India's Elephant-Tata Group and Jaguar and Land Rover.

Tata Group is a world-renowned industrial group born in India. Since the birth of 1868, it has been a pioneer in many industries in India and still maintains a leading position in most industries. Ordinary consumers have no concept and impression of Tata Group. Even if they have heard of Tata Motors, it is because they have acquired the brand Jaguar Land Rover. If you know more, you will find that Tata Group involves more than that.

Tata's story began during the British Empire. At that time, India was a big exporter of cotton, but the cruel squeeze of the British East India Company left little room for local development. After 1857 to 1858 "Indian national uprising", the East India Company handed over its management affairs to the British government, and India became a British crown colony. After the lessons of the uprising, the British government softened its tactics and eased the degree of exploitation. With the efforts of the outside world, India also has the first railway. Although it is still a British colony, the local economic development opportunities are gradually increasing.

In the world trade system at that time, India was mainly an exporter, and the first batch of entrepreneurs who rose in India were mainly engaged in export trade, and jamsetji tata was one of them. Jamshetaiji's father was an exporter in Mumbai. He graduated from university in 1858, which coincided with the best period of social change in India. Since then, his father's export business has continued to grow. 1859, Jamshetji came to Hong Kong to open a subsidiary. After learning about the scale of British trade in Hong Kong, he realized that Tata's export business still has potential to be tapped. In the following ten years, he went to Japan, China and Britain to establish a sales network for his father's business.

1868, he set up his own export company, and then used the money he earned to open a textile factory and began to build an effective vertically integrated enterprise. From the beginning, Jamshetty's philosophy was to explore the excellent experiences from all over the world and bring them back to India. In his textile factory, many measures were unheard of at that time, such as providing sickness allowance and pension for employees, and so on. But the textile industry is not enough to satisfy Jamshetji. He saw the miracles created by industrial revolution in europe, and he wanted to replicate them at home. When observing various countries, he found that economic development would inevitably drive tourism, so he began to set foot in hotels, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal Hotel, which is still one of the most famous buildings in Mumbai. 190 1 year, a steel plant was established, and there are also reference prototypes. It is a German steel plant. Later, a hydropower project was started, inspired by 1903' s visit to Niagara Falls Power Station. Unfortunately, Jamshetji died in 1904 and failed to see the completion and operation of the steel plant and hydropower project. Jamshetji is sincerely committed to commercial norms and education popularization, donating land and buildings, and helping to establish a famous Indian university: Indian Institute of Science.

1904, after Jamsheji died on a business trip in Germany, he left the growing Tata Company to his two sons. The two sons did not separate, but merged their ownership into a holding company and then held shares in the company through the family trust fund. Jamshetaiji's sons realized their father's ambition: 1907, the first steel plant in India was completed and put into operation; 19 12, the first cement plant in India was completed and put into operation; 19 19, the first local insurance company in India officially opened.

1938, Tata group has developed into a large group consisting of 14 subsidiaries. At this time, the power of the company is facing handover again, and this time the power is not passed to Jamsheji's grandson, but to a cousin named Jahangir Tata.

Jahangir Tata, better known as JRD, was born in France to an Indian father and a French mother. Before returning to India to participate in the family business, he lived in France, and French was better than English and Hindi. Louis Blériot was a French inventor and pilot. 1909, he successfully completed the first flight of a heavier-than-air plane across the English Channel. JRD grew up in the flying craze at this time when he was young. His first flight was at the age of 15. 1929, JRD became one of the first Indians to obtain a commercial flight license. Therefore, JRD, who is keen on flying, took over Tata Group, and the first big project was to develop airlines.

Tata Airlines, which he founded in 1932, initially provided only mail service, and 1938 began to provide passenger flight service, and also helped Britain in World War II. After India's independence from 65438 to 0947, the policies of the new government clashed with private enterprises. Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, saw the success of JRD Airlines and unilaterally decided to nationalize it (1953). From 1953 to 1977, JRD served as the chairman of the company, but the social environment made the company's operation worse and worse, and its debts continued to increase.

(JRD- Tata 1993 died of illness. The Indian President, Prime Minister and business circles all expressed their deep condolences over his death. Narasimha Rao, then prime minister, spoke highly of him: "The glorious life of JRD- Tata left the mark of human struggle". And issue stamps to commemorate it in the following year. )

JRD tries its best to avoid letting politics hinder business development, try its best to develop Tata Group and avoid conflicts with politicians. 1945, he founded Tata motors. His original idea was to make locomotives, but later his business changed. 1954 cooperated with Daimler, a German automobile company, to expand its business into the field of commercial vehicles. During JRD's 52 years in charge of the company, Tata Group has grown from 14 subsidiaries to 95, but due to political considerations, the Tata family's ownership of each company has been greatly reduced. 1969, the Indian government promulgated the Monopoly and Restrictive Business Practices Act, which was aimed at Tata Group, although Tata Group was no longer a monopoly enterprise according to western standards at that time.

With the expansion of JRD Group and the reduction of the ownership of its subsidiaries, the control of the group over its subsidiaries is getting lower and lower, and some subsidiaries are even difficult to operate normally. JRD decided to change this situation and sent Ratan Tata (one of Jamshetji's great-grandchildren) to work in the group from 65438 to 0962. 197 1 year, the first project I started to take over was very difficult. This is a company called NELCO, which was the largest radio manufacturer in India in 1950s, but only 20 years later, its market share dropped to only 3%. Ratan's strategy is to focus on the future technology, so he did not try to save the radio business, but devoted himself to developing new products, such as satellite communication. Satellite communication business restored NELCO's market position in 1980s, and made Ratan win the competition for JRD successor.

199 1 year, Ratan officially became the leader of Tata Group. At this time, the wave of economic liberalization swept through India, the original political control gradually weakened, and India joined the global capital market. At this time, Tata Group is facing new challenges.

Prior to this, the environment in which Tata Group lived was a closed economy that was closely protected. At this time, competition was suddenly opened to foreign companies, testing the adaptability of Tata Group. Another disadvantage is that JRD makes Tana Group very loose for political reasons, which makes it difficult for Tata Group to adapt to new competitors. Ratan began to reclaim the ownership of all subsidiaries, which was a costly process and sold 20% shares of Tata Group to raise funds. Recycling is very worthwhile because it contains many high-quality assets, especially Tata Steel and Tata Motors. Subsequently, its nearly 65,438+000 subsidiaries were reorganized into seven departments. After the reorganization, the group regained control.

However, restraining power alone is not enough to reverse the current situation of enterprises. In the 1990s, the subsidiaries of Tata Group rarely won the competition with international rivals. However, Ratan's counterattack is also wonderful: by constantly acquiring overseas competitors, absorbing Tata Group and quickly and effectively absorbing talents, supply chain and experience, it can not only feed back India's domestic business, but also expand internationally. Ratan's large-scale acquisition began in 2000: Tata Tea, a subsidiary, acquired Tetley from Britain. In the next decade, all the subsidiaries of Tata Group made mergers and acquisitions, the most famous of which was the acquisition of European steel giant Gru in 2007 for $654.38+0.2 billion, and then the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover in 2008 for $2 billion.

Large-scale overseas mergers and acquisitions have brought rich returns to Tata Group. Today, most of Tata Group's income comes from outside India.