Author: Harish Bhat
Genre: Non-Fiction, Business House, Narrative
Published: 2021
BookMarks
As the title says, Tatalog is a collection of 8 stories from the House of Tatas. Given the storied nature of the business house, the author has picked a few of the more recent examples, hence more relatable.
Most interesting part is the wordplay in the title, with the log meaning a record/journal (in English) or people (in Hindi); with both meanings equally apt.
The stories are from all over the business, building the first car (Indica), CSR initiatives (Tata Chemicals in Okhamandal), issues of integrity (Tata Financials), building a first supercomputer (Eka), major acquisitions (Tetley), big awards (Tata Steel winning the Deming Prize), Second Careers Program, builing a brand (Tanishq). Each story in its own way, deriving different aspects of the Tata Way, which the author has defined as the 4Ps - Pioneering, Purposive, Principled, Perfect.
A few nuggets from the narratives
- Tata Indica’s design basis - internal volume of an Ambassador, size of a Maruti Zen and pricing close to Maruti 800. To build it Nissan's factory in Australia was transported to Pune
- Shankar Sharma, the Tata Financials Whistleblower was never identified (at least publicly)
- “Say TATA not goodbye” – the tagline for the Second Careers Program.
A Key Definition from the book: Risk - an ability to be where no one has been before
One Grouse: The chapter on acquisition of Tetley, refers to all sort of historic events, and yet misses out on Boston Tea Party!
An interesting book but the stories are completely unconnected! Also makes me wonder why there aren’t more such publications about other prominent Indian business houses. Tatas seem to be a clear leader in this genre.
Previously on BookMarks: Ikigai
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