The B-school had been conducting executive education or management development programmes (MDPs) in India since 2008 — but always in five-star hotels. Now it’s planning its “own centre in India for executive education programmes which have been growing”, confirmed Professor Tom DeLong, the Philip J Stomberg Professor of Management Practice. He teaches MBA and executive education courses focused on topics like managing human capital and organisational behaviour.

“HBS did two programmes in India in 2008 and one programme in 2009. This year, we are in the market with three programmes, for which we need a permanent place. It could be in Mumbai,” he added.

Industry experts say HBS’s presence in India could pose a serious competition to the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the executive education space.

For one, HBS ranks higher than all Indian B-schools. It was ranked the third best B-school in the world after Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania) and London Business School, according to the 2010 Financial Times ‘Global MBA rankings’.

Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business, on the other hand, was ranked 12.

HBS’s search for a permanent classroom is likely to put more pressue on executive education programmes from domestic B-schools. On an average, executive education programmes comprise around 35 per cent of the revenue stream for most leading B-schools in the country.

“Of course it will intensify competition in the market. Harvard is an international brand that could give the other B-schools a run for their money,” said a professor from a B-school who did not wish to be identified.

ISB, however, is unfazed. Deepak Chandra, deputy dean, ISB Hyderabad, countered: “There’s space for everyone in the country and executive education from various B-schools is welcome. It’s not about demand. It’s about quality.”

Charges for the executive education programmes are school- and programme-specific. For instance, HBS charges Rs 2.12 lakh (plus service tax) for a five-day programme on “Building a Global Enterprise in India” and ISB Rs 1.5 lakh for a five-day programme on “Marketing Strategy in a Competitive Environment” . IIM-Ahmedabad, on the other hand, is charging Rs 1.5 lakh for a five-day programme for top Management on “Corporate Strategy – Brand Strategy Linkages”.

The IIMs, however, say that Harvard’s entry in the market could prove to be competition for ISB as IIMs offer programmes at a different price point. IIMs offer programmes at two levels: short duration (seven to 20 days) and longer durations (six months). “Harvard is not in the longer duration executive education programmes so competition for the IIMs seems lower than for the ISB,” said an IIM professor who did not wish to be identified. Meanwhile, with the global economic revival, B-schools say companies are loosening their purse strings and putting employee training programmes back on track. B-schools say they see and upsurge in executive education enrollments by 40 to 50 per cent.

The world sat up and took notice of the Tata Group in the first decade of the 21st century. How? A string of prestigious acquisitions abroad and an unimaginably cheap car, transformed the 140-year-old Indian business house into a global conglomerate. However, it will be interesting to see where the group heads for in the next decade when its charismatic chairman Ratan Tata makes way for a younger person to take over the reins.

Just imagine, at the beginning of the millennium, the Tata group was staring at two disappointments — a huge loss of Rs 550 crore at its flagship company Telco (now Tata Motors ) and the financial mess at Tata Finance. However, after a decade, the group is a name to reckon with in the international corporate scene on the basis of Ratan Tata’s daring acquisitions of coveted global assets, starting with Tetley in the fall of 2000 and moving to top gear with Jaguar Land Rover in June 2008.

Tata Steel’s $13 billion Corus acquisition is the largest overseas deal by an Indian firm.The group’s revenues have jumped nine times from Rs 35,937 crore in the late 90’s to Rs 3,25,334 crore in 2008-09 , with 65% of the revenues coming from overseas.

But apart from these bigticket deals, what made the group tick was the creation of a business model that will tap the masses — a model that was inspired by the bottom of the pyramid theme. And here’s where the Nano drives in — an almost impossible feat, a people’s car with a Rs 1 lakh tag.

It was the brainchild of Ratan Tata, a Capricorn, who turned 72 a couple of days ago, became the group’s chairman in 1991. According to a a Tata veteran, the group has gone through three phases since then. One, he established control over the group, which was then tightly managed by a few people. Two, he kicked off the restructuring and restrategising programme: He set a goal to be among the top three players in the businesses the group has a presence in, to increase the group’s minuscule holding to a comfortable position ; and formation of a common brand identity in the twodimensional Tata blue logo.

Third, perhaps the most ambitious, was building a global empire. The group had some setbacks too during the decade. For example, the abandonment of the $3 billion investment in Bangladesh, pulling out the Nano project from West Bengal, the terror attacks on its hotel, Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, and the financial stress it experienced as a result of the global meltdown.

However, the next decade would see a major change in the Tata group. Ratan Tata would retire from Tata Sons in 2012, when he turns 75, to make way for a successor. However, he may continue to be the chairman of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Trust — the two charitable trusts that hold a major stake in Tata Sons — a position his predecessor JRD Tata held till his death. He has built a global business empire. What’s next for the Tata Group?

Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will meet top Indian industrialists in Mumbai on Monday to discuss the state of the global economy, the impact of the financial meltdown and ways to tackle it, the environment agenda post-Copenhagen, ways to increase trade between the two countries and foreign direct investment.

In the closed-door meeting, he will first hold parleys with Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani. Subsequently, Hatoyama will meet Bajaj group’s chief Rahul Bajaj, Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava, Godrej group head Adi Godrej, Godrej & Boyce Chairman & Managing Director Jamshyd N Godrej, Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani, Mukand Steel Co-Chairman and Managing Director Rajesh Shah, and Jubilant Organosys Co-Chairman and Managing Director Hari S Bhartia.

This is Hatoyama’s maiden visit to India. He is also the first Japanese Prime Minister to visit India in 25 years, after Nakasone in May 1984.

The Japanese government announced an $81 billion stimulus package on December 8 to prevent the economy from tipping back into recession. On the environment front, Japan has announced a 25 per cent cut in emissions by 2020. “The PM’s meeting with Ratan Tata takes place at a time when a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO has made its presence in GSM telecom services in India. The meeting with Mukesh Ambani is also crucial as he represents the Japan-India Business Leaders’ Forum here. All crucial issues including the recovery in the global economy, the impact of the global slowdown on India and Japan, and tapping further potential between the two countries will be discussed,” Japan’s Consul General Shinchi Iida told Business Standard on Saturday.

He said the Japanese Prime Minister would leave for Delhi to address a business meeting organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, and Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry on Monday itself. He will also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other dignitaries to discuss a plan of action to strengthen relations between the two countries with regard to regional and international challenges.

In a recent survey commissioned by the Ministry of External Affairs, respondents perceived Japan as a technologically-advanced, economically-powerful and peace-loving country. The survey showed that there were strong public images in India of the Japanese people as diligent, efficient in management practices, and inventive. Asked about Japan’s international contributions, 61 per cent of the respondents were positive on the question whether Japan was playing an international role commensurate with its economic power, 79 per cent perceived Japan’s economic assistance to India as beneficial, and 94 per cent welcomed the presence of Japanese companies in India.

“The quest is not to create the cheapest products,” chairman Ratan Tata said at the launch. “Our focus is on accessing the largest number of people. That is what drove (the efforts on) Nano, that is what drove the low cost housing project and that is what is driving this too,” he added.

The product, which has been pitched against consumer goods giant Unilever’s PureIt, will use distribution network of Tata group companies such as Rallis and the Tata Kisan Sansar, a rural-centric resource center. Tata Salt’s distribution network would also be tapped while NGOs and local help groups will also be roped in. The $71-billion Tata group, one of India’s oldest business families, has been involved with various mass utility projects and innovative products, including the supercomputer Eka.

Earlier this year, the group caught the world’s fancy when it launched what is called the cheapest ever car, for Rs 100,000, driven by the 71-year old chairman’s dream to sell affordable cars to the country’s rising middle class. The company has also ventured into low cost housing.

Based on a concept developed by the TCS Innovation Labs, TRDDC, the Swach combines low-cost ingredients, such as rice husk ash with nano technology. “Water-borne disease is the single greatest threat to global health, with diarrhea, jaundice, typhoid, cholera, polio, and gastroenteritis spread by contaminated water,” said Tata Chemicals MD R Mukundan.

Citing a 2007 United Nations report during a presentation to lauch the water purifier, Mr Mukundan said that half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases. In India, such diseases cause more than 1.5 times the deaths caused by AIDS and double the deaths caused by road accidents, he added.

Built around a bulb-like water purifier made of natural elements such as rice husk ash filled with nano-silver particles, Tata Swach can function without electric power or running water. The cartridge bulb has a purification medium that kills bacteria and disease causing organisms. It can purify up to 3,000 litres of water, after which the cartridge stops water flow. Fifteen patents have been filed for the technology and product.

“No, it’s been a very difficult time,” said Ratan Tata, the head of Tata Motors Ltd, India’s largest vehicle maker. Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co last year.

At the Wall Street Journal CEO Council conference, Tata said he hopes the brands will be restored to their previous glory.

In a discussion focused on whether or not they have regrets, global business tycoons Rupert Murdoch, News Corp’s chief executive, and Carlos Slim, who built a telecommunications empire and other big businesses in Mexico, denied any such feelings.

“I have no regrets about the Wall Street Journal,” Murdoch said.

As the newspaper industry faces layoffs and drops in advertising revenue
and circulation, the Wall Street Journal said in October that it will close its Boston bureau to save money.

Slim backed the New York Times, in which he is a major investor, and said the newspaper industry is not just about the paper.

“It’s about news and content,” he said. “I think it (the Times) is one of the best newspaper brands in the world.”

Two decades back, many in Bombay House, the Tata Group headquarters, thought that Russi Mody, Darbari Seth, Ajit Kerkar and Sumant Moolgaokar would be there forever. Those who replaced them thought it would be difficult to change the way the group functioned. Both were wrong.

The fiefdom of the old guard which thrived under the legendary JRD Tata’s more than half-a-century stewardship of the group came to an end, acrimoniously in some cases and smoothly in some, after Ratan Tata took charge in 1991. Not only did Ratan Tata throw the old guard out, but also brought in young blood.

“It probably was looked upon as a group where a lot of elderly people worked and one which was hierarchical,” says R Gopalakrishnan, executive director, Tata Sons and a former vice chairman at the then Hindustan Lever. It was against this background that Ratan Tata stated in the mid-1990s that there was a need to have young CEOs. “It has taken some time to get the process right and for this policy to have an impact.”

What would have been once a laughing matter in the Tatas, is now a reality. Young men are becoming CEOs.
Men in the Tata Group rarely retired. So, the younger Tata’s first target was to ease out men from the socialist era and bring in an age limit where it was compulsory to retire. That saw the exit of men such as Russi Mody, the popular chairman of Tata Iron & Steel Co, now Tata Steel, Darbari Seth, the powerful head of Tata Chemicals, Ajit Kerkar who built the Taj Hotels brand as the head of Indian Hotels.
Now, meet Brotin Banerjee. He is 35 years old and heads Tata Housing Development which is pioneering low-cost homes, a near impossible event two decades back. After joining the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) in 1998, he had stints at Tata Chemicals and Barista Coffee.

The move to Tata Housing was in 2006, when he came aboard as deputy CEO. Last year, Mr Banerjee was anointed MD & CEO of the company.

“If you had told me, when I joined the TAS in 1998, that I would be heading a Tata Group company in a decade, I would have laughed it off,” he says.

Mr Tata’s vision

This transformation is the vision of Ratan Tata, who faced many an obstacle in his early days as the head of this tea-to-telecoms conglomerate. He brought in the concept of group head for human resources in 1998. “While a group like the Tatas does have a board which takes strategic decisions on these businesses, they may not necessarily have the skill set to run them on a day-to-day basis,” says Sunil Alagh, management consultant and chairman, SKA Advisors and former managing director at Britannia Industries. “This is where the need to have young CEOs comes in, since these individuals are invariably specialists with a good understanding of such businesses.”

“He has been driving his Mercedes for too long now. He has always been telling that he wants to own a Jaguar but he didn’t want to import the car because he didn’t want to let anybody make an issue out of it,” says a close friend of the star, indicating the earlier exposure of the Range Rover importing racket scandal that hit several Bollywood stars including Sushmita Sen. After Tata Motors declared that they are importing the car in India, sources say that they immediately received thousands application from all over the country. Interestingly, Shahid Kapoor was the first customer for the Tatas. “It was such an honour receiving the keys of my car from Ratan Tata. When I was booking the car, I was really not aware that that I am the first. He (Ratan Tata) also congratulated me for being his first customer. This car will always be special to me not only because I always wanted to own a Range Rover but because I was the first one in India to drive it home and it was Ratan Tata who gave the keys to me. I am so so proud,” said Shahid, right after taking the car keys from Ratan Tata.

“Being in the business that I am in, I need to travel around with a lot of luggage. I am out of the house for long periods of time daily. I have my big Indian family…my parents, my brother, my sister…in this car one can fit almost as many people as one likes. Plus, I have a pretty healthy staff (laughs), and to be able to have everyone travel comfortably, I needed a bigger car,” he adds.

The keys were handed over to Shahid at the Worli showroom of the Tata Motors and the actor immediately took to the wheels after this. He drove around town area for a while before heading for his apartment in Versova where it has pride of place in his garage.