Businessmodel of Tata Group

Customer Segments

Tata Group provides services to a range of customer segments, appropriate to its numerous companies and business divisions. The Group provides services across 150 countries worldwide, with operations outside of its native India accounting for the majority of its annual revenue. It serves consumers directly, including through its automotive and financial services divisions and through its dedicated consumer retail division, and serves various industrial and corporate customers, including those within the automotive, engineering, defence and security, shipbuilding, aerospace and agriculture industries.

Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Group’s most profitable company, serves high-profile companies such as Cisco, Commerzbank, British Airways, Sony, Qualcomm and Microsoft.

Value Propositions

Tata Group is one of the largest diversified business groups in India. Its brand name is associated with quality and reliable services and products, having operated across multiple business sectors for a number of years.

Tata Group provides a range of services both to consumers and to businesses. Its products are available through multiple channels, with consumers able to access its offerings through a range of online and physical retail outlets, as well as directly from the Group itself.

Channels

Tata Group operates through multiple business channels. The Group’s products and services can be viewed on its website at www.tata.com. The Company provides products directly to consumers through a chain of retail stores, auto dealerships, third-party and proprietary e-commerce platforms, and through authorised resellers.

The Group also provides services and products directly to corporate and industrial clients via its various sales teams, and sells specialised industrial products to various customers through licensed distributors.

Customer Relationships

Much of Tata Group’s products and services, notably those aimed directly at consumers, are available on a self-service basis, both through online channels and physical retail outlets, with no need to interact with members of the Tata Group sales team.

Other more technical products or services targeted at industrial and corporate clients can be purchased from the sales teams of Tata Group’s specific group companies.

The Group provides a range of online support and information resources through the individual websites of its numerous companies and business divisions, including case studies, white papers, FAQs and brochures. It also interacts directly with its customers through newsletters, press releases, blogs and a range of social media accounts, including with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Key Activities

Tata Group is a diversified, multinational conglomerate, operating across multiple business sectors and providing services in more than 150 countries worldwide. The Group provides industrial and manufacturing services, including the production of consumer products, air conditioning units, automotive parts and products, jewellery, chemicals and agricultural products; IT, business and consulting services, including educational solutions, systems integration and business process outsourcing solutions; and telecommunications services, such as cloud computing, connectivity, infrastructure and aged security solutions.

Tata Group additionally, operates data and colocation centers, a network of multi-brand electronics retail stores, e-commerce platforms, television channels and television channels, provides distribution and logistics services, and trades thermal, hydro, solar wind and geothermal energy.

Key Partners

Through its numerous companies and business divisions, Tata Group partners with a broad range of companies across multiple business sectors, including strategic alliances, technology partners, suppliers and distribution partners.

The Group has established a series of joint ventures. For instance, in 2010 Tata Sons formed a joint venture company with AgustaWestland to build helicopters in India, Tata Global Beverages entered a joint venture with Starbucks in 2012 to develop a network of Starbucks-branded coffee shops across India, and Tata Consultancy Services created joint venture company Nippon TCS Solutions Centre alongside Mitsubishi in 2014 to provide consulting services on the Japanese market.

Tata Consultancy Services also has strategic technology partnerships with Bosch, Citrix, Cisco, Symantec, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, while Tata Motors collaborates with leading engineering companies such as Honda, Boeing, Bombardier and JCB.

Key Resources

Tata Group’s key resources include its manufacturing facilities, its logistics and distribution facilities, its IT infrastructure, its retail and supply chains and its personnel.

Tata Group has a number of patent applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, the majority of which are in the name of Tata Consultancy Services. These patents include applications entitled ‘Loop abstraction for model checking’, ‘Method and system for creating and maintaining unique data repository’ and ‘System and method to provide management of test data at various lifecycle stages’. The Group is also reported to have patent applications filed in India; however, applications are searchable online only by application number.

Cost Structure

Tata Group incurs costs in relation to the operation of its manufacturing facilities, including the management of the supply chains; the operation of logistics, distribution and warehousing chains; maintenance of its IT infrastructure, including servers and data centres; and the management of its partnerships.

The Group also employs a workforce of more than 600,000, accruing costs in relation to salaries and benefits, and operates a network of offices across more than 100 countries, accounting for fixed costs in relation to rent and utilities.

Revenue Streams

In the year 2014 to 2015 Tata Group recorded a total annual revenue of $108.78 billion. The Group generates revenue through its portfolio of more than 100 companies worldwide, providing a range of products and services such as mining, consumer products retail, logistics, renewable energy, financial and investment services, and engineering. Tata Group’s international operations accounted for more than 70% of the Group’s total revenue.

Tata Group’s largest revenue generator was its engineering business – including engineering services, factory automation services and water treatment services, which accounted for around 41% of total revenue in 2014/2014, followed by the materials division – including material handling equipment and operation and maintenance services – and the IT and communications division – including software development, business support services and hosting and storage services – which accounted for around 21% each. Services and energy operations accounted for 5%, consumer products accounted for 4% and chemicals accounted for 3%.

Tata Group was reported in December 2015 to derive 90% of its profits from just three companies: Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Tata Motors.