The Tata Way an Ethos of Caring and Sharing Conceived and Produced by Group Publications Bombay House, Mumbai, India Email: [email protected]
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The Tata way An ethos of caring and sharing Conceived and produced by Group Publications Bombay House, Mumbai, India Email: [email protected] For a copy of this book, please contact: Tata Sons 1700 North Moore Street, Suite 1520 Arlington, VA 22209-1911 Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2012 Tata Sons Limited. All rights reserved. Private and confidential, for restricted and authorised circulation only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, without the prior, written permission of the publisher. All dollar conversion rates in this publication are as of February 2011; all converted values are approximate Contents 7 FOREWORD Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons 10 LEADERSHIP WITH TRUST About the Tata group 12 THE RAINBOW EFFECT The corporate sustainability vision at Tata Corporate sustainability projects by Tata companies 30 A TRADITION OF TRUST Tata trusts’ legacy of philanthropy Some significant projects of Tata trusts 52 TEMPLES OF KNOWLEDGE Tata Memorial Centre Tata Medical Center Indian Institute of Science 61 Tata Institute of Social Sciences HOMAGE TO HERITAGE Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata support for the arts and culture J.R.D. Tata Ecotechnology Centre 69 BUILDING STRONG BONDS Tata in North America Corporate sustainability projects by Tata companies in North America Foreword Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons he philosophy of corporate His sons and, subsequently, J.R.D. Tata embodied sustainability (C.S.) as practiced by the same values in their corporate actions. The T Tata companies is a legacy of this multitude of initiatives Tata companies have sowed organization’s founders, most and fostered from their earliest days — in prominently Jamsetji Tata. He considered the employee relations and ethical governance, on the labor of establishing Tata companies as secondary environment and with community causes — flow to his mission of contributing to the from this wellspring of voluntary, as opposed to industrialization of India and the emancipation obligatory, commitment. of her people. Jamsetji Tata saw disciplines such Many have wondered whether this is baggage as medicine and science, and industries such as Tata companies can afford to carry. My view is 7 energy and steel as building blocks in the that our expression of social responsibility emergence of a brave and bright new country. cannot be measured in terms of profit or cost. It His doctrine of social responsibility was the is our contribution to whichever nation our central theme of the Tata way of business. companies operate in and an expression of Jamsetji Tata and those who followed in goodwill to the communities around us. It his immediate wake set the C.S. mandate cannot be quantified in the language of for Tata companies: to look beyond the sales or turnover. I would like to think generation of products and profits to this is the best part of what the Tata serving the communities in which the group of companies stands for. I hope companies functioned. Jamsetji Tata’s we will sustain this tradition in one selfless desire to uplift India, to see his form or another, changing with the country improve and prosper was reflected times but continuing to nurture our sense in the host of endeavors he diligently pursued and, of social responsibility wherever we are and in more importantly, in the value systems that have whichever field we do business. come to define the operations of Tata companies. I would hope that no Tata company displays I would hope that no Tata company displays social“ responsibility to enhance its reputation or to score publicity points. This is something that has to happen as a part of the company’s obligation as an industrial unit, as in giving back to the people of the community what has been taken from them.” social responsibility to enhance its reputation or Mr. Mbeki said he had not heard that sentiment to score publicity points. This is something that before; from there on I believe, we were looked at as has to happen as a part of the company’s being different from other companies. We were obligation as a business unit, as in giving back to seen in an unusual light because, I think, we the people of the community what has been expressed our sense of social responsibility. It didn’t 8 taken from them. The reasons have to be right, relate to how much investment we would make in they have to be honest and sincere. South Africa, it didn’t relate to whether we were a There is this little anecdote that illustrates multinational company, it didn't relate to the the argument I am trying to make, and it involves revenues we promised; it related to a sensitivity that Thabo Mbeki, when he had yet to become the the government recognized. president of South Africa. I was in the country Many companies think they bring only then and was struck by how the black population prosperity to the communities in which they had been exploited for so many years. Private operate; few consider what they take out of these enterprise had pillaged South Africa, taken its communities: the jobs that get misplaced, the natural resources — diamonds, gold, coal, you land that gets taken up, and the displacement and name it — and grown prosperous while disruption that monetary compensations can mistreating, to say the least, the people who lived never balance. We have to recognize that we off the land where all this wealth originated. cannot plonk ourselves in a community and I told the president that the Tatas would like to operate in our own isolated way. We have to grasp bring something into the country, and that we the imperative of putting back into the wanted to give a part of our profits to South Africa. community from which we gain riches. There is a determinate cost to the C.S. around us and to our employees, and, on the initiatives a company undertakes, and then other, our responsibilities to our shareholders. there’s the indeterminate cost. The latter is what We have to be fair to all our stakeholders. Being honest enterprises sacrifice by refusing to take the just to every constituent of the community is crooked route to success. Observers just don’t crucial; it is the cornerstone of the tremendous seem to take this into account. We are in the equity that Tata products and services enjoy, and unfortunate situation today of seeing corrupt the basis of the faith and trust reposed by people corporations being feted for their ‘achievements’, in the Tata group of companies. of hearing applause for accomplishments that The Tata group of companies has, over the have been gained through immoral and unethical past few years, tried to harness the strength of its business behavior. many components in an effort to do on the Social responsibilities come under a holistic community initiatives side what it has on the canopy. There is no single element of it that is corporate front. We have more than 90 companies more important than any other. The in our stable, each with its own set of attributes, environment is important and we must be strong in certain areas, weak in others. Put all of responsive to it. Businesses are under greater them together and it becomes a formidable force. 9 pressure than ever to generate profits, but this By fusing our strengths we have been able to make should never be at the expense of the a greater impact on community development in environment. Companies have to be sensitive to various parts of the country. the topic of sustainability, to matters such as I believe the Tata model of business is a more pollution and the terrible consequences of sustainable one — simply because we really do carelessness or, worse, callousness. A business care. If industry is numb to the concerns of civil cannot prosper for long by contaminating the society, if it considers itself beyond the pale of waters of a community, polluting its air or public good, or even if it needs government diktat degrading its soil. and monitoring to do what is right, then I don’t see Similarly, we have to be concerned about how such an industry can survive for long. Tata employee relations. Doing the right thing in companies are different in this respect because we matters of corporate governance is critical, and have always done what is required by the letter and enriching the wider community is vital. I have my the spirit of the laws of the land, and often times doubts on whether we can draw a line between, much more than what those laws demand. The on the one hand, our duties to the communities Tata ethos demands no less. Leadership with trust he Tata group is a global conglomerate headquartered in India with T operations in more than 80 countries. Its 2011-12 earnings of $100.09 billion came from businesses spanning industries from steel to software. Since its inception in 1868, Tata’s approach to business has been defined by its belief that the wealth it generates belongs to the community. Two-thirds of the equity of the group’s promoter company, Tata Sons, is vested in philanthropic trusts, which disbursed $110 million in 2010-11 to organisations working in healthcare, education, women’s empowerment, livelihoods, and sustainable development. As much as 3 percent of the combined net profits of Tata companies and trusts is spent in fulfilling the group’s corporate sustainability responsibilities. In its 140-year history, Tata has earned the love and trust of millions for its adherence to Late cartoonist Mario Miranda’s impression of strong values, ethical business practices and Bombay House, the Tata group’s headquarters social commitment.