The $100 Billion Questions

Can Your Firm Pass Tata’s Performance Excellence Assessment?

Few companies can match the recent global expansion of the Tata Group, which owns brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Taj Hotels and Good Earth Teas. Since 1991, annual revenue for the Indian conglomerate has exploded from $4 billion to more than $100 billion.

Smith professor Sunil Mithas analyzes the firm’s success in a new book, “Dancing Elephantsand Leaping Jaguars” (Finerplanet, fall 2014). Mithas says the winning formula is no secret. Since the early 1990s, the company has relied on the Tata Business Excellence Model to create a common identity and drive performance across the group.

The model, based on the Baldridge Criteria for Performance Excellence, involves a series of questions in seven categories, summarized below.

1. Leadership: How do your senior leaders lead and fulfill societal responsibilities?

2. Strategic Planning: How do you develop and implement strategy?

3. Customer Focus: How do you understand, engage and serve your customers?

4. Analysis and Knowledge Management: How do you measure and improve organizational performance?How do you manage your organizational knowledge assets and information technology?

5. Workforce Focus: How do you engage and support your workforce?

6. Operations Focus: How do you design, manage and improve your key products and work processes?

7. Results: What are your performance results related to products, processes, customers, employees, governance, financials and market share?