Emerging market brands in the B2C space - a study based on Tata Tetley

Abstract

Ratan Tata articulated the internationalization mission of the Tata Group of Companies in Lasting Legacies, the commemorative volume of Tata Review brought out in 2004: “we will spread our wings far beyond India, that we will become a global group, operating in many countries, an Indian business conglomerate that is at home in the world, carrying the same sense of trust that we do today”1. The Tata conglomerate was on a clear mandate - from its Group Chairman - to globalize. The process began at the turn of the millennium when Tata launched the group’s international foray in 2000 with the message: “We need to be bolder and willing to take bigger risks abroad than we have done.”2 Soon enough, Tata Motors acquired Daewoo in Korea and Tata Steel ventured into seven countries with the acquisition of Natsteel of Singapore. Tata Chemicals entered Morocco with an acquisition and VSNL bought over Tyco for $130m in South Africa. From this viewpoint, the acquisition of Tetley in the U.K for £271 m was part of a larger, corporate wide initiative to go global. This globalization initiative was also symptomatic of a change in Tata’s image – “from the traditional, staid organization of yore, to a more ambitious, aggressive one”, 3 in the words of Alan Rosling, Executive Director, Tata Sons.