The announcement of Cyrus Mistry as the chairman-in-waiting for
the $83 billion Tata Group has ended all media speculation about who
will take charge as the head of India’s most respected steel-to-software
conglomerate. The new question is: did Mistry get the job because he’s a
Parsi, a community of 69,601 adherents?
There are clear benefits, the most important being cultural. As a group begun by a Parsi businessman Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata in 1868, there is no denying its Parsi roots — as well as branches — as far as leadership goes. All the four chairmen after Jamsetji have been Parsis.
Dorab Tata (1904-32), Nowroji Saklatwala (1932-38), Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (better known as JRD) Tata (1932-91) and Ratan Tata today (he will retire in December 2012). To expect this cultural topline not to trickle down to the company’s innards — the 425,000 employees working in more than 100 companies — is difficult.
But not impossible. We are yet to hear of a single case where a Parsi was given precedence over a non-Parsi in this group. Overall, the Tata group has been one where values like merit have had a strong appeal.
So, while each chairman has taken the group forward, the value system of the company has remained the same. Ratan Tata, for instance, has globalised the group like never before. With half its revenues coming from abroad, the group under Ratan has globalised like never before.
There is no denying that each chairman has steered growth of the group over the past 143 years. In fact, the contribution of this tiny community in the large ocean of Indian business is huge — Godrej and Wadia, to name just two. So, Mistry’s elevation to the top job, though surprising because Ratan had said the group would look globally to find a successor, was really not so.
In a column I wrote the day Mistry’s name was announced, I said the group had moved into the hands of continuity in an age of discontinuity. The continuity is six-fold — Mistry is part of the family (his sister Aloo is married to Ratan’s half-brother Noel); he represents the largest shareholder; by serving on the board of Tata Sons as director for five years; he is humble and ethical. And, not to forget, he is a Parsi.
With 143 years of Parsi leadership behind, the next 32 years will see a non-Tata Parsi at the helm of the Tata group. For any further debate on this issue, we’ll have to
There are clear benefits, the most important being cultural. As a group begun by a Parsi businessman Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata in 1868, there is no denying its Parsi roots — as well as branches — as far as leadership goes. All the four chairmen after Jamsetji have been Parsis.
Dorab Tata (1904-32), Nowroji Saklatwala (1932-38), Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (better known as JRD) Tata (1932-91) and Ratan Tata today (he will retire in December 2012). To expect this cultural topline not to trickle down to the company’s innards — the 425,000 employees working in more than 100 companies — is difficult.
But not impossible. We are yet to hear of a single case where a Parsi was given precedence over a non-Parsi in this group. Overall, the Tata group has been one where values like merit have had a strong appeal.
So, while each chairman has taken the group forward, the value system of the company has remained the same. Ratan Tata, for instance, has globalised the group like never before. With half its revenues coming from abroad, the group under Ratan has globalised like never before.
There is no denying that each chairman has steered growth of the group over the past 143 years. In fact, the contribution of this tiny community in the large ocean of Indian business is huge — Godrej and Wadia, to name just two. So, Mistry’s elevation to the top job, though surprising because Ratan had said the group would look globally to find a successor, was really not so.
In a column I wrote the day Mistry’s name was announced, I said the group had moved into the hands of continuity in an age of discontinuity. The continuity is six-fold — Mistry is part of the family (his sister Aloo is married to Ratan’s half-brother Noel); he represents the largest shareholder; by serving on the board of Tata Sons as director for five years; he is humble and ethical. And, not to forget, he is a Parsi.
With 143 years of Parsi leadership behind, the next 32 years will see a non-Tata Parsi at the helm of the Tata group. For any further debate on this issue, we’ll have to
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