That’s what drove a young Ratan N Tata (RNT) as he took the reins of the Tata Group in 1991, from the legendary JRD Tata. No doubt, a harder act to follow would not be easy to find. But the way RNT did, JRD would not only have approved, but applauded. Courage of conviction is what RNT brought to the table in his early days in office as the Chairman of the Group. Prior to assuming that exalted position, he had a good familiarity of the group, having worked at Tata Motors (where he was not ‘asked to do anything’), followed by Tata Steel (where he ‘finally got something to do’), to being asked to lead Nelco. However, he had made good friends at Tata Steel, especially Dr Jamshed Irani, who was a solid pillar of support in the rejuvenation of the moribund group. While JRD was a great thinker and leader, the politics in India would have tired him a lot, especially the ‘license permit raj’, which would not permit him to do business the way he would have wanted. Yet, he carried on without any visible rancour, and achieved much more than any other CEO of a large group. One day, he decided that enough was enough and handed over the mantle, but, with prior consultations with the luminaries in Bombay House, like Nani Palkhivala, NA Soonawala, Jamshed Bhabha, and unnamed others. 

RNT began his innings with a bang, literally. Moving RHM was not what anyone would want to do, especially after being aware of his fondness for 18 eggs omelette breakfast. And Bombay House was plumb located on RH Modi Street, the father of Russi. Yet, he did that, and, got it done well too. I had a ringside view of the whole affair, as I was with Dr Jamshed Irani at that time. What a fantastically planned drive, if ever there was one.  I learnt a lot. 

Then came the minor skirmishes, with Darbari and Kelkar. All done with finesse. And, his coup de etat, the introduction of the Tata Business Excellence Model. Dr Jamshed Irani had set the ball rolling, on being urged by JRD, when he led an Indian CEO delegation to Japan, under the aegis of CII, and supported by the JUSE, to see what TQM had wrought in that country. He came back, convinced that we should go that way. He then went on to do many things which made Tata Steel forge ahead to eventually become the lowest cost producer in the world, later on.  Meanwhile, the Americans had come up with a great response to TQM – the Malcolm Baldrige Model of performance Excellence – MBM, for short – and RNT studied this new instrument, which appealed to his intellect and mental picture of how companies should be run.

He encouraged the ‘Hold the Mirror’ movement in Tata Steel, in 1991, and followed this up with the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM). Tata Steel was a fertile ground for all these experiments in those days (and even today, I would bet), and it was with great fanfare that Tata Steel became the testing ground for the TBEM in a large company (it was already under implementation in other Tata Group companies before that, in fact, in Tata Motors, under the stewardship of senior Bombay House leaders; and one or two other Tata companies). 

What began in Tata Steel around 1994/95, has not stopped, to this day. It has only grown in size, coverage, importance over the years, and it has led to the transformation of many Tata companies. That the Tetley deal was negotiated for 400 million USD was after the confidence gained by Tata Tea, which also championed this movement under the leadership of Krishna Kumar, who was the MD of Tata tea at that time, and one of the members of the TBEM committee at Bombay House. This committee then nucleated the Tata Quality Management Services (TQMS), as the group corporate for all TBEM promotions within the group. TQMS has pioneered a huge movement and, to this day, continues to host the TBEM activities. 

The TBEM is a unique movement, which is an amalgamation of all the ‘continuous improvement’ genre activities, like quality circles, small group activities, cross functional teams, brain storming, lean management, six sigma – you name it, you can practice it under the umbrella of the eleven core values. These core values have remained more or less the same over the last 35 years. 

RNT used the TBEM to give the group a common identity, a common language, a common ownership pride, and, above all, a drive to excel, in performance, in all activities covering the Triple Bottom Line, which has now morphed into the larger set of Sustainability Development Goals. RNT’s visionary leadership foresaw the need for the Tata Group to transition from a moribund, license permit raj group of companies, with a few satrapies, to a globally responsible and valued entity. 

That he accomplished it to the amazement of all Indian corporate watchers is now history. 

One of the signal achievements of this movement was the recognition that the Brand Tata was valuable. Tata Group companies were asked to pay a royalty of 1% of the PAT to entitle them to use the Brand Name. Although the Tata Group was home to many global brands by then, like Tata Tea, Taj Hotels, RNT made branding a valuable activity, that led to the new brands, like Titan, Tata Coffee, Tata Starbucks, etc. This movement has now established Tata as a global brand, a conglomerate with many business lines, and an amazing collection of brands. 

Between 1990 and 2012, the group turnover went from nearly $ 5 billion to $ 100 billion. And, since that year, the momentum has been built upon, with the group turnover touching $ 165 billion by 2024. But these numbers alone don’t tell the entire story. 

The Tata Trusts continue to operate vigorously, to fulfill the desire of the founder, Jamshedji Tata, to give back the wealth to the places from where it came. And, it may be remembered that, the growth in the Tata Group has happened, after the monies being spent in CSR activities by the Tata Trusts, besides those spent by individual Tata companies. That makes the Tata Group unique, and the credit goes largely to RNT (who was, incidentally, the Chairman of the Tata Trusts too) and his dedicated group of teams toiling across India and the world. 

R Jayaraman is the Head, Capstone Projects, at Bhavan's S P Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR). He has worked in several capacities, including Tata Steel, for over 30 years. He has authored over 60 papers in academic and techno economic journals in India and abroad. Jayaraman is a qualified and trained Malcolm Baldrige and EFQM Business Model Lead Assessor.