‘Couldn’t create truly open group’

New Delhi: 

Tata Group chairman 
Ratan Tata 
says he has not been able to make the conglomerate a "truly open, flat, transparent organization". 
    "Perhaps internally, I have not been able to create the truly open, flat, transparent organization that I had hoped we could do," Tata said when asked what he could not do that he wanted to during his tenure as the head of the Tata Group. He said his group, which was "a traditionally manufacturing company in a sellers' market", did not succeed in "really embracing the customers' values". 
    The group was dragged into the 2G spectrum allocation controversy after the tapes of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia were leaked to the media. The three licences of Tata Teleservices were among the 122 licences cancelled by the Supreme Court earlier this year. Tata, however, hoped that he would be able to pass on the legacy to successfully move ahead without compromising value system and ethics. 
    "I think what I want the legacy to be would to say that we achieved the growth and the prosperity that the group has had with the value system and ethical standards that we have tried to retain and not succumb to the pressures of, the subjective pressures that exit to get things done," Tata told a news channel. 
    Dwelling on inability to achieve his goals, Tata said: "...I think we haven't as a group been able to touch the levels of the population that I had hoped, the Nano is one example." Serving the bottom of the pyramid in India with affordable products is a real and ongoing challenge and the Tata group has not succeeded in being innovative enough, he said. AGENCIES