CIAO DATE: 08/2008
January 2008
Center for the Advanced Study of India
The Tata Group plays a central role in the Indian economy and is currently at the fore in the internationalization of Indian companies. Tata has some specific features, including the role played by Tata Sons and Tata Industries in coordinating financial and managerial activities and managing the Tata brand, as well as the strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility, mainly though not exclusively through the Tata trusts. This paper first assembles available evidence on the internationalization of Tata firms through both mergers and acquisitions and greenfield investments and considers the relative importance of underlying factors driving the process: market access for exports and delivery of services, sources of raw materials, and horizontal or vertical integration. It then analyzes how internationalization is changing the nature and corporate culture of Tata, before discussing the post-merger integration of Tetley into Tata Tea, seven years after this acquisition - then the largest-ever by an Indian company in a foreign country - was finalized. In the conclusions, the paper explores the implications of the Tata experience for the internationalization of large firms from India and other emerging economies.
Resource link: The Internationalization of Indian Companies: The Case of Tata [PDF] - 408K