When Tatas go for acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK and Natsteel in Singapore, when Mittal goes to acquire control in Arcelor, or Wipro becomes the owner of Infocrossing, most Indian corporate watchers predict that the days of Indian MNCs have arrived. Is this all part of a planned growth or just isolated heroics? This question brings us to the issue of strategic vision in Indian companies.

Renowned management guru Peter Drucker once observed that a business enterprise has only two functions: marketing and innovation. According to him the rest are simply costs. So, where does this statement place Indian companies? Of the growth and diversification options open to firms such as internal development, acquisitions, joint ventures and licensing agreements, acquisitions (especially acquisitions abroad) seem to be the latest trend.

Many Indian companies seem to be on an acquisition spree abroad. Tata Steel, well known for its classic advertisement "We also make Steel" has actually polevaulted into the global steel manufacturing arena with the acquisition of the Rs. 1313 cr Natsteel. This was hailed as good strategy because it would give Tatas a foothold in countries such as Singapore (Where Natsteel is based), China, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and Vietnam. At that point of time, this was India's largest investment in Singapore and could add to Tata's brand image. Good management could prove to be an ideal strategic fit and by shifting or trying to shift from developed to developing countries, Tatas could weather the volatilities of the market. The other overseas acquisitions by the Tata empire included the Tetley Tea acquisition by Tata Tea and Daewoo acquisition by Tata Motors.

MBA Review Magazine , Indian Companies, Indian Corporate Watchers, Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Telecom Industry, Petrochemical Sector, Global Trade Finance, GTF, Fast Mooving Consumer Goods, FMCG, Product Life Cycle, Management Skills.