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The Nano Inspiration
The lessons of design innovation, scale efficiency, vendor networking can help in hundreds of challenges By Ramesh Ramanathan I am inspired by the story of the Tata Nano. Beyond its cute look or frugal engineering-driven price tag, I find it remarkable how team Tata pulled it off in just four years. I?ve watched and read the rumblings ?on congestion, traffic, the environment. Confession: I own a car. This makes it hard for me to criticiz...
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A Nano Leap Into the Future
He’s been hailed as the world’s foremost thinker. He revolutionized the way corporate chiefs looked at markets through his bestseller, ’The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’. And now, management mahaguru C. K. Prahalad writes exclusively for Sunday Times on the Nano launch. By C.K. Prahalad He’s been hailed as the world’s foremost thinker. He revolutionized the way corporate chiefs looked at markets through his bestseller, ’The Fortune at the B...
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Chip and Car Makers Fire Cheap Shots in Low Spending Battle
Intel’s move into affordable computers, and Tata’s launch of the $2,500 car, signal growing recognition that redesigning for currently excluded low-income customers may be the only way to avoid a profit-scrapping scramble for the affluent minority. With disposable incomes threatening to stagnate in industrial countries, and still comparatively low in those newly industrialising, affordability might even displace the currently fashionable drive for sustainability.? By Alan Ship...
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Indians Hit the Road Amid Elephants
By Somini Sengupta A few weeks ago, the traditional Indian joint family household of Vineet Sharma, a fertilizer industry consultant, achieved a long deferred dream. Having ferried themselves on scooters all these years, the Sharmas bought a brand-new, silver-gray hatchback known as the Tata Indica. Never mind that none of the six adult members of the household knew how to drive. No sooner had the car arrived than Mr. Sharma, 34, took it for a spin and knocked over...
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In the Shadows of India’s Loan Boom
Incidents like the one that left Mr. Kumar with 12 stitches in his scalp and a 10-day hospital stay reflect a dark side of India’s economic boom. As consumer lending soars to record levels, India’s banks face mounting criticism and government sanctions for their aggressive loan recovery tactics, which sometimes include using hired thugs. With the economy growing at more than 8.5% a year for the past four years, Indians are taking on home, car and credit-card debt as never before -- with ...
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The challengers
When Ford Motor Company bought Jaguar in 1989 and Land Rover 11 years later, it marked a low point for Britain’s ailing industrial heritage. Last year Ford concluded that it could not make money from the illustrious British marques?equally a sign of its waning fortunes. The two firms shortlisted to take the prize come from India. Their ambition and confidence is a sign of something new in global business: the arrival in force of emerging-market multinationals. Tata Motors, the ...
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Wind of Change
Last month Hansen Transmissions International, a maker of gearboxes for wind turbines, was listed on the London Stock Exchange. Nothing noteworthy about that, you might say, despite the jump in the share price on the first day of trading and the handsome gain since: green technology is all the rage, is it not? But Hansen exemplifies another trend too, which should prove every bit as durable: the rise of multinational companies from emerging economies. Its parent is Suzlon, an Indian firm that...
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In India, the world’s cheapest car debuts to fanfare, criticism
By Tony Azios Manufacturers take note of the $2,500 vehicle?s massive market, as environmentalists fear the effects of an automobile influx. India’s Tata Motors unveils the world’s cheapest car at Thursday’s New Delhi Auto Expo, drawing interest and criticism from environmentalists and automakers around the globe. Dubbed the ’People’s Car,’ the small vehicle will reportedly sell for 100,000 rupees (approximately US $2,500...
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