In 1911, Sir Frederick Upcott, chief commissioner of the Indian Railway Board in British India, said, “Do you think the Tatas propose to make steel rails to British specifications? I will eat every pound of steel rail they succeed in making!†Almost a century later, you could be forgiven for believing that the neo-colonial mindset hasn’t changed. And in the latest round of this debate — if we can call it that — feelings run just as strong. Just read the blogs about the rebuff that Orient Express Hotels (OEH) gave the Indian Hotels Company, the Taj Group of hotels — a Tata Group company — and you will see the heavy load of emotional baggage that many still carry.
On Wednesday evening, R.K. Krishna Kumar, vice-chairman of Indian Hotels, delivered his own riposte to the letter from Paul White, chief executive officer of OEH, which rejected Indian Hotels’ proposal for a strategic alliance; in it, Krishna Kumar expressed surprise at the tone and content of OEH’s letter, calling White’s description of the Taj Group “pejorative, inaccurate and libelousâ€. Krishna Kumar went on to demand a formal apology from OEH on its website, and added a barb of his own: that in an age of global integration, “those with a fossilised frame of mind risk being marginalisedâ€.
This isn’t the first time that a Western organisation has cast doubts about Indian companies’ abilities to manage a global business or brand; several weeks ago, Ken Gorin, chairman of the Jaguar Business Operations Council that represents Jaguar dealers in the US, told the Wall Street Journal that the American public “was not ready for ownership out of India of a luxury brand such as Jaguarâ€. That also happened to involve a Tata company —Tata Motors; the Tatas and Mahindra & Mahindra are front-runners in the race for acquiring the Jaguar and Land Rover brands being sold by Ford.
Perhaps the opposition to Indian ownership of iconic brands boils down to one word — quality, which is a key consideration with branded products and services. And here, even die-hard Indian supporters acknowledge that India Inc. has a long way to go. The second concern is that of management ability. Indian management is not looked upon very favourably or rated highly, mainly because it’s feared that they don’t understand marketing very well.
Watch The Exclusive Interview of the Vice-Chairman of Indian Hotels
What do you think of this whole episode? Do you think Indian companies are perceived as being incapable of managing global brands? or Are we really incapable? Please share your views.
Source: BusinessWorld, IBNLive
hello every one
as being a management student i seriously belive we r great management people in world to manage international brands very successfully.
its true that, outside people can point out us in quality this is becoz of more companys operating very low quality management which indirectly effects major companys who r very efficient in quality management. more over major foreign companys have wrong perspective of being indias as ethnically backward and less efficient than them.
i agree with u…..
its not that we dont knw or not gud at management n marketing…. IIM’S, B-SCHOOLS student r considered top class manager… but the prob is not all of the students r working india (am not saying its wrong, bcz everyone hv own commitments). i mean we hv skils but hasn’t proved yet that we can compete with international brands….
hope india proves in near future
All Indians should donate 40( -1)rs for funding Tata to buy this company. It was never about management skills dear friends, It’s all about the color (apologies for being narrow minded).
can somebody question the ethics and management skills of federal reserve of US of course (comprising of Ivy league kids) for printing dollars that don’t exist (paper currency). We need to start a sovereign India fund (idea from a blog) by RBI and keep buying good foreign assets with the deprecating dollar.
Go India go keep buying good companies……..
love and peace
Indians are better than foreigners in management skills we inherit it, but foreign counterparts are much more disciplined and follow latest norms taught in Business schools, but still they are not better overall. The basic thing is racism or jealously getting you wrong and them right.
It is not the question of capability of Indian Management, but here, it is the apprehension about the Brand. When a company in the magnitude of Tata Sons which makes from Salt to Software in India, which had acquired a large Steel company, owns Best Tea Brand in teh world, which is vying for a top spot of Big 5 in Software (by 2010), there is no concern on Quality or Business Management but it is purely the ‘profiling’ and racism of these red necks.
OEH, Jaguar dealers etc., are unable to digest the fact that we too have it in us. At a time, when we are growing our economy at such a pace and when we have high FE reserves and when our rupee is becoming stronger, there is no looking back. It is high-time the old bandwagon realizes our true potential and believe that we truly can make a difference in the global scenario.
First i want thanks this website to big such good news into the views of the people. Your doing a great job. Keep it up.
Being a indian. I am very sad to read this, but it not too far to these people reaslise there mistake.
Indian is growing and nobody can stop it.. These will be fairy tales for our next generations.
India is growing n body can stop it, Tatas one of the best companys in the world ,they r voted number 4 transperant company in the world my a international group.Tatas has done many thing to our society and not only that they have the capability to manage all kind of business.For me if they think that tata annot mannage it we should bid for that company bu buying more stak in the companies and prove ourself.
I being a India, still I think indian firms are not good at managing high level business. Even though I think India is not ready due to many reasons to take up international business, still we should take a chance.
Indian firms are always in a mood to save as much as money they can from revenue or eat consumers money rather than providing qualiy and comfort, they do not invest in innovation, research etc..
Creativity perspective even though we have great ability but we are way behind other internation firms.
Just look at the US firms they spend 80% to 90% of their revenue in many areas.
foreigners buy our cotton and sell in expensive . iam very jealous when america sells our brand name clothes in dollors and in india we buy in cheap rate. macy’s is the best example all the ready to wear clothes label saying made in india we have to purchase in dollors amount and iam very sad to. but i feel proud that iam buying indian clothes. india is great even thought it is a developing country. india is always do cheating with the poor people in india now foreign countries cheating india. jaisi karni waise bharni. if indian politicans are doing good for the people other countries like british and america will never get chance to do this. bcoz of race and religion india is backward.indian has to learn personality development and good communication.
TATA’s management ability and finesse is absolutely crystal clear to me in the fact that they are trying to get a great deal by buying Jag and LR for dirt cheap (about 2 or 3 billion) while Ford actualy forked out almost 4 billion to their British counter parts at the time. At the same time, TATA will get instant exposure to the international market, which is exactly what they want for TATA motors at this point. They have already established themselves in India and many other nations such as South Africa etc. Now its time to capture the western markets. M&M is already planning to sell Scorpio models in USA this year and beyond, possibly a diesel electric hybrid, now that in itself is a great threat to the already jittery SUV market. All of this aggression by Indian car companies is scaring the white Saab, thats all it is. They will suck it up and get over it, they have no choice if they want to survive their competition…India has arrived, BEWARE!
Sunny.
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