Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2023
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Digital Transformation at Tata Steel

By: Krishna Palepu, Das Narayandas and Radhika Kak
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:27
ShareBar

Abstract

T.V. Narendran, CEO of Tata Steel, India’s oldest steel manufacturing firm, had taken concrete business and cultural transformation steps to future-ready the firm since taking over in 2013. He had deleveraged and instilled financial discipline, acquired new businesses, entered new segments and adjacent businesses, and launched digital transformation, agility, safety, and sustainability programs. At the heart of his transformation program lay the digitalization drive. Now, he turned his attention to the firm’s burgeoning B2C business. In 2018, the firm had launched an e-commerce platform to sell products directly to retail customers. Now he needed to decide whether to open up this platform to non-Tata group third-party suppliers of ancillary home construction products, like cement, paint, tiles, and other home fittings. Would this create a unique one-stop shop for construction-related goods, or take Tata Steel further away from its core mission? He and his team needed to decide fast.

Keywords

Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Change Management; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Steel Industry; Asia; India

Citation

Palepu, Krishna, Das Narayandas, and Radhika Kak. "Digital Transformation at Tata Steel." Harvard Business School Case 323-053, January 2023.
  • Educators

About The Authors

Krishna G. Palepu

Accounting and Management
→More Publications

Das Narayandas

Marketing
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • February 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Doing Business in New Delhi, India

    By: Vikram S Gandhi and Radhika Kak
    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Velong: Rethinking 'Made in China'

    By: Krishna G. Palepu, Nancy Hua Dai and Billy Chan
    • August 2022 (Revised March 2023)
    • Faculty Research

    Bajaj Finance: Building an Omnipresent Financial Services Firm

    By: Das Narayandas and Rachna Tahilyani
More from the Authors
  • Doing Business in New Delhi, India By: Vikram S Gandhi and Radhika Kak
  • Velong: Rethinking 'Made in China' By: Krishna G. Palepu, Nancy Hua Dai and Billy Chan
  • Bajaj Finance: Building an Omnipresent Financial Services Firm By: Das Narayandas and Rachna Tahilyani
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College