[jfxavier]

Did Ratan Tata buy JLR to take revenge on Ford?

This incidence was first disclosed by Pravin Kadle, who is the head of Tata Capital and was part of the team which had visited Ford headquarter along with Ratan Tata. Pravin Kadle told this story while receiving Y.B.Chavan award on behalf of Ratan Tata in Mumbai on 15th March 2015.

http://www.kenfolios.com/a-must-read...nge-from-ford/

[Hrishi_111]

Buying JLR was purely a business decision and no one in this world buy/sell companies to take revenge !
(As a matter of fact, Mr. Tata was not solely responsible for any acquisitions made during his tenure and it was a collaborative decision made by Tata Son's)

TML officials should refrain from making emotional comments and stop 'pretending to be patriotic'. World is looking at you as a mature business player

[Octane_Power]

I always take such articles with a pinch of salt. I am not saying this is false, but you never know what the real story is.

Moreover, my logical mind says these head honchos don't have such fragile egos that they would make such multi-billion dollar deals just for the sake of 'revenge' or 'tit-for-tat'.

Mr. Ratan Tata wouldn't have bought JLR just because he wanted to do to Ford what Ford did to him. He must have thought many many things which our rather 'normal' minds can't even think or plan of and he would have seen the scope of revival and $$, only then he would have made the deal.

Once again, am not saying its completely false. Some parts may be true but the 'he bought JLR to take revenge' part is difficult to digest.

-Bhargav

[Chetan_Rao]

If this is true (I think it isn't), it would actually paint Ratan Tata and other TML decision-makers in a poor light, not a flattering one.

Pretty irresponsible of Mr. Kadle actually, I don't think it does any good to investor confidence if you project one of your major decision-makers as an ego/sentiment-driven person.

What I think happened is he just tried to paint a sound business decision in a patriotic/sentimental light to get some brownie points for his boss in a casual conversation, but failed to anticipate the connotations it could project.

[DieselAddikt]

I don't think such a huge business firm would take a decision based on "ego" ! These kinds of cheap tricks are for new comers in the business world, not a trait of a well established business giant. Mr. Kadle may not have even said such a thing. He might have casually mentioned that once there was supposed to be a deal between TM and Ford which eventually did not happen. (This may or may not be true; we don't know.) And may be he was misquoted by media to add some "spice" to it. We all know what these media houses do to get attention.

[jfxavier]

Originally Posted by DieselAddikt

I don't think such a huge business firm would take a decision based on "ego" ! These kinds of cheap tricks are for new comers in the business world, not a trait of a well established business giant. Mr. Kadle may not have even said such a thing. He might have casually mentioned that once there was supposed to be a deal between TM and Ford which eventually did not happen. (This may or may not be true; we don't know.) And may be he was misquoted by media to add some "spice" to it. We all know what these media houses do to get attention.

Pravin Kadle told this story while receiving Y.B.Chavan award on behalf of Ratan Tata in Mumbai on 15th March 2015.
In all probability he had told so to make the crowd feel good about the proud son of Bharath mata.
BTW, DieselAddikt, interesting signature line you got there.

[Akshay1234]

I remember reading the article which came in the papers in Mumbai originally, and nowhere did Pravin Kadle insinuate that Ratan Tata had bought JLR as revenge. He merely mentioned how Ford had been rude to them earlier, and the irony of them buying a brand owned by Ford a few years later.

The journos as usual have sensationalized it.

[jfxavier]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I remember reading the article which came in the papers in Mumbai originally, and nowhere did Pravin Kadle insinuate that Ratan Tata had bought JLR as revenge. He merely mentioned how Ford had been rude to them earlier, and the irony of them buying a brand owned by Ford a few years later.

The journos as usual have sensationalized it.

I am sure that there were video recordings made during the function.
It will soon be popping up in Youtube.
That should lay all doubts to rest and clear the air.

[SmartCat]

I can totally relate to it.

A few years back, a neighborhood vegetable vendor insulted me - and I take revenge by buying tomatoes from him every week.

[swiftnfurious]

Off-Topic:

Originally Posted by smartcat

....A few years back, a neighborhood vegetable vendor insulted me - and I take revenge by buying tomatoes from him every week.

When I read the first part, I thought you bought his cart and made him the cart's chauffer!!

[Sahil]

This is a clear case of media sensationalization. No real reason for us to speculate this more.

[PNTLovesNano]

In general, the people who write about "revenge" are really dumb. Where is the revenge part when Tata actually helped Ford. It is not as if Tata did the same thing as Ford and avenged by offering JLR and then insulted them by canceling the purchase.

More importantly, there is nothing like insult and revenge in business, its simply business, nothing more, nothing less.

[lurker]

It's a non-issue.

All things said and done we know what kind of vehicles were being produced by Shri Rahul Bajaj and Tata passenger car division also lost focus after initial few years. If they were truly vengeful, Tata's would have ensured that their cars would have been highest quality from get go. For some reason they were not, and only got it's act together when competition forced them to.

[CoolFire]

Ideally these sort of silly emotions shouldn't be part of business decisions, but fact is that they do. All human beings, including national leaders and businessmen have strong emotional pulls, which smarter ones suppress or at least hide. You can never be above them completely.

Isn't it true that the Taj Mumbai has a similar story of origin?

[kaviprem]

Apologies to be blunt.
This is an unnecessary thread based on someone's interpretation on a news update which is always made "sensitive" for various commercial interest.

None would invest so much in buying a huge company, just to teach them a lesson !