Analyses of TATA Motors, Cisco, Microsoft - Research Paper Example

1. Developing and Promoting Goods and Services TATA motors, headquartered at the following address: Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody St. Mumbai, 400 001, India and operates in various parts of the world including North America at 1700 North Moore Street, Suite 1005, Arlington, VA 22209, is one of the Forbes Global 2000 companies.TATA has recently introduced the world’s cheapest car Nano. It is an example of developing and promoting goods and services and is a landmark in the history of automobile industry. TATA Motors unveiled the new car- Nano- called as ‘the People’s Car’ by the Eonomist at the 9th Auto Expo on 10 January 2008. The car is registered as a great event of significance in the history of the company. Millions of people around the world were curious about it and awaited its launch. The purpose was to develop a cheap automobile affordable for the middle class. According to A Jadhav, “industrial designer, INCAT, who has been working on the project since its inception, the idea was to try and create a very low cost transportation with four wheels — it was not even defined as a car” (economist.com) TATA Motors faced many challenges through its design, manufacturing and marketing of the Nano. The impact on the company and its team was significant. For the team at TATA Motors, the project has been a real challenge, “filled with challenges, questions, detours and self-doubts” (economist). In the process of developing an affordable car, the team experienced many frustrating design changes. However frustrating the process has been, the engineering team at TATA Motors feels satisfied and proud of the various creative and innovative ideas that have gone into the making of the new car. They have registered a record in the development of a new product in the automobile industry. The promotion is no doubt successful. Though it has been a constructive and challenging experience for the engineering team at TATA, the company faced protests by farmers and local political leaders and had to give up its factory at Singur. This costed the company $292 million. But, a new factory costed an additional price of $97 million. The event has become the most memorable as well as very expensive for the company. But the launch itself has been successful. The automobile market has been so receptive so far. For TATA, this relocation of the factory has become even more significant than the actual launch of Nano. The launch of Nano has brought about a paradigm shift in the concept of bourgeois economy. Now, anyone can dream of owning a car. Moreover, it has created waves in the automobile industry and has opened scope for discussion on issues like cost efficiency, social responsibility, etc. While looking at the long term benefits and impact of the event, the relocation of the factory to Gujarat, India will be beneficial to the local economy drawing more investors into the supporting small industries anchoring the growth of the economy. The class divide has been reduced to a great extent creating a revolution in automobile industry. The purchasing ability of customers will be increased and economy will be alive. The efforts of TATA to sustain amidst the threat of potential monetary loss will be an example for the other industry giants to reconsider their social responsibility. The impact of industry event could have been better if there had been more support from the local society and political parties. 2. Security and Controls Cisco is one of the world’s leading network equipment and security industry. It is uniquely known for its production of switches and routers. The company’s official website is www.cisco.com. The Corporate Headquarters of the company is in: 170 West Tasman Drive San Jose, CA 95134-1706, USA. Cisco has been on papers as the company’s web portal started exposing the passwords of the registered users. This event is of huge concern for Cisco as this is something to do with security compliance. The beginning of this problem was discovered when their customers started receiving emails advising them on security violation. As a result of this, the company had to accept that the fault was with the search tool in the cisco.com website that gave out passwords. This event is not a very pleasing happening for the organization as this has hit the security aspect which is the company’s most renowned aspect. Cisco attracted criticism from various fronts. This event led to several thoughts or opinions from other industrial giants. Michael Maddison, director of enterprise risk services for Deloitte, said: "I think its more likely to be vulnerability in Web applications than Cisco equipment. Thats my opinion — we see vulnerabilities in Web pages all the time." (News.zdnet.co.uk) Another important factor that hurt Cisco was the flowing number of email requests for password resets from their existing registered users. There were about three million requests for password reset that they had to do. Customers were at stake as the login information had leaked as a result of this event which might have given out some important details of their users. Cisco was responsible for this breach of trust as well. The long term effects of this event are something scary though. Having breached the customers’ trust, at the level of the company, Cisco might lose its valuable customers. However, its regular measures to ensure privacy and security have possibilities of securing them. On a larger scale, the internet based information will no longer be considered safe; information security is already a major concern for internet users as many companies fall a prey to security breaches every year. Vulnerability of internet shared information will give rise to many hackers. This will create complex issues about any internet enabled communication especially for corporate data. If Cisco had been more rigorous in its security settings, the breach would have been avoided. The ignorance of some of its customers about hacking also is a cause. Any system that monitors the information flow to encrypt readable data might be of use. So, it has to consider redefining its security settings immediately, not just once but to make regular modifications to the settings and make the required changes to the search tool in the web portal so that it doesn’t become a victim to a hacker again. More vigilant digital surveillance to trap the all -brains hackers should be on the priorities list for Cisco and other internet security systems. 3.Evolution and Applications of the Internet Microsoft, a Fortune 500 software development company, is based in USA and its headquarters is located at Redmond, WA 98052-7329, USA. Microsoft launched its first TV service which is web based. It was named as MSN Video. One of the important events in the history of Microsoft is the launch of MSN video. It proposed to revolutionize digital broadcasting by offering video streaming from various content providers online. Though individual broadcasting services had their own online services, some of them partnered with Microsoft to create a video streaming service where viewers could watch all their favourite programs at one place. Microsoft benefitted from its launch of the internet TV player due to its mass welcome by all sections of internet users. Also, it has been recorded as the first entry into the web enabled video. MSN is Microsoft Video Streaming and it offered 300 hours free content when it was launched initially. Internet users would have received it with pleasure, no doubt about that. The commercial partner was BBC Worldwide. All3 Media, an independent producer also joined the group to offer certain video programs. These partnerships were interesting and helped reach the mass internet users as it allowed the users to watch full length episodes from programs free. Consumer is very important in any business and the internet users worldwide were impressed by the MSN features. So, the launch has been successful. Free video attracted more viewership and it helped Microsoft as each program carried multiple advertisements. To predict the impacts over a longer period, the launch of internet video marked a significant landmark in the history of internet applications. This will bring in more talent in the remaking of broadcasting technology. BBC, though it had launched its iPlayer, resorted to the internet TV. Similarly, ITV and Channel 4 are considering the possibilities of partnering with Microsoft. There is more to look for in MSN in future. Project Kangaroo blocked its video services to make MSN a one stop point for any video demand. This forecasts a major internet broadcasting service in future, which could be a joint project by major providers in the world. The existence of TV might be threatened as well. The digital revolution in broadcasting and the possibility of Internet TV replacing the cable TV and Radio is a significant impact on the media industry. However, the providers and Microsoft team has to ensure that the quality and speed of video streaming does not hamper the perfect viewer experience. To increase the viewership, the internet TV services should be extended to all countries, as right now it is available only to UK viewers. A globalized internet TV will prove more effective than cable TV network. The service could be extended to mobile internet users, where video broadcasting will make similar impact like the onset of FM Radio. Anything anywhere will be a typical globalized service. References Cisco Systems. After a Breach in Network Security. 2001. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/so/neso/sqso/roi3_wp.pdf Crn.com. Cisco Fesses Up To Access Point Security Breach. 04 Dec 2003. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://www.crn.com/security/18840212;jsessionid=SL2LYOSIFLQ2FQE1GH PCKHWATMY32JVN Economist. Com. The Tata Nano. The new peoples car. 26 Mar 2009. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13381 522 Hardware. Microsoft MSN TV 2. Pctoday.com. 01 March 2005. Vol.3, Issue 3. Retrieved on 8 august 2009 from http://www.pctoday.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2F2005%2Ft03 03%2F28t03g%2F28t03g.asp Jones, Brent. World’s Cheapest Car: First Tata Nano is delivered in India; due in US in two years. Content.usatoday.com. 17 July 2009. Retrieved on 8 August 2 2009 from http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2009/07/68494759/1 Kendal, Nigel. Microsoft to launch internet TV service in the UK. Timesonline. co.uk. 29 July 2009. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6732070.ec e Livemint.com. Tata Nano Sets the Platform for India as a Frugal Engineering Hub. 1 11 Jan 2008. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://www.livemint.com/2008/01/10234921/Tata-Nano-sets-the-platform- fo.html Leyden, John. Cisco security flap leaves millions scrambling for help. 3 August 2005. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/03/cisco_password_backlog/ News.zdnet.co.uk. Security breach hits Cisco users. 03 Aug 2005. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39211992,00.htm Telegraph.co.uk. Microsoft launches MSN Video, its first web TV service. 30 Jul 2009. Retrieved on 8 August 2009 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/5932712/Microsoft- launches-MSN-Video-its-first-web-TV-service.html Read More