AvantGarde

IME, IIT K under the aegis of head of the department, Prof. Rahul Verman organized a 2 day workshop on strategic management by one of the distinguished adjunct faculties, Prof. Chandra Vir Singh during 6th and 7th February , 2016. Prof. Singh, an alumnus of IIT K (Department of Electrical Engineering, batch of 1968) had worked in TELCO , presently Tata Motors for over 40+ years. Starting his career in the domain of IT, Prof. C.V Singh headed several divisions in the domains of planning, operations,  finance, systems and so on. The workshop kick started with the initial introduction of the guest lecturer by our respected H.O.D and moved ahead with several key insights in some of the domains of strategic management. We analyzed deeply and tried to find out the key factors which play major role in creating the sustainable excellence of the successful worldwide enterprises like Ford,Boeing , Motorola, Tata Group, 3-M , General electric etc. Prof. Singh communicated that the capabilities and excellence of a successful business venture lies in the major pillars like Organizational resources, processes, values delivered and created. An organization for reaching that level of excellence as desired has to continuously evolve and convert it into a learning organization, capable of changing itself with the altering time scenarios and demands. Carrying forward, Prof. Singh also enlightened us with various excellence models which are followed across the industries, like Deming Model, Malcom Bridge Model, European Business Excellence Model and  finally Tata Business Excellence Model. With his long stint in Tata Motors, Prof. Singh has actually observed so many ups and downs of the organization in different times with respect to people, market, demands, operations, technology and so on. He also expressed some of his key understandings and learning while heading the Lucknow plant of Tata Motors. In our discussions we also touched several points on vision frameworks of an evolving organization. We touched upon issues like organizational governance, evaluation of performances
of individuals and organization, CSR Frameworks, legal and ethical behaviours and so on. We also discussed the various aspects of the TBEM Models in detail to understand, what are the key essences and factors that are keeping this “Salt to Vehicle Conglomerate” a leader in several categories for decades after decades. The second day was entirely devoted to comprehend and understand the phenomenon of cross border
acquisition. Prof. Singh used to be an integral part of one of the largest acquisitions happened by Tata Motors, staring from 2002-03 to acquire South Korean giant in automobiles, Daewoo Motors. He took us in a wonderful journey showcasing the various aspects of cross border acquisitions, the problems faced in terms of cultural assimilation, language, communication, organizational goals, business targets, people, process and everything. This acquisition was till date the biggest one done by any Indian company. So, naturally the challenges were also huge. He also enlightened us about the great  financial crisis that happened in 1997 and how the Asian  firms got affected by that which played a key role also behind the acquisition of Daewoo motors in Korea by TELCO. Tata Motors being a 100 % indigenous manufacturer of automobiles learned the new ways of doing things after the acquisition. In a high cost economy like South Korea (The then Asian Tiger) acquiring a company and managing its product portfolio , people and culture at a higher cost was completely an entire new learning for the group. When a company works in a high cost economy, it has to be very choosy every time in segmenting and introducing new products. With that note, Prof. Singh ended the session and workshop to think and ponder upon the facts that how a company from 3rd world economy became successful to acquire a giant like Daewoo and managing it quite effectively till date. “The key to making acquisitions is being ready because you really never know when the right big one is going to come along” – James McNerney (Chairman – Boeing). So, definitely the time, strategy and organizational
motto of the Tata Motors played a key role in the successful acquisition of a company like Daewoo. The strategic management played its part everywhere, starting from the basic bidding for the company to ultimately taking on board the entire corporation with different cultures, processes and everything. The visionary management of Tata Motors was really successful in that line.
By- Kinsuk Ghatak