordinary Indians talk about the group too, I have come to admire it. I will not call it a 'great' institution, because I dislike the word `great'; tome, the term is too loaded with connotations of power and conquest. The Tata group I have come to know does not seem to be `great'; it shies away from the overt use of power, and it talks not of conquering markets abut of serving people. Neither the group nor the people are perfect, and they have made mistakes over the years. But they have the humanity and the humility to admit their mistakes and to discuss them openly. 'However, readers should take their own position. They should be aware f my bias, and bear it. in mind and be critical when reading, for it is through critical analysis that true learning comes. This, then, is the story of the Tata corporate brand. I hope others find this story as interesting to read as I did to research and write.
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