Business
Indian Companies Increasing Foreign Acquisitions; More Companies "Indianized"
 |
| Photo by IANS |
Indian companies have become matured, while tough competition remains within the domestic market of the country, Indian companies are exploring more markets and adding more dimensions of competition. In the last decade we saw growing number of acquisitions by Indian company not only of smaller brands but also of much bigger and prestigious brands. In our previous article we discussed how the former colony India has been acquiring more businesses in the UK and “Indianizing” them, becoming the largest employer in the private sector of the UK. It is observed that Indian companies in a collective manner targeted UK businesses more actively, it could be unintentionally or may be some kind of nationalism. Indian companies are now equally active in the rest of the geography in the race to secure resources and technology.
Year 2003. In the year of 2003, one of the key Korean based commercial vehicle company, Daewoo was acquired by Tata Motors. Daewoo was famous for the cars Cielo and Matiz. After the acquisition Daewoo cars disappeared from Indian markets. Today Tata Daewoo is in the heavy vehicle business with its manufacturing and assembly mainly in Korea, India and Pakistan (Afzal Motors).
Year 2005. The confidence in the management of the Tata boosted so high that one by one it acquired more companies in US, South Africa and East Europe making it world’s second largest branded tea maker. US herbal and green tea brand Good Earth was bought by Tata Global Beverages in 2005.
In another move in the automobile industry Tata Motors bought one of the largest manufacturer of bus and coach cabins in Europe, Hispano Motors Carrocera in 2005. Apart from their main plant in Zaragoza, Hispano also has another facility across the Mediterranean sea in Africa, Casablanca, Morocco. Their combined capacity is to produce nearly 2.000 unites per year. With this acquisition Tata also brought a number of jobs by bringing manufacturing of Hispano bodied buses in India at ACGL plant in Goa. These buses are known as Tata Divo.
 |
| Why doesn’t Tata launch these buses in India? Variant of Tata Hispano Globus can be seen plying on the airports which lack functioning aerodrome facilities. Photo by Motor India |
Later, in the same year Tata made another acquisition in the UK. UK-based Brunner Mond group and US-based General Chemical Industrial Products were back to back bought by Tata Chemicals.
Year 2006. Another US based beverages firm Eight O’ Clock Coffee was bought for US$220 million. Tata also successfully established itself in the tea markets of other small countries like Czech Republic, where it owns JEMČA which is the biggest selling tea brand in the country.
In a move to secure resources around the world, Indian companies are actively spreading their arms. A study by Ernst and Young reports that the Indian companies have advanced in recent years and have invested appreciably in securing mineral resources. For the first time, in the year 2010, India-based companies scored over Chinese counterparts in the acquisition of foreign mineral assets. To support the statement, Indian companies had invested US$4.64 billion in 2010 to acquire businesses outside India, while Chinese overseas investments declined by more than half to US$4.45 billion.
Year 2007. Tata, just after one year of making its dominating presence in the tea markets of US and UK, moved on to the next big thing, Steel! In the year 2007, ambitious Tata Steels bought a company five times bigger than itself for US$12.1 billion. At that time Corus was ranked eighth largest in the world. This pushed Tata Steel from 65th position in the world steel production to a comfortable 5th position. In an another move in the metallurgy industry by another Indian company, Aditya Birla Group acquired Canadian Novelis, an aluminum producing company, for around $6 billion by its flagship company Hindalco Industries. This acquisition has made Hindalco world’s leading aluminium rolled products producer.
Year 2008. India made notable acquisitions in the sector in which it is considered the world leader, IT sector. Indian company HCL acquired UK based enterprise solution provider Axon in mid 2008. Overall Axon group and its subsidiaries has constituted 14% of HCL Tech’s revenue of Rs 16,030 crore and net profit of Rs 1,646.5 crore proving impressively beneficial. HCL, Infosys, and Tata Consultancy Services have till date acquired large number of companies or established their centres around the world and maintain world dominance when it comes to IT.
In the same year, in one of the most surprising deal Tata Motor’s acquired prestigious British Jaguar and Land Rover auto brands. Still very few are aware that Tata Motors owns these super luxurious British automobile brands since 2008. Tata never renamed it as Tata Jaguar. Buying from the cash strapped Ford, Tata has now recorded massive net profit in JLR section.
Year 2009. When most of the Indian private companies were surprising the world with one after the other big acquisitions, state run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) also expanded its arm, and this time again it was UK! In January 2009, ONGC bought U.K. firm Imperial Energy for $2.1 billion. It was one of the biggest foreign acquisitions by ONGC Videsh (OVL), which is the overseas arm of ONGC. OVL successfully holds stakes in various parts of the world, notably the Gulf, Latin american and Siberia.
Year 2010. In mid 2010, In one of the largest coal mines deals by an Indian group, Adani Enterprises, in a cash and royalty deal, acquired the Australian coal assets of Linc Energy for US$2.7 billion.
In the same year, Bharati Airtel, India’s largest telco also became world’s fifth largest telecom company after acquiring African assets of Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co., Zain. Apart from its massive Indian subscribers, this deal provided Bharati Airtel additional 180 million customers in 18 countries and annual revenue of $12.4 billion
Flowing in the spirit, Sahara India Pariwar in late 2010 controversially bought iconic Grosvenor House hotel in London for 470 million pounds (around Rs 3,250 crore), which gave it a considerable stronghold in the global hospitality business. Sahara India Pariwar had been losing businesses in India, Sahara airways, one of them. Sahara is also known for sponsoring various Indian and Bangladeshi sports team.
Talking about sports, Venky, flagship company of Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group bought Blackburn Rovers, 135-year old English premier division football club which however could not keep club’s fans happy.
Pedro Moreno de los Ríos, partner at Parangon Partners explains “One of the great advantages of Indian executives, compared with their Chinese counterparts, is their knowledge of Anglo-American culture. Another advantage is the greater openness that India has enjoyed when it comes to foreign capital”. He further added, “Indian managers tend to have an international approach, and “India is [even] exporting managers to China.”
Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources says, “They [Indian Companies] are aware that there are markets that have not been exploited, and they want to take advantage of them, but not if foreigners get one hundred percent of the profits,” explains Peters. He further adds, “That way, they guarantee that India will not be sold off to foreigners.” He says India and Indian companies are giving more important to their development and are open to foreign companies to gain expertise, technology and funding while maintaining control. “India wants to create its own companies and brands, while China leaves the road wide open to foreign companies,” says Peters.
India, which is third largest economy in terms of GDP (PPP) knows that it needs a stable economy if it is dreaming of becoming a super power in every manner. A strong economy, jobs, education, food security and political stability will help India excel in the path which it has already chosen. A number of foreign acquisitions like these have helped Indian companies gain expertise, technology and management lessons which will help this country shape even more global brands in the future. Companies like Tata, Birla, Reliance and Jaypee are also determined to structure better education in India through their state of the art institutions of technology. Foreign acquisition did bring some jobs to India and more importantly India has secured and has been securing some of the key resources field around the world, that will keep feeding its giant economy in a long run.
If you wish to maintain your employees and positive workplace morale, it is important to stay on top of employee management and know how to improve the workplace to benefit your employees.
This guide will share the best ways to boost your employee satisfaction and guarantee to make them feel appreciated.
Use chaplains to improve your workplace conditions
As a business owner, it is essential that you improve and maintain workplace conditions so that employees can feel satisfied while working for your business. Whether you lack support or have a dirty and messy workspace, you will not guarantee to maintain employees’ happiness or keep them working for your business if you do not offer great workplace conditions.
If you wish to improve your fast food employee retention, it is a great idea to use chaplains as they work to improve workplace conditions and measures so employees can feel happier and attain greater job satisfaction.
Offer rewards for their efforts
It is important to offer rewards to employees for their hard work and effort so you can show that you appreciate and respect them.
A small pay bonus at the end of the month or taking them out for a nice lunch cannot prove to them that you have noticed their efforts and respect them for it, which will encourage them to feel satisfied with your management.
Ask them how they are and offer them support when they need it
As a manager or boss, you might often lack the time or thought to ask employees how they truly are. You might ask them each morning briefly how they have been, which will likely attain the same response. Many people will tell you that they are OK, even if they are not.
Whereas if you sit down with your employees individually and open up an honest conversation, you might find that they are not truly happy inside or outside of work. If an employee tells you this, it is important to listen to them and offer them support so that they can boost their happiness and well-being again which will ensure that they are satisfied at work.
Support their development and provide more training
Another great way to boost employee satisfaction is to support their development and offer them more training.
Not every employee will want to climb the ladder in your business however there will be a select few who will want to climb higher in your company which will help them gain more success.
Therefore, to maintain and boost employee satisfaction, it is essential that you support their development and listen to their goals so that you can provide the right training for them to reach them.
Using these simple yet effective tips, you will guarantee to boost employee satisfaction in your company today. Simply listening to them, rewarding them and ensuring it to improve your workplace conditions will guarantee that your customers feel more satisfied and happy working for your business.
It’s always a good idea to make sure your customer service is as good as can be. After all, the better the customer service is, the more profitable the business will be – because having happy customers means that you are going to be a lot more successful. In general, then, what are some of the great ways to make your customer service better? In this post, we’ll discuss just some of them that you may want to be aware of so that you can effectively keep your customers much happier for longer.
Schedule Your Staff Properly
Your customer service staff need to be scheduled as well as possible if you want to keep the customer service as good as possible. The more effective their scheduling is, the more that they can actually provide a decent service to people, so this really is something that you will want to be aware of here. Scheduling can mean having some time tracking for call center purposes, or simply making sure that your staffing is at the appropriate levels. In any case, it’s hugely important to get it right, and will mean a better experience for your customers every time.
Be Honest In Your Dealings
In any and all dealing with your customers, you need to make sure that you are being as honest as possible. The more honestly you approach and communicate with your people, the better that is going to be for them and for you. To this end, make sure that your staff are trained on being as honest as possible with customers. This is a simple step and change that can make a world of difference, so it’s something you really want to think about. You will find you have much happier customers as a result of this simple change.
Under-Promise & Over-Deliver
This is a general approach that you may want to consider if you are trying to keep your customers happy, and it’s amazing how much it can help you to do so. Essentially, it’s all about being careful not to promise too much to your customers. If you know that something is going to take three days, promise five days. That way, when it only takes three, they will be pleasantly delighted. This is a really effective way to keep your customers so much happier, and it really does work very well, so make sure to bear it in mind.
Exceed Expectations
In general, going above and beyond is a really important way to impress people too, and this is something that you should be able to achieve relatively easily as long as you make a point of it. In fact, turning this into a core thing that you tend to try and provide will mean that you become excellent at customer service in no time at all, and it’s amazing just how well it can really work. So make sure that you do this if you want to keep people happy and make them smile.
Alright, alright, let’s talk about the elephant on the construction site. As much as we love the smell of fresh cement in the morning, we’ve got to admit – construction is as much about people as it is about projects. And the secret to any successful people-centered business? Drumroll, please… Customer service!
So, grab your hard hats, folks! We’re about to rev up your customer service game and transform your construction company into a lean, mean, customer-loving machine. Buckle up, it’s gonna be a thrilling ride through the world of construction customer relations.
1. Make it Personal, Keep it Real
Here’s the deal: Clients aren’t just walking checkbooks, they’re people – people who dig being recognized. So, why not give ’em a little something to remember you by? Remember their kid’s name, their favorite football team, or that they prefer coffee over tea. When clients feel seen, they stick around. It’s a win-win!
2. Chat ’em up – But Keep it Relevant
Communication. It’s as simple as it gets. Keep your clients posted about every brick being laid and every nail hammered in. Transparency equals trust, and trust equals return customers. Let’s make this our mantra, shall we?
3. Construction CRM – Your New Best Friend
Ah technology – the magic wand of the 21st Century, How did we ever live without it? Meet your new pal: construction CRM. This techy gem helps manage customer interactions, keep track of project progress, and store customer data – all from one handy place. By harnessing its power, you’ll have more time to focus on the fun stuff (like choosing the perfect shade of paint).
4. Train your Squad
A strong team makes a strong business. Arrange some killer workshops for your crew – communication skills, conflict resolution, how to navigate that fancy CRM system amongst other things. Remember, your team is the face of your brand, so make sure they know their stuff!
5. Feedback: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Feedback isn’t just about patting ourselves on the back (although that feels pretty good, too). It’s about finding areas where we can do better. So, don’t shy away from the harsh truths – use them to your advantage. And when you turn a complaint around? Boom! That’s how loyal customers are made.
6. Go That Extra Mile
In the cut-throat world of construction, it pays to stand out from the crowd. And nothing says “pick me” like going above and beyond for your clients. Deliver earlier than promised, add a touch of unexpected luxury, or just check in to see how they’re doing. Trust us, they’ll love you for it.
7. Understanding Your Client’s Vision
You know what they say, right? You’ve got two ears and one mouth for a reason. So, listen more than you talk. Understand your clients’ vision, their dreams for their space. If you can show them that you’re invested in their dream as much as they are, you’ll have clients for life, and as you will probably know, it is a lot easier to keep existing clients than it is to find new ones, not to mention much cheaper to do so too!
8. Never Underestimate the Power of a ‘Thank You’
Gratitude is underrated. Sending a ‘thank you’ note after a project completion, or even a little token of appreciation, can leave a lasting impression. It’s a small gesture that can go a long way in making your client feel valued, and it will not cost you very much in terms of time or money at all, so what do you have to lose?
9. Promptness is Next to Godliness
Okay, maybe we’ve tweaked that saying a bit, but you get our drift. Being prompt with responses and never leaving a query unanswered assures your clients that they’re in good hands. Nothing screams ‘professional’ like a timely email or a returned call, because your customers know that, if you answer their queries quickly, chances are you sare more likely to show up and dso their construction work in a timely manner too, an that is exactly what the average construction company customer is looking for when they need some work done.
So, there you have it – your blueprint to supercharging your construction company’s customer service. By doing all of the above to the best of your ability, you’ll be well on your way to building a reputation that’s just as sturdy as your constructions. So, are you ready to hammer down on customer service and build some lasting relationships? Let’s get to it!
Here’s How to Boost Employee Satisfaction Today
Tighten Up Your Customer Service In These Ways
How to Supercharge Your Construction Company’s Customer Service
Improving Fleet Efficiency
Here Are The Pros Your Business Desperately Needs
-
Technology9 months agoWhat are spamtraps and how to get them off your mailing list for good?
-
Health12 months agoThe Stigma Behind Anabolic Supplements
-
Business6 months agoDo’s and Don’t’s of Firing People
-
Health10 months agoHow to Look After Your Health Despite Your Disability
-
Business9 months agoTurn Your Passion into a Career: How to Make Money Doing What You Love
-
Business7 months agoBest Strategies to Create an Comfortable Atmosphere in Your Restaurant
-
Sports10 months agoDiscover the best sports accessories shop
-
Business9 months agoTop Tips for Moving Your Business to an Office