From values to value

Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand by Morgen Witzel. Published in 2010 by Penguin Books India Private Limited, 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110017. Pp: xvii + 222. Price: Rs 599.

Though the House of Tata was founded over a century ago, Brand Tata is of relatively recent origin. (A recent report by Brand Finance Global 500, values it at $ 11.2 billion, making it the world’s 65th most valuable brand.) Till the late nineties Tata had no corporate brand and constituent companies used the Tata name as they pleased. As Ratan Tata put it, "We had a reputation but we did not have a brand.” Tatas identified their brand in 15 or 20 different ways, each company doing as it pleased. Every business used the Tata name and mark in different ways, as it chose. Tata Sons gradually persuaded the boards of the Tata companies that it was in their best interests to work together and return to the old model of collaboration.

Business historian Morgen Witzel shows how a brand was created on the foundation of that reputation. What makes the Tata brand and how did it evolve? What are its values? How do people perceive it? Witzel explores the unique relationship between Tata and the Indian people with reference to the Tata ethos and demonstrates that the societal purpose of Tata is reflected in the brand. He describes how the Tata reputation and image evolved, and how the group has worked to transform that image into a valuable brand.

Morgen Witzel: creating a common identity

A brand defines a firm and encapsulates its values and identity. Any understanding of the Tata brand has to begin with Tata’s values. These values can be traced back to the founder Jamsetji Tata whose ideals embraced social responsibilities long before the idea of corporate social responsibility existed. Jamsetji’s linkage of political, social and commercial interests, and his attempt to use them as a single driving force to promote a strong India, also distinguishes his philanthropy from the usual palliative ‘hospital and poor asylum’ charity which he himself frowned upon. Later, J. R. D. Tata was equally passionate in his belief that the purpose of business was service to the community.

Witzel identifies three particular Tata values: trust, reliability and commitment to the community, all of which he feels influence strategy, behavior and stakeholder perceptions. Witzel tells us that Tata’s corporate brand and its culture are very closely aligned and these attributes of the Tata brand are also cornerstones of its culture. Also, Tata employees in India engage with the brand at multiple levels. Workers at Tata Steel identify themselves almost interchangeably with Tata Steel itself and with the Tata group. Some of them who were from third or fourth generation families identified with the company almost as strongly as with their families. But, Witzel says, this sort of identification with the company is harder in newer companies like Tata Communications and Tata Teleservices.

A corporate brand is like an umbrella providing shelter to smaller products/services. Witzel argues that the Tata brand goes much beyond revenue generation: it holds the group together and functions as a coordinating mechanism in the working of the Tata confederacy. The corporate brand has a symbiotic relationship with brands of other Tata companies. Nano has strengthened not just Tata Motors, but also the Tata brand by increasing visibility considerably and also establishing a reputation for innovation. Today, Tata companies sign an agreement and pay to use the word Tata and the T symbol. Some new ventures (notably the retail venture Trent) were not allowed to use the name since their failure would have hurt the corporate brand. Those companies that use the Tata corporate brand now share a common identity even while maintaining their own uniqueness.

The Tatas, unlike other global brands which rely heavily on advertising, have for the most part used below-the-line promotion with only a limited amount of corporate advertising both in India and overseas. Two brand campaigns in 2002-03 and 2004-05 reinforced Tata’s traditional values and connected its heritage with the present: the two primary straplines being ‘A Century of Trust’ and ‘Improving the Quality of Life.’ The Tata brand like other famous brands has also suffered infringement problems. When pursuing such infringements Tata adopts a ‘softly-softly’ approach. Only if the Tata reputation and values are threatened does the group take decisive action.

This absorbing and well-researched book (thoughtfully dedicated to Tata historian R. M. Lala) is a valuable addition to the existing literature on the Tatas, coming as it does at a time when the Tata brand is on the threshold of becoming a truly global one.

Bakhtiar K. Dadabhoy