Why Mr. Tata ?

At the onset let me make a confession. I am an unabashed admirer of the House of Tatas, their business ethos and ethics - all the more because through generations they have been able to preserve this. Jamsetji Tata, followed by JRD and then Ratan Tata have preserved the group character and culture. Even a brief visit to Jamshedpur epitomizes what the Tatas have stood for over a century. All this has been done without currying favors with politicians and the powers that be or breaking the law of the land. It must have hurt when their airline JV with Singapore Airlines was scuttled and rules and laws were changed to ensure that Tatas could not enter the space (no pun intended). But the Tatas stood their ground.

Today's anguish and criticism direct against the Tatas is therefore for a different reason. The textile mill of the Tatas was called Swadeshi Mills. Indian Hotels, the legend goes, was set up by Jamsetji Tata when he was refused entry into a plush hotel in Mumbai during pre-independence. Therefore I was very surprised and pained to see the "Advanced Internship Program" for MBA students was not open to students from the Indian management institute's. Clearly as Indian companies go global, they will become more multicultural and attract a truly multinational work force. The companies will go out of their way to attract a global work force and assimilate them into their fold much like Unilever, GE and Citigroup does.

But what anguished me was the seeming discrimination against students from Indian management institutes in this internship program. The program is open to only students of Wharton and HBS. Why not the students of IIMs? True that the program is not open to students of many other leading foreign management institutes like LBS or Stern or Insead as well. Are the students of Harvard and Wharton a class above others? The global experience does not necessarily say so. Sure they are best of the breed, but companies like Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Deutsche, UBS, JP Morgan et. al seem to think the same about students from the IIMs and recruiting them for the same job and at the same salaries for global postings. Should not the Tata group be giving the same opportunity to students in India to see what the group is doing overseas and elsewhere.

The Tata Administrative Services, which used to be one of the most sought after jobs some decades back, has lost much of its luster after the onslaught of the MNCs, consultants and the investment banks on Indian campuses. This would be a very strong platform to revive this. I hope someone brings it to the notice of the group chairman to ensure that as they aim for a multicultural and multinational workforce, they should broaden their intake from different management institutes to get the best of the breed. If students from Insead, IIM A, IIM B etc do not make the cut during the selection procedure, for sure let them not be selected. But do not deny them the chance. The selection criteria on past work experience, academic excellence et. al. is absolutely fine. Let their be true meritocracy. I know that a company or group can go to the campuses it wants to go to and not to all and sundry campuses. But only Harvard and Wharton? Why Mr. Tata?