The Management of Global Trade Distribution - Tata Motors - Essay Example

? Tata Motors and Tata Motors Background Tata motors limited is the largest automobile company based in India and the world’s fourth largest truck and bus manufacturer. It is the leading company in commercial vehicles, passengers’ vehicles with winning products, mid size car and utility vehicles. The company has over 55,000 employees and all working together to attain a common goal and stick to the company’s missions, which states “to be passionate in anticipating and providing the best vehicles and experiences that excite our customers globally”. The company has set a vision that has worked to their advantage in expanding the company. Its vision is “Most admired by our customers, employees, business partners and shareholders for the experience and the value they enjoy being with us” (Tata Motors). The company also adopted a culture of being accountable; customer and product focused and became excellent in goods and services provision with a superb speed. The company was founded in the year 1945, and most of its vehicles are used across India, currently over 7.5 million Tata vehicles are on the roads since they started in 1954. The company set a strategic alliance with The Fiat Group Automobiles in 2005 to manufacture both Tata and Fait cars and Fait power trains. Since then, the company’s dealership, sales, services and spare parts have greatly increased to over 3,500 touch points (Sauvant, 2008, p.25). Global Distribution Tata Motors has also expanded more since its enlisting in New York Stock exchange in September 2004; thus setting its level up to an international automobile company. The company also establishes several links and association with other companies enabling it to over its goods and services in several countries like the UK, Spain, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa and South Korea. One of the subsidiaries was the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, which is the second leading manufacturer of trucks in South Korea and the other is the Jaguar Land Rover which was acquired in 2008. This enabled the Daewoo to have new products it its market giving them a chance to export the same product to international markets. Tata Company has grown internationally and established good ties with several international companies (Tata Motors). Since 1966, the company’s products were on the market of numerous continents. This includes Europe, Africa, South America, South East Asia, The Middle East and Russia. It also had some operations in Bangladesh, Ukraine and Senegal. In the year 2011, the company set a joint venture with Tata Africa Holding (Pty) limited to assemble both medium and heavy commercial vehicles ranging from 4 to 5o tonnes in its plant at Rosslyn, North of Pretoria. A venture was also established between Tata motors and Brazil-based buses and coaches manufactures of 51:49, a plant located at Dharwad, to manufacture busses and coaches for India. The company is currently known almost all over the world with its products that can be custom-made to fit the user’s needs and requirement (Tata motors). Strategic Issues Tata is a company that leads with trust. It believes in bringing back wealth to the community they serve. The company is inspired by nationalism, thus being kingpin of several industries of national importance to India. These are the steel, power, hospitality and airlines. This is one of the strategic plans for the company to develop a good relationship with its own country as one of the major users of their goods and services (Tata motors). The company also used two-thirds of its equity through philanthropic trusts to open up state institutions for technology and science, medical research, arts and social studies. Through the trust, the company was also able to establish links with non-governmental organizations dealing with education, social welfare and health of the community at large (Thomsen, 2011, p.10). The company is also focused on new technologies currently available to enable the company widen its territories internationally. Tata is investing, on innovation, to enable them have a digital advantage over the other companies. In 2008, it was able to develop the Nano Car, which was ranked the world’s fourth fastest car. This is a super computer car that operates most with technology. In the current world, technology is a strategic issue in most companies. Those companies that have not embraced technology have been left out in the business world and are at the brim of being extinct. Most transactions and ventures are between the technologically enabled companies that can be able to link their activities together and work as ‘one’ global company (Laudon & Laudon, 2011, p.13). The company has core values, which have worked well in ensuring that they attain their strategic plan. These are accountability, inclusion, integrity, customer, passion for excellence, agility, concern of environment and innovation. The employees of Tata motors stick to their values and work in accordance to them. For example in Passion of excellence, the employees have the zeal to always have new ideas on the table for the top management to evaluate. Tata Company has won several awards because of working in accordance to its values. Awards like most reputed company, Best learning organizations of Asia and Golden peacock award for excellence in Corporate Governance amongst many others (Gupta, 2011, p.142). Operational Issues Tata company operations are governed by the corporate policies and Tata code of conduct. This provides a means and the way by which the company should conduct its businesses. The company has several clauses, which should be strictly adhered to by its employees. Some of these guidelines are, the national interest, the Tata group should ensure that they undertake a project that is beneficial to the country’s operations. It should benefit not only the company but also the entire community. Another guideline is offering equal opportunities to its current and future employees. There shall be no regard to sex, race, religion, color, age, nationality, ancestry or even marital status when a job advert has been placed. Tata Motors being an international company need so adopt a diversity policy and equality in the workplace to ensure that it is working according to international standards (Tata motors). The company is set to reduce on bribery, fraud and corruption; these should be done by ensuring that the company’s employees do not use the company’s resources to their advantage or by offering gifts and donations with an intended benefit. Market and Marketing Marketing in Tata Company has improved especially with the investment on technology and communication. The company has also developed an elaborate website that can be able to sell the company’s products. Having an easy to access and use website has enabled the company to sell more products. This has become a major advertising media as it is easier and faster way of reaching numerous users at the same time (Cateora & Hess, 1971, p.15). The other marketing strategy employed by the company is ensuring that it has joint ventures worldwide thus bringing services closer to the users. The users can easily contact the closes contact and will be offered the goods or services required. Tata motors is currently setting up an eco-friendly showroom in its new mantra. It uses natural building materials in the building for the floor and the lighting also will be from the green energy. This is a marketing strategy that will ensure that the company is ‘thinking’ of the community well being in its operations (Mishra & Sharma, 2010, p.13). Documentation and Risk In regard to documentation the company keeps there financial reports and records well for ease of access. It the company’s code of conduct, clause 2 it says “A Tata Company shall prepare and maintain its accounts fairly and accurately and in accordance with the accounting and financial reporting standards”, these means that the laws and principles should be adhered to (Tata motors). Tata has several challenges that it faces on its quest of entering the foreign market, these are on products, people and process. The company has to develop a product for international market. The challenge here is on research as the company needs to ensure that it invest heavy on research to be able to offer a product that is fit to all its users despite the place of origin. The company had to do research oversees and also outsource partners for better results (Sauvant, 2008, p.29). On people, the company had a challenge of ensuring that their staffs have an international mindset. The staff should be trained on international standards and the also ensuring that the human resources policies are in line with the international standards. The challenge on processes will be to ensure that the processes implemented are of world class (Sauvant, 2008, p.30). The other challenge is cultural issues. Most Indian companies have a unique culture which is slightly different from the European and US based companies. This has made it difficult in establishing joint ventures (Sauvant, 2008, p.28). In conclusion, Tata motors are one of the best companies in India that has fought against all odds to stand firm and developed internationally. It has succeeded in having many joint ventures with many companies in most continents. This is because they offer products of quality and standard that most companies would like to be associated with. References Cateora, P.R. & Hess, J.M. (1971) International marketing. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Gupta, V.K. (2011) Flexible strategic framework for managing forces of continuity and change– study of inward supply chain of a leading automotive company in India. International Journal of Business Excellence, 4(2), 142-159. Kumar, K., Van Fenema, P.C. & Von Glinow, M.A. (2008) Offshoring and the global distribution of work: Implications for task interdependence theory and practice. Journal of International Business Studies, 40(4), 642-667. Mishra, P. & Sharma, P. (2010) Green marketing in India: Emerging opportunities and challenges. Journal of Engineering, Science and Management Education, 3, 9-14. Sauvant, K.P. (2008) The rise of transnational corporations from emerging markets: threat oropportunity. Edward Elgar Publishing. Tata motors [Internet]. Available from [Accessed 15 April 2013] Thomsen, S. (2011). Trust Ownership of the Tata Group. Available at SSRN 1976958. Laudon, K.C. & Laudon, J.P. (2011) Essentials of management information systems. Boston, Prentice Hall. Wells, P. (2010) The Tata Nano, the global ‘value’segment and the implications for the traditional automotive industry regions. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3(3), 443-457. Read More