Letters: How Tata beat Congress

In his column, "Fifth generation firms" (Weekend Ruminations, December 27), T N Ninan uses an out-of-the-box approach to show why although the Tata group of companies and the Congress party are both into their fifth generation of leadership, the former is on a growth curve and the latter is in decline. But there is some additional distinguishing factors: the Tata group has not rested on past laurels. It has conquered unexplored areas. Sonia Gandhi, after her party's surprising win in the 2004 elections, became complacent and the success in 2009 lulled her to inaction. The party did little to win those states where it was not in power.

Tata saw the need for blending experience and youth to run a big organisation and set a retirement age for its top executives even when they were doing well in their jobs. Sonia Gandhi offered Lok Sabha seats and more responsibility to men in their eighties, who were not capable of working hard.

Tata trusted the leaders it chose to head their different businesses and did not micromanage them. Sonia Gandhi created an adversarial setup, the National Advisory Council, to audit and block the good initiatives taken by her chosen prime minister. Later, Rahul Gandhi became another centre of power, crippling the prime minister further.

Lastly, Tata realised that large organisations succeed by creating, nurturing and rewarding merit, not loyalty. The Congress is high on sycophants and low on merit.

Y G Chouksey, Pune

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