Discuss about the Managing Sustainable Growth Rate.
A public listed company is a business entity whose ownership is divided among public who buy its shares on the stock exchange platform (Boyett 2013). Companies Act 2013 u/s 2(71) defines a public company as one which is not a private company and has a minimum paid up share capital of Rupees five lakhs (Mca.gov.in 2017). Tata Motors is an Indian public limited company which has a global presence lead by able CEO and CFO.
This assignment is a study of comparison between CEO and CFO in a public limited keeping Tata Motors in the light and the external and internal factors these two officers have to deal with. The next section is a study of key financing strategy during 2001-2002 and 2004 and its affect on maximizing the wealth of the shareholders.
A chief executive officer is the highest executive officer in a public limited company whose main job role is to take important decisions and managing the working of the entire company. He also communicates between the board of directors in which he may have a position and the operation wings of the company.
A chief financial officer is a corporate officer primarily empowered to take financial decisions, planning and financial reporting. He also looks after risks and presents the financial analysis before the CEO and the board of directors. The CFO takes part in budget management, cost benefit analysis, forecasting needs and sourcing of funds.
The CEO and CFO are very important positions in a public limited company having their own areas of operations. The main difference between the two is that the CEO is the highest operations officer in the company whereas the CFO is head of the finance department.
The CEO reports to the board of directors and above while the CFO reports to the CEO, board of directors or to the president of the company. However, both of them have positions of strategic importance and may be in the board.
A CEO being the top executive in the company has to take decisions in all matter like human resource, financial matters like risk and funding, board administration and acts as a communicators to the board of directors. The CFO, being the top financial officer of the company advises the CEO and the board about the financial aspects of all these areas.
The CEO and the CFO are top officers in a public limited company like Tata Motors and are affected by various internal and external environmental factors and take crucial decisions about them. The present CEO worldwide is Guenter Butschek and the position of CFO is held by Chandrasekaran Ramakrishnan.
The strategic strength of the employees is the biggest internal business factor of a company. Tata Motors should recruit eligible candidates as its employees should train them regularly to improve their knowledge. The management should evaluate the employees from time to time and reward them with promotions and awards to recognize their efforts. It must also try to motivate and give further training to weak employees to bring improve their performance. Tata Motors should practice a healthy and ethical organizational culture to promote a positive job environment for all (Goetsch and Davis 2014).
Tata Motors today caters to the world market and has proved its competitive strength by acquiring Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Company. It has competitors like Toyota, Mahindra, Ford and Ashok Leyland (Kumar and Bhatia 2015). This necessitates continuous innovation in all aspects like vehicle designing, pricing and competitive planning to stay ahead of its rivals both within India, its home country and abroad (Porter, Cunningham and Sanz 2013). Innovation is driven by technology and is a continuous process. The R&D wing of Tata Motors situated in India and UK are trying to introduce cars like Zest and Bolt which allow customers to choose between driving mode depending on their requirements (Tatamotors.com 2017).
External factors or macro economic factors are those factors which are beyond a company’s control and is summed up as Political, Economical, Social and technological abbreviated as PEST.
Tata Motors is an Indian multinational car manufacturing company which has presence in several countries and has huge market strength. The company should be aware of the political systems prevalent in various countries in which it has its presence.
Tata Motors is a multinational car manufacturer having presence in segments goods carrier, family cars and utility and emergency vehicles. Its customers profile consists of state governments, the ministry of defense, manufacturers, fire and safety services and house hold. This makes the company open to various types of taxation types and slab. Tata Motors should be aware of the tariffs and duties of each market and also international laws. The company should be aware of laws relating to land, labour and all other aspects of its business (Yadav 2013).
The huge market of Tata Motors and the size of the company present a huge challenge for the CFO and CEO. They should be aware of all the political factors, national as well as international and make policies according to them. The CFO should frame business models which the company should follow to take the advantage of political factors around the world.
Tata motors have presence in countries with varying economic conditions. It has to take into consideration the purchase power of the customers of a particular country to decide on the products, pricing, promotions and all other aspects (Stobart 2016). The CFO should study the various models related to pricing and discuss the matter with other departments like R&D and marketing to choose the best model. The CEO too has a significant role to act according to the CFO and best arrive at the decision that will guide the entire organization.
Inflation is affecting the most of the big countries leading to fall in currency value and increase prices (Johnson 2014). The company is also affected by changing currency exchange rates and other international laws relating to finance. The tough economic condition poses a very tough challenge before the two top officers as they have to choose the best investing and funding options.
The per capita income of a country is directly related to infrastructure, technology, employee productivity, lifestyles and purchase power of the people. For example, an expensive car like Land Rover will find more customers in the UK than in a poor country. The decision is a crucial thing affecting not only the Tata but the entire market. A right economic strategy can create a milestone whereas a faulty decision can cause a huge loss.
Cars are not only a necessity but also a symbol of status, have got religious implications and also a product financed by loans at present. People buy cars during festive occasions and consider it auspicious. The banks also give loans at relaxed interest rates during this time (Fuller 2016). Tata Motors should time the production as per the period and price them according to the various financing options available. The CFO and the CEO can also consider engaging the financial services verticals like Tata Finance and Tata AIA Life insurance during this time to attract buyers.
The entire automobile industry is dependent on the progress of science, technology and innovation for its existence. It can also be pointed out that all the countries where Tata Motor operates do not have equal level of technological advancement and entrepreneurial advantage. This factor plays an important role in product designing and pricing. It can also acquire ancillary units in various countries to get access to local market and gain control over it. Moreover, taking over local ancillary unit ensures easy repair and maintenance services to the people, thus increasing customer satisfaction and boosting sales.
The CEO and the CFO should allocate high resources towards technological development because that is very crucial to the very existence of the firm. New products at affordable prices ensure customer satisfaction giving a competitive advantage to Tata.
Financing plays a key big role in deciding the goal and performance of a firm. It finds importance in every strategy and plan and deals with the best utilization of the limited resources. A proper finance decision depends on the coordination and cooperation of all the administrative levels and departments. It finds application in various areas like human resources, accounting and finance functions.
Free cash flow is the indication of the financial soundness of a company and its ability to utilize its financial resources to generate future profits. An increase in cash flow increases working capital which is important for the operations of the entire company. A steady flow of cash allows a firm to invest in research and technology, employ quality human resource and financing (Bollerslev, Xu and Zhou 2015). The company has always gained expertise in allocating its resources in key business areas under the leadership of its CFOs and CEOs
A proper financial strategy includes choosing the best financing options so that the firm can ensure steady production. This would increase market penetration, customer satisfaction and competitive advantage earning economic value to the firm. Tata Motors incurred heavy losses in 2000 due to low demand. However, it increases profit in2001 by introduction of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles. This jump would not have been possible with the engineers and the steady financing. Thus, it can be pointed that a experienced CFO ensures continuous flow of funds to keep operation going on and increase the wealth of the company through profits.
Tata Motors has presence all over the world which means it has to manage a vast fixed and current assets. Assets are used to run the business and consist of land, furniture, vehicles, cash, accounts receivable and even stock of goods. Tata Motors has offices and factories all over the world, so it has to decide how much asset it should allocate in which location and to what extent so as to ensure production.. It should ensure that the assets in a particular location should be too excess and nor too scarce to run the business (Campbell, Jardine and McGlynn 2016. Fixed assets depreciate and have to be replaced. The CFO should decide the pattern to dispose and write off these assets from the books of accounts in the most appropriate method (accrual, straight line and so on) (Archibald 1967). Another important thing about asset management is acquiring assets from the best sources at the best price (Buckley et al 2016). The success of a company depends a lot on its capability to control its assets.
Current assets consist of liquid cash, inventory, cash in bank and accounts receivable or sundry debtors. Current assets like cash come from funding in various forms, investments and from various other sources. The company must choose the appropriate method of financing and also be aware of the various financial institutions and their rules. The company must set up ware houses to store the inventories (Raw material, WIP and finished goods). It can again choose whether to set up its own ware houses (an asset) or rent one (expenses) (Roth and Sims 1991).
Tata Motors being a multinational company requires continuous finance and expasion of business. It should decide on the capital structure. This decision also includes the extent of mechanization meaning, how much human resource it should use. Capital refers to the assets, both current and fixed and investments which are required for the day to day working of the firm. The firm can choose human resource for production or mechanized production. The way of production and financing will affect accounting. For example, loan will increase liabilities whereas investment will increase assets. It can choose between debt financing like debentures or in any other form of capital structure. The jump back of 2001 stated before in fact, helped Tata Motors to pay back its previous debts. Thus, a proper financing strategy does not only allow a firm to earn profits but also pay back debts.
The capital structure and the financing modes decide the flow of funds for continuous operations. Tata Motors has vast assets, employee hundreds of people, is affected by PESTEL and has to pay huge amount of taxes. (Rachet 2014). The company is also faces stiff competition worldwide. These factors make the job of risk management by CFO extremely challenging.
There is a need to assessment the various types of investment and business expansion which are subject to risks. There should also be measures to assess and manage the risks. The job of CFO is to assess and analyze the risk and choose the best tool to control these risks for operation (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015.). This also affects the books of accounts. A strong risk management gives financial strength and stability to the business.
TATA Motors has increased its presence in the markets of Europe, Africa, Australia and Middle East with revenue of more than USD 4 billion. The company has concentrated on meeting the requirements of these markets to get a deeper market penetration. This strategic move of expansion will require the involvement of the CFO and the CEOs. Thus, the expanded market will allow TATA Motors to diversify the business risks over its international market.
Tata Motors entered global markets in 2004 under leadership of its CFO Praveen Kedle. The CFO has to decide on the tax planning and tax management strategies to minimize tax liability since it leads to erosion of cash. Tata Motors continuously expands its business by acquisitions and joint ventures. For example, Tata Motors entered joint venture with Marco Polo with 51% and 49% shares respectively to manufacture buses (da Rocha, Arkader, and de Góes 2015). This dynamic expansion faces various types of taxes increasing the tax liabilities (Patnaik 2014). The CFO should do tax planning both for short term and long term. He must also ensure that the company complies with various income tax rules and structures so as to avoid penalties. Tax planning includes tax management and goes a long way in reducing the tax liability (Graham at al. 2013. Thus it helps in increasing current assets of the company thus showing an increase of resources in the books of accounts (Stein and Vadlamudi 2013). The CFO has immense role to play that TATA is able to minimize its tax expenses and get more favorable business concession from the government
The ultimate mission to set up a business is to earn profit by controlling the risk factors. Tata Motors is a public limited company having a global market whose ownership lies in the hand of the share holders. CFO and CEO are contract employees who are employed to control the strategies of the company to maximize shareholders profit. Finacial decisions regarding asset management, risk management and the other factors the operation and profit making ability. CFOs like Praveen Kadle can help even a global giant like Tata Motors to turn around with their expertise, pushing the limits attitude and minutely crafted strategic moves (Lessard, Lucea and Vives 2013).
Conclusion:
It can be summed up from the above analysis that Tata Motors is a global company exposed to various external and internal business factors. The company has able CFO who makes financial strategies under the guidance of the CEO to keep the company ahead of its competitors.
References:
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