From the Desk of S Padmanabhan

Transcription

1 S Padmanabhan From the Desk of S Padmanabhan Tata Network Forums (TNFs) are a unique medium that help companies transcend boundaries and connect with each other, enabling them to drive progress by leveraging collective strengths. Our companies, through this forum, can learn a great deal from one another, despite the fact that they may function in a completely different industry or business area. During the past six months, TNFs brought together Tata companies for many new age concepts like digitisation and new energy vehicles. In addition, workshops, sessions and meetings were also organised in important areas for the Tata group, including HR, Sustainability, Risk & Compliance, TAAP, Supply Chain, Tata Crucible, Communications, Corporate Responsibility, etc. In addition, TNF Europe launched the One Tata programme, which it plans to continue through a series of events on a quarterly basis. The concept of One Tata has been used to bring Tata companies together in various TNFs in the past year as well. Last two quarters were also about planning for many TNFs, who came together to determine their focus areas and activities for the coming months. It is encouraging to know that many companies in various regions have attended these TNF meetings across the globe. Looking at the increasing scope of discussions taking place in TNF sessions, I know for sure that TNFs continue to deliver value in various geographies that Tata companies operate in. Page 1

2 TNF INDIA The Indian chapter of TNF is comprised of TNF India - North, TNF India - South, TNF India - East and TNF India - West. TNF India - North Sanjay Banga from Tata Power Delhi Distribution is the Chairman of TNF India - North, and Siddharth Singh from the same company is the Convener. The TBExG Coordinator is Deepak Deshpande. TNF India - North organised the annual meet on August 30, 2018, at India Habitat Centre, Delhi. This event was attended by 25 senior representatives from 18 Tata companies including Tata Projects, Tata Power, IHCL, Tata Power-DDL, Tata Capital, TCE, TCS, Tata Advanced Systems, Powerlinks, Tata AIG, Tata Communications, Concorde Motors, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Services, Tata SIA, Titan and Voltas. The main objective of the meet was learning about how other TNFs are conducting activities and workshops, and the formation of the Apex Committee and sub committees. Participants at the annual meet on August 30, 2018, at India Habitat Centre, in Delhi. Page 2

3 Participants at the interactive risk and compliance session on May 23, TNF India - South Sanjiv Sarin from Tata Coffee is the Chairman of TNF India - South and Sumant Sood from Titan is the Convener. The TBExG Coordinator is Sanjeev Singh. A session on safe water for all was organised on September 20, 2018, at the TCS office, in Bengaluru. More than 20 employees representing Tata Coffee, Titan, TCS, Metahelix, Infiniti Retail, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Advanced Materials and IHCL attended the event. The session was addressed by Dr M R Seetharam who envisioned and led the implementation of various community level interventions in water and sanitation. Employees from Titan, Tata Coffee and Metahelix shared their initiatives on water reduction, reuse and conservation. TNF India - South conducted an interactive session on risk and compliance on May 23, The session, held at TCS s Bengaluru office, drew 23 participants from 9 companies. The objective of the session was to explain the importance of compliance as several Tata companies enter new markets and geographies, along with the risks associated. Page 3

4 TNF India - East TV Narendran from Tata Steel is the Chairman of TNF India - East and Pankaj Kumar from Tata Steel is the Convener. The TBExG Coordinator is Abhijit Mitra. TNF India - East organised a session on Digitalisation on August 24, 2018, at Tata Centre, Kolkata on the theme Looking digital to thinking digital. The event brought together more than 60 Tata executives representing 17 Tata companies. Dr Tapas Chakravarty, Principal Scientist, TCS Research and Innovation, TCS, and Suman Sasmal from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, were the speakers at this day-long event. The meet was chaired by Abraham Stephanos, MD, Tata Steel Processing and Distribution (TSPDL) and TSPDL also sponsored this event. A brainstorming session on future activities in FY19 for TNF India - East, along with Business Excellence Heads and TNF volunteers, was conducted on July 26, participants from 9 Tata companies participated in this session. The meet started with a farewell for Mukesh Prasad, the former Convener of the forum and a welcome for Pankaj Kumar, the new Convener. NK Sharan, VP, TBExG, and Subhrajit Basu, Deputy General Manager, TBExG, shared their thoughts regarding the plan for FY19 and highlighted the Chairman s focus areas of simplification, synergy and scale. The participants also had discussions in three break-away groups and shared several ideas and themes for future activities of the forum. L: Participants at a brainstorming session on future activities on July 26, R: Attendees at the August 24, 2018, Digitalisation event in Kolkata. Page 4

5 Participants at the Predictive Supply Chain meeting on July 13, 2018, in Pune. TNF India - West R Mukundan from Tata Chemicals is the Chairman of TNF India - West. The TBExG Coordinator is Shreyas Desai. TNF India - West organised a session on the Tata Affirmative Action Programme (TAAP) on July 24, 2018, in Mumbai. The theme of the session was how leaders drive Affirmative Action by embedding AA in their companies. TV Narendran, MD and CEO, Tata Steel, and Mr Mukundan spoke about the AA programme in their companies. S Padmanabhan, Executive Chairman, TBExG, also shared the roadmap for TAAP, mentioning that the focus will be on extending the programme to cover more Tata companies. On July 13, 2018, TNF India - West conducted a session to deliberate the supply chain strategies adopted by companies to meet future challenges. Titled Predictive Supply Chain, the meeting was hosted by Tata Motors at its Lake House facility in Pune. The event drew over 50 participants from 18 Tata companies, and had presenters from Tata Motors, SAP, McKinsey & Co. and TBExG. This TNF also organised a session titled Human Resources New Frontiers on May 8, 2018, at Tata Steel s One Forbes office in Mumbai. The theme of the session was Use of Analytics and Automation in HR. 35 employees from 16 group companies graced the event. Page 5

6 TNF China James Zhan from Tata Sons is the Chairman of TNF China and Aaron Du from Tata Sons is the Convener. On June 21, 2018, TNF China worked with the Indian Embassy in Beijing to sponsor a programme to celebrate the 4th International Day of Yoga. Gautam Bambawale, Ambassador of India to China; and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, were the chief guests. While more than 600 people attended, 6 colleagues from Tata Sons Beijing and TCS Beijing were also part of the event. TNF China held a gathering on May 30, 2018, in JLR China s Shanghai office. More than 20 Tata colleagues attended the event. The theme for the meet focused on new energy vehicle development in China. The attendees were members of the senior management from Tata companies in China, including JLR China, TCS China, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, NTACO, Tata Projects, Tata Technologies and Tata Elxsi. Above: Participants at a gathering focused on new energy vehicle development in China, in Shanghai on May 30, Below: Celebrations of the 4th International Day of Yoga on June 21, 2018, in Beijing. Page 6

7 Participants at the Head of Companies meeting on April 24, 2018, at the TCS campus in Singapore. TNF ASEAN KV Rao from Tata Sons is the Chairman of TNF ASEAN and Chandra Mohan Verma from NatSteel is the Convener. TNF ASEAN conducted a Heads of Companies meeting on April 30, 2018, at the Tata Sons office. Former Indian foreign secretary Dr S Jaishankar, who took over as Tata Group s President of Global Corporate Affairs, interacted with all the Heads of Tata companies in the region to get the overall footprint and identify opportunities. TNF ASEAN organised a Heads of Companies meeting on April 14, 2018, at the TCS campus in Singapore. It was held to welcome Mr. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons. More than 50 participants from 17 Tata companies attended the meet. Mr Rao briefed Mr Chandrasekaran on the Tata group s presence in South East Asia. The Group Chairman also interacted with the audience and emphasised the role and accountability of the leadership team to take forward the group s journey of excellence. Page 7

8 Participants at the 10th TNF MENA meeting on June 11, 2018, at Taj Dubai. TNF MENA Sunil Sinha from Tata Sons is the Chairman of TNF MENA and Dilip Kumar Sharma from Voltas is the Convener. The 10th TNF MENA meeting was held on June 11, 2018, at Taj Dubai. Dr Jaishankar; Sivasamban, VP, Office of Global Corporate Affairs, Tata Sons; and over 50 participants from various Tata group companies in MENA region attended the event. Mr Sharma made a presentation about the major upcoming investments by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in Ruwais, UAE, as part of its 2030 Strategy in O&G Downstream, and elaborated on opportunities for Tata companies. Dr Jaishankar gave a brief talk on Tata MENA - Impressions and way forward, followed by interactions among the leadership teams from various companies and Q&A. The second edition of the Tata Crucible quiz was conducted on April 3, 2018, at the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani, Dubai campus. The event witnessed a participation of 134 students (67 teams) from UAE universities. Senior Tata leaders from Dubai also graced the event. Krishna Kaushik and Tejas Kulkarni from BITS Pilani, Dubai, were declared the winners. Page 8

9 Tata Network Forums TNF Europe Dr David Landsman from Tata Limited is the Chairman of TNF Europe. The region has multiple Working groups with respective Chairmen and Conveners. TNF Europe launched the One Tata programme on July 23, 2018, to help companies leverage opportunities by increasing knowledge of the capabilities and networks which can be accessed through the group. It is a voluntary network involving company visits for two-way sharing of information and opportunities. This programme will be conducted as a series of events on a quarterly basis and each event will be hosted by a Tata company. The objective of each event will be to raise awareness of the hosts operating environment, strategy, customer/supplier base; and to provide an opportunity for other Tata companies to showcase their product/ service offerings. Tata Steel Europe will host the first event on December 11, 2018, at their Port Talbot site. TNF Europe held a Communicators Working Group meeting on July 10, 2018, at Tata Motors European Technical Centre, in Coventry, UK. 15 people attended the meet from 10 Tata companies. The participants gave interesting updates and insights from their respective companies and enjoyed the useful networking opportunity. Discussions also covered the Tata exhibition at the CBI member lounge, Key Messages 2018 and a potential reputation audit for the UK. The meeting concluded with a tour around the new National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC). On June 22, 2018, a TNF Europe Corporate Responsibility Working Group meeting took place at The Crystal in East London to coincide with the Tata/Nesta Cracking the Code event, which took place on the same date at the venue. 14 people participated in the meeting from 6 Tata companies. Attendees gave interesting updates and insights from their respective companies and the Tata Sustainability Group team provided details from India. Presentations also included an update on the Maths Mission, Tata Social Internship 2018 and the NACUE/Tata partnership. Participants from the Corporate Responsibility Working Group meeting and the Tata/Nesta Cracking the Code event on June 22, 2018, in London. Page 9

10 A TNF Business Excellence session, hosted by TBExG, was held on June 14, 2018, at Ashorne Hill Management Centre, attended by 9 people from 6 companies. The main agenda was the European assessor involvement in the 2018 assessment cycle - readiness and support provision; a proposal for FY19 TBEM capability building; One Tata Programme - proposed approach shared and feedback gained; and a discussion of the TNF structures within Europe to review coverage. Following the TNF meeting, a sharing and learning session was also held for the EU based assessors participating in the 2018 external assessment cycle. The session was attended by 16 assessors for a focused discussion covering roles and responsibilities throughout the six-step assessment process. On April 25, 2018, a Tata Heads of Companies meeting was arranged at the London offices of Tata Steel Europe, which was attended by 15 people from 10 Tata companies. The Heads of Companies gave examples of working with other parts of the Tata group to grow business, reduce costs and share best practices. Sir Craig Oliver, previously David Cameron s Director of Politics and Communications for over six years, gave an interesting overview of the UK political situation. Discussions also covered government co-funding for collaborative R&D and updates from TBExG and other TNF Working Groups. Participants at the Communicators Working Group meeting on July 10, 2018, at Tata Motors European Technical Centre, in Coventry, UK. Page 10

11 Attendees at the annual TNF on May 9, 2018, at the TCS facility in Toronto. TNF North America Dharna Dhamija from Tata Sons is the Convener for TNF North America. Tata Sons hosted a conference for Tata colleagues at the Invest India Conference in Toronto on September 4-5, The event was organised by the Canada India Business Council and Mr. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons, was the keynote speaker on September 4 and participated in a panel discussion the next day. The conference was attended by 10 Tata colleagues from Tata Technologies, Tata Steel Minerals Canada, Tata Steel Europe, Tata Global Beverages, IHCL, JLR, Tata Communications, TCS and Tata Sons. TNF North America conducted a Human Resources leaders call in June 2018 to facilitate interaction and sharing of best practices among HR leaders, which was attended by 10 participants from companies including TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Sons and Tata Technologies. The call included discussions with vendor representatives from Learning Care Group and Gym Pass. Both vendors are used currently by Tata Technologies and Tata Steel. The HR leaders wanted to discuss the details of the vendors for possible collaboration with other Tata companies. A Corporate Communicators call took place on May 30, The agenda of the call included updates from Tata Sons and other Tata companies on recent and upcoming announcements/events and a brief training module on crisis communication preparedness. The call was attended by 20 participants from companies including TCS, JLR, Tata Communications, Tata Steel, Tata Global Beverages, IHCL and Tata Sons. The annual TNF in Toronto was organised on May 9, 2018, at the TCS facility for all Tata companies in Canada. It was attended by 18 participants from companies including TCS, JLR, Tata Communications, Tata Steel Minerals Canada, Cogent Power, Tata Global Beverages, IHCL and Tata Sons. The participants shared details about the operations of their companies in the region and priorities for the coming year. In the second half of the session, the group interacted with Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development; and Eric Dagenais, Assistant Deputy Minister, Innovation, Science and Economic Development. In case of any queries or feedback, please write to tbexg@tata.com Page 11