Professor’s Book Unveiled at India’s Taj Mahal Hotel

An author from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business was showcased recently at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai for his book on Tata Group’s iconic transformation. The event for invited reporters included Tata Group senior executives.

Penguin India has published the work by Sunil Mithas, Smith School professor of information systems, as “Making the Elephant Dance: The Tata Way to Innovate, Transform and Globalize.”

With a foreword by Tata Sons former Chairman Ratan N. Tata, the book chronicles the transformational, 20-year journey of the Tata Group and its companies from a $5.8 billion Indian firm to a $103 billion global powerhouse. It further examines the excellence initiatives that Tata followed, based on the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology-based Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

“Tata Group’s success, due in part to its commitment to business excellence, globalization and innovation, demonstrates that even giants can dance, if they combine the discipline of consistent processes with autonomy needed for innovation,” said Mithas, speaking to the July 27 gathering  for the book’s formal release, targeting the Indian subcontinent.

Also during the event, Tata Sons Group Executive Council member and Brand Custodian Mukund Rajan and Tata Quality Management Services Executive Chairman S. Padmanaban explained Tata Group's Vision 2025, as articulated by Cyrus Mistry, chairman of Tata Sons.

The book release, on the eve of the birthday of late JRD Tata, also commemorated the legendary former chairman of Tata group, in whose name an excellence assessment process was established by Ratan Tata in 1994.

“The book provides concrete ideas for executives to set and achieve an agenda for transformation based on lessons that apply to virtually all organizations around the world,” Mithas said.

Read lessons from the Tata Group by Sunil Mithas in his Smith Brain Trust commentary.

Additional coverage has included the Economic Times’ “How a downturn changed Tata’s world view,” a Business Standard  interview of Mithas, “Tata group’s globalization efforts have had net-off effect” and Asian News International’s “Making the elephant dance: A book chronicling Tata’s journey released.”