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TITAN: Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand
When Titan Company Limited launched its quartz watches some 30 years ago, the founders – a merry bunch of Tata employees who started out simply wanting ‘to do something different’ – could not have foreseen just how completely they would capture the imagination of Indian consumers in the post-liberalization era of the 1990s. The brand they created – at first against tremendous odds and restrictive norms – injected freshness into the market and in retail spaces through its cutting-edge marketing strategy and empathetic advertising. Not only did the new watchmakers on the block transform watches from being utilitarian objects to fashion statements, but it also systematically ventured into areas untapped by corporate entities with its brands Titan, Tanishq, Titan Eyeplus, Skinn and Taneira, and established itself as a winner across multiple verticals. Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand takes readers from boardrooms to back rooms to reveal how a quintessential Indian brand from the house of the Tatas, not known till then for its success in the consumer goods market, reached such remarkable heights. It is a tale of innovation and fortitude, of thinking outside the box and staying the course, of obsession with detail and the courage to acknowledge failure. A story that will inspire every reader, here is the inside account of what continues to make Titan tick.
189 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 15, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 27, 2021
I still cannot believe that Tamilnadu Government owns 26% of this extremely profitable fashion/watch/jewelry juggernaut, Titan Company.
I got interested in Titan because of my paltry investment as a newbie in the stock market. But I was hooked on the book because it was very well written and a story nicely told.
Birth of Titan and the role played by the polymath-civil-servant Iravatham Mahadevan is a legendary story.
The rest of the book tells this: How TIDCO came to sponsor this project? Why did they choose Hosur and how they strategically acquired talent from HMT in Bangalore? How a watch-making company built a jewelry brand like Tanishq? How they reinvented with Fastrack and eyewear?
If you like to learn about Indian corporate lore or get a peek into how a Tata company runs or if you want to know how some big brands/companies are built this is a very good read.
I got interested in Titan because of my paltry investment as a newbie in the stock market. But I was hooked on the book because it was very well written and a story nicely told.
Birth of Titan and the role played by the polymath-civil-servant Iravatham Mahadevan is a legendary story.
The rest of the book tells this: How TIDCO came to sponsor this project? Why did they choose Hosur and how they strategically acquired talent from HMT in Bangalore? How a watch-making company built a jewelry brand like Tanishq? How they reinvented with Fastrack and eyewear?
If you like to learn about Indian corporate lore or get a peek into how a Tata company runs or if you want to know how some big brands/companies are built this is a very good read.
January 9, 2022
An EXTRAORDINARY book that MUST be bought and read.
Why?
- The content is NOT (only) about watches, jewellery, consumer durables etc. It's about "Making the impossible possible".
First, the significant themes that play out:
- It's all about PEOPLE. The constant theme in the book is how the RIGHT people fall into the right grooves and make magic happen.
- It's a LOT about luck but even more - GOOD Karma. For example, Xerxes Desai (founder) helps others without any expectations, only to be paid back with a dividend of lifetimes.
- The INTENSITY of detail, detail, detail AND micromanagement.
- The role 'classic' ad agencies played (pre-Internet era) in conceptualising, fostering and sustaining immortal brands.
- The role of Mozart (my 3rd fav composer) in the success of Titan :)
- How HUBRIS and Over-Confidence spare no one, not even the Gods. The punishment of Xerces and Titan in Europe.
- The management's attitude to SELL... an obsession vs a 'function'.
- The mental resolve to go ahead even though MOST founding directors of Tata Sons did not want to Launch Titan.
- Basically, a book that PROVES that you can achieve anything. As long as you can mentally and physically (work) commit to it.
Outstanding sections/quotes:
- J.R.D. speaking in French and Gujurati simultaneously to close a critical negotiation :)
- "Xerxes was fond of saying that Titan was founded by sheer serendipity."
- "To put it straight, we aimed to raid H.M.T., and we did it."
- "Titan set up transit homes with foster mothers and fathers..."
- "The ability to let go of things that didn't work was a strong corporate ethic and helped create the brand that Titan became,"
- "A town curiously named Margherita in Assam had a Titan dealer!"
- "The philosophy of the repair section: "Don't make a fortune of a customer's misfortune."
- "The success rate for jingles was under 5 per cent."
- "Meera recalls bumping into friends in Mumbai many years later: one of them had named her daughter Tanishq and told her there were quite a few others with that name"
- How Narayan Murthy went into the micro details of the Infosys watch.
- The story of the Karatmeter!
- Fastrack had an ad that started with 'F**K', and Ronnie had people calling from Bombay House saying they were impacting Tata's brand image!
- Rakesh Jhunjhunwala told Titan Team that "eyewear was a 'halwa' (lucrative) business."
- "Xerces inherited J.R.D Tata's "management by affection" philosophy."
Read 400+ notes - https://bit.ly/dkb-titan
Why?
- The content is NOT (only) about watches, jewellery, consumer durables etc. It's about "Making the impossible possible".
First, the significant themes that play out:
- It's all about PEOPLE. The constant theme in the book is how the RIGHT people fall into the right grooves and make magic happen.
- It's a LOT about luck but even more - GOOD Karma. For example, Xerxes Desai (founder) helps others without any expectations, only to be paid back with a dividend of lifetimes.
- The INTENSITY of detail, detail, detail AND micromanagement.
- The role 'classic' ad agencies played (pre-Internet era) in conceptualising, fostering and sustaining immortal brands.
- The role of Mozart (my 3rd fav composer) in the success of Titan :)
- How HUBRIS and Over-Confidence spare no one, not even the Gods. The punishment of Xerces and Titan in Europe.
- The management's attitude to SELL... an obsession vs a 'function'.
- The mental resolve to go ahead even though MOST founding directors of Tata Sons did not want to Launch Titan.
- Basically, a book that PROVES that you can achieve anything. As long as you can mentally and physically (work) commit to it.
Outstanding sections/quotes:
- J.R.D. speaking in French and Gujurati simultaneously to close a critical negotiation :)
- "Xerxes was fond of saying that Titan was founded by sheer serendipity."
- "To put it straight, we aimed to raid H.M.T., and we did it."
- "Titan set up transit homes with foster mothers and fathers..."
- "The ability to let go of things that didn't work was a strong corporate ethic and helped create the brand that Titan became,"
- "A town curiously named Margherita in Assam had a Titan dealer!"
- "The philosophy of the repair section: "Don't make a fortune of a customer's misfortune."
- "The success rate for jingles was under 5 per cent."
- "Meera recalls bumping into friends in Mumbai many years later: one of them had named her daughter Tanishq and told her there were quite a few others with that name"
- How Narayan Murthy went into the micro details of the Infosys watch.
- The story of the Karatmeter!
- Fastrack had an ad that started with 'F**K', and Ronnie had people calling from Bombay House saying they were impacting Tata's brand image!
- Rakesh Jhunjhunwala told Titan Team that "eyewear was a 'halwa' (lucrative) business."
- "Xerces inherited J.R.D Tata's "management by affection" philosophy."
Read 400+ notes - https://bit.ly/dkb-titan
January 19, 2019
A good read, tracing the evolution of a consumer company that started and is still identified mostly with watches even though the Tanishq jewellery segment gives six times the revenues of the watch business. Xerxes Desai is the man who's always credited with creating and building Titan into the company and brand it is today. While that may be true in a large measure, he left behind a company in severe financial stress at the time of his retirement. It fell to Bhaskar Bhat, his hand-picked successor, to steer and steady the ship, temper the risk taking culture ingrained into the company's DNA and introduce a more structured way of devising and executing projects. Titan has today forayed into multiple categories such as eyewear and accessories, fragrances and sarees as it looks for new engines of growth and evolves into a consumer goods company with the common underlying theme being an aim to build large scale businesses in underserved and unorganized categories. One interesting bit most people wouldn't be aware of is that a public sector company TIDCO (Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation) is a major equity owner in the company, a result of the license-era origins of the company when large private sector companies were barred from producing watches and TIDCO happened to own a license for the same.
While the book itself doesn't mention organisational politics in so many words, the reader can easily identify the subtly stated theme throughout the book. Xerxes and his team had to fight internally to win approval to establish the company, for projects and keep it going even in face of losses by surviving the wrath and disapproval of powerful individuals within the Tata hierarchy. The book also details the disastrous foray by Titan into Europe and the massive losses and debt it saddled the company with, which is a lesson in how not to make an overseas foray. It was plain good luck more than anything else that ensured the survival of the company post this disaster.
While the book itself doesn't mention organisational politics in so many words, the reader can easily identify the subtly stated theme throughout the book. Xerxes and his team had to fight internally to win approval to establish the company, for projects and keep it going even in face of losses by surviving the wrath and disapproval of powerful individuals within the Tata hierarchy. The book also details the disastrous foray by Titan into Europe and the massive losses and debt it saddled the company with, which is a lesson in how not to make an overseas foray. It was plain good luck more than anything else that ensured the survival of the company post this disaster.
October 18, 2021
This is the story of India's most famous consumer brand called Titan and the protagonist of this story none other than Mr. Xerxes Desai, man who built the titan company from scratch. Titan as we all know is Tata Group's company doing business in consumer facing categories in like watches, jewellery, eyeware, perfumes, sarees etc but what most us don't know is Titan is joint venture of Tata Group and Tamil Nadu Government. Tamil Government being promoter is having around 28% holding through TIDCO. This peculiar arrangement was necessitated due to labyrinth of bureaucratic policies of socialistic era in late seventies and early eighties. Interestingly the word Titan itself denote Tata Industries & TAmil Nadu (TITAN)
Through innovation, open-mindedness and quality driven work culture Titan has reached heights of commercial success. In early years Titan solely focused on watches and brought in quartz technology over earlier mechanical watches of likes of HMT. Subsequently, it forayed into jewellery segment under the carefully chosen brand name Tanishq in 1997. While explaining these events this book gives interesting details on boardroom dynamics of Tata empire.
It is noteworthy to mention that the story of building fastrack as a maverick brand within Titan is quite fascinating. Especially how the saucy ad campaign created targeting the youth. The various ad campaigns like *How many you have?, Yes Sir, Move On* were so unconventional that Tata's board room was worried whether they are tarnishing the image of Tata Brand.
On the other hand book beautifully brings out how Tanishq positioned itself catering to the needs to Indian jewellery market. The events leading to installing Karatmeters in Tanishq Stores to combat undercaratage done by traditional family jewellers is quite interesting.
In the book author has narrated cohesive story of making of Titan and its brand building. Watching old television advertisements of Titan while reading about thought process behind creating those ads was an experience in itself.
In the last 30 odd years Titan has created many successful brands in various categories it operates in like Titan, Sonata, Raga, Aqura, Edge, Tanishq, Mia, Zoya, Caratlane, Fastrack, Skinn, Taneria and Titan Eye Plus etc. These brands rule large on the hearts of indian consumers that probably may the reason while i could read the book from the cover to cover Titan's share price soared by more than 25%.
Obviously, Titan had its own share of failures like misadventure of going all guns blazing in European watch market without testing the waters there. This misadventure resulted in heavy losses in nineties and it took many years for titan to wipe out these scars on the balance sheet. Another failed attempt was partnership with American watchmaker company called Timex. Titan had to break this partnership. Notwithstanding, Titan today looks solid as rock with Tanishq making handsome profit from jewellery segment particularly recent entry in wedding jewellery. Eyeware business also seems poised for growth as it has been fully backward integrated with lens and frame manufacturing. Further, in order cater to growing demands of fitness bands and smart watches Titan has made partnership with Hewlett-Packard (HP) and launched Titan Juxt Watches. It again shows titan knows it's customers really well.
All this and many such stories are nicely written by author. Read, this if you are interested in corporate world, marketing, brand building or any of that. Last but not least, you should definitely give a read to this book if you are shareholder of Titan.
Through innovation, open-mindedness and quality driven work culture Titan has reached heights of commercial success. In early years Titan solely focused on watches and brought in quartz technology over earlier mechanical watches of likes of HMT. Subsequently, it forayed into jewellery segment under the carefully chosen brand name Tanishq in 1997. While explaining these events this book gives interesting details on boardroom dynamics of Tata empire.
It is noteworthy to mention that the story of building fastrack as a maverick brand within Titan is quite fascinating. Especially how the saucy ad campaign created targeting the youth. The various ad campaigns like *How many you have?, Yes Sir, Move On* were so unconventional that Tata's board room was worried whether they are tarnishing the image of Tata Brand.
On the other hand book beautifully brings out how Tanishq positioned itself catering to the needs to Indian jewellery market. The events leading to installing Karatmeters in Tanishq Stores to combat undercaratage done by traditional family jewellers is quite interesting.
In the book author has narrated cohesive story of making of Titan and its brand building. Watching old television advertisements of Titan while reading about thought process behind creating those ads was an experience in itself.
In the last 30 odd years Titan has created many successful brands in various categories it operates in like Titan, Sonata, Raga, Aqura, Edge, Tanishq, Mia, Zoya, Caratlane, Fastrack, Skinn, Taneria and Titan Eye Plus etc. These brands rule large on the hearts of indian consumers that probably may the reason while i could read the book from the cover to cover Titan's share price soared by more than 25%.
Obviously, Titan had its own share of failures like misadventure of going all guns blazing in European watch market without testing the waters there. This misadventure resulted in heavy losses in nineties and it took many years for titan to wipe out these scars on the balance sheet. Another failed attempt was partnership with American watchmaker company called Timex. Titan had to break this partnership. Notwithstanding, Titan today looks solid as rock with Tanishq making handsome profit from jewellery segment particularly recent entry in wedding jewellery. Eyeware business also seems poised for growth as it has been fully backward integrated with lens and frame manufacturing. Further, in order cater to growing demands of fitness bands and smart watches Titan has made partnership with Hewlett-Packard (HP) and launched Titan Juxt Watches. It again shows titan knows it's customers really well.
All this and many such stories are nicely written by author. Read, this if you are interested in corporate world, marketing, brand building or any of that. Last but not least, you should definitely give a read to this book if you are shareholder of Titan.
September 20, 2020
Being an employee of Titan Company Limited, could relate with the book much better and it's all the more interesting to learn the stories of some amazing leaders that the company has produced. Very well written and it was great to learn how things were turned around.
A lot of fresh MBAs who are into their first 5-6 years of career, mostly at entry level management, leading a team of non-MBA professionals, have a habit of cribbing and finding a switch at the first sign of difficulty. But this book will add a perspective, or rather act as an evidence, that every company goes through period of great challenges/ difficulties, and the good ones comes out shining. The top management of the company is critical to look at and if it's good you can stick it out for a life altering growth, regardless of the challenges faced by the company.
This book covers how the projects like Fastrack, Edge, Tanishq, Sunglasses under Fastrack became successful and what helped that, from a neat shut down.
A lot of fresh MBAs who are into their first 5-6 years of career, mostly at entry level management, leading a team of non-MBA professionals, have a habit of cribbing and finding a switch at the first sign of difficulty. But this book will add a perspective, or rather act as an evidence, that every company goes through period of great challenges/ difficulties, and the good ones comes out shining. The top management of the company is critical to look at and if it's good you can stick it out for a life altering growth, regardless of the challenges faced by the company.
This book covers how the projects like Fastrack, Edge, Tanishq, Sunglasses under Fastrack became successful and what helped that, from a neat shut down.
December 28, 2022
What a riveting read this is. All the struggles, triumphs to get one of India's most respected companies up and running. Truly fascinating tale against so many odds.
Did you know - Titan is a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu government. 🤯
This is because in the pre-liberalization era, the TN Government held the licence to manufacture watches.
Oh... Also...
Titan’s pursuit to create the world’s slimmest watch back in the 2000s laid the foundation for Titan’s precision engineering division.
They now supply industrial automation solutions, aerospace and defence industries to the Israeli Aerospace among others. 🔥🔥
Other fascinating things I learnt in a nutshell - https://adadithya.notion.site/Titan-c...
Did you know - Titan is a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu government. 🤯
This is because in the pre-liberalization era, the TN Government held the licence to manufacture watches.
Oh... Also...
Titan’s pursuit to create the world’s slimmest watch back in the 2000s laid the foundation for Titan’s precision engineering division.
They now supply industrial automation solutions, aerospace and defence industries to the Israeli Aerospace among others. 🔥🔥
Other fascinating things I learnt in a nutshell - https://adadithya.notion.site/Titan-c...
October 15, 2019
The book covers the starting struggle of the then Tata Press employees, Xersis Desai and Anil Manchandana. Their coming up with the Idea to start watch manufacturing.
Their venture into each new line of business is thoroughly covered. It does not cover much about Financial details of the company.
The book is short and very easy to read. A number of people are introduced, which makes it a little difficult to connect with them.
Overall I found it a good read, to find about the culture in Titan, how new ideas are promoted there, and how people were given big responsibilities and how they performed.
Their venture into each new line of business is thoroughly covered. It does not cover much about Financial details of the company.
The book is short and very easy to read. A number of people are introduced, which makes it a little difficult to connect with them.
Overall I found it a good read, to find about the culture in Titan, how new ideas are promoted there, and how people were given big responsibilities and how they performed.
January 25, 2020
"Titan" is a book on one of the most remarkable Indian consumer brands. But what is more interesting is the way the whole story is presented. It is a brand biography, a management case study, and a compendium of short stories and anecdotes all rolled into one. Yet, the narrative style is seamless and absorbing.
It is a welcome addition to the library of management professionals, students of business as well as lay readers. Students and teachers can find nuggets of marketing wisdom as well as caselets for classroom discussions.
I am looking forward to Vinay Kamath writing on other Indian brands too.
It is a welcome addition to the library of management professionals, students of business as well as lay readers. Students and teachers can find nuggets of marketing wisdom as well as caselets for classroom discussions.
I am looking forward to Vinay Kamath writing on other Indian brands too.
January 9, 2019
Titan is more than a name or a brand in India. It is a word associated with trust, quality and superior service. I remember when I went to buy my first watch - there were only two options: Titan and HMT. Titan was the new player on the block then, associated with the modern. The interesting thing is - they are now the owners of the block - but they are still associated with the new, the cutting edge, the modern.
It is a testament to the exceptional foundation Titan has that not only has it managed to remain relevant, it has even managed to stay as hungry as it was at its inception. A company that loses that hunger is a company that stagnates.
This book tells the story of how this foundation was built and the people who built it. These are the heroes - no longer unsung in public domain - who went ahead and created the first consumer-facing Tata brand that became a success, a phenomenal one at that.
From Titan's inception to watch technology, from styling of the Raga range to the FasTrack branding, from the Tanishq advertisements to the Karatometer - this book covers them all. We have seen the ads, have benefited from many of the offers - and now we get to hear the stories that were behind their inception. And above all, we get to meet the people whose brainchild this is.
A must read for anyone interested in:
Indian Business History
Indian Business
Business
Good Business Practices
Success Stories
and other similar topics.
It is a testament to the exceptional foundation Titan has that not only has it managed to remain relevant, it has even managed to stay as hungry as it was at its inception. A company that loses that hunger is a company that stagnates.
This book tells the story of how this foundation was built and the people who built it. These are the heroes - no longer unsung in public domain - who went ahead and created the first consumer-facing Tata brand that became a success, a phenomenal one at that.
From Titan's inception to watch technology, from styling of the Raga range to the FasTrack branding, from the Tanishq advertisements to the Karatometer - this book covers them all. We have seen the ads, have benefited from many of the offers - and now we get to hear the stories that were behind their inception. And above all, we get to meet the people whose brainchild this is.
A must read for anyone interested in:
Indian Business History
Indian Business
Business
Good Business Practices
Success Stories
and other similar topics.
April 5, 2020
An engaging read, full of delightful anecdotes. What I loved is the author's unbiased and authentic narration without much exaggeration. A titanic story told in a very earthy/grounded way. Liked the insights into how Titan and Tanishq grew as household brands in India.. Although Titan story is probably not the most mindblowing success stories ever, still it is a much loved and trusted brand in India. The biggest surprise for me was in fact that the owners of Titan were not just Tata but TIDCO(Tamil Nadu Industrial Corp.) as well. In a nutshell, it is worth your time!
January 13, 2024
The book is about one of the iconic consumer facing companies of India. Starting as a watch maker, it forayed into the jewellery business and fashion accessories. I still remember during my school days, owning a fasttrack watch and glasses was considered cool. Titan serves as a good example of a successful public-private partnership where the government acts just as a partner and the private party has room to innovate and grow. Nostalgic!
March 26, 2024
A must-read for growth-oriented employees and entrepreneurs.
While the initial three chapters may seem slow-paced, patience is rewarded as the narrative gains momentum.
This book is not just about Titan's journey but also about how to grow a brand and the essence of what it takes to cultivate a thriving enterprise.
It illustrates how one person's strong will and determination, like Xerxes Desai's, can truly change a company's path for the better.
While the initial three chapters may seem slow-paced, patience is rewarded as the narrative gains momentum.
This book is not just about Titan's journey but also about how to grow a brand and the essence of what it takes to cultivate a thriving enterprise.
It illustrates how one person's strong will and determination, like Xerxes Desai's, can truly change a company's path for the better.
July 1, 2020
TITAN: Inside India's Most Successful Consumer Brand authored by Vinay Kamath narrates the story of a corporate which took time to get started but took off exceptionally well thereafter to conquer the market of classic watches during the decade of 1980-1990. If at all a book based on business venture offers a painstaking insight on a corporate's initial tussle with Government of India to set-up its first watch manufacture plant, it's got to be TITAN: Inside India's Most Successful Consumer Brand penned by Vinay Kamath. The author's penchant for thorough research on the entrepreneurial content presented herein is visible from the facts put forth in a segment titled - Titan's Timeline. I feel the author's written work is laudable for two reasons,
I) It scripts a set of chronological events beginning August 1975 up to until November 2017, providing memorable insight into incorporation of Titan Watches Ltd. further making available to readers an inscribed fascinating tale of Titan's journey up the corporate ladder, predominantly accelerated by launch of fashion brands - Tanishq, Titan Eyeplus, Skinn, and Taneira.
II) Using aforementioned details the author offers a fairly painted picture on Titan's establishment, progress, sustenance at top level, overwhelming success, and popularity among Indian and overseas consumers.
1984 was a landmark year for Titan which laid a solid foundation for the corporate's now illustrious history. It brought to fore well-deserved accomplishments of Xerxes Desai, the first managing director of Titan, the watchmaking company. Titan's biography is a well-crafted, thought-provoking work of researched writing which leave no stone unturned with its intelligible, reverberating account on selfless leadership provided by founder Xerxes Desai and challenge of pressure and expectation encountered by Bhaskar Bhat to keep Titan and its subsidiaries ahead in corporate race with revised scheme of things for Titan's workforce after the former's retirement. The Titan story presents invigorating corporate anecdotes on persistent teamwork and effective leadership that set a benchmark for its competitors in realm of watch manufacture. The promptly scripted biography is unswerving and encourages book enthusiasts to read and complete the book in one go. Put in other words, the business genre narrative is an intellectual read which has all elements and making of a good engrossing bestseller. Besides pinpointing Titan's credibility, the book provides crucial standpoint on the corporate watch-making giant's prowess as a successful institution of innovation and progressive output. The Titan evolution is a story of company's pride and consumer gratification.
TITAN: Inside India's Most Successful Consumer Brand has an interesting tale of company's artistic confluence with Mozart's music - The Titan signature tune. Unanimously chosen the official tune for Titan ads, the magic of Mozart's symphony had acquired the stature of colossal composition at Titan. Now, in this aspect, Titan in every way had a tryst with classy celebrities, and its fashion brands always conformed to this popular notion. Titan in its early days had reputation of making quartz watches with simple pattern and design. Simplicity in manufacture and design had been the benchmark and strong point for years, and it took lot of convincing on part of Titan's strategy devising and planning workforce to get the watch company into digital watch market. Several detailed events of such kind find enormous writing space dedicated to it in this brilliantly composed, gem of a written work on one of India's leading, largest watch manufacturer. To sum up, this book about Titan's various ventures on domestic and overseas front provides deep, thoughtful insight on work culture that was established, and gained prominence at the corporate through mutual cooperation and strive for excellence among the work force, and the modest results derived from the environment at helm by the leaders of the company.
The author, Vinay Kamath's effort and dedication toward presenting well learned facts and events which took place at Titan during a period spanning over four decades by deploying a methodical paradigm, reflects well in the written piece about Tata Group's brainchild. The author succeeds in instilling a certain degree of curiosity among readers with skillful word play, clarity of thoughts, and expression of artifacts using words which establish good interconnection to preserve and portray Titan's massive reputation as a leading watch manufacturer. And, all this for a debut book from the author. Way to go, Sire!
The book titled, Titan: Inside India's Most Successful Consumer Brand by Vinay Kamath gets a full monty worth a whopping 5 on 5 from my repertoire of points. The author's uncanny knack of effecting continuity and rare trait of keeping the narration simple and agile has potential to win readers a many. This book ought to be one of the best I have had an opportunity to lay my hands on. A scintillating corporate tale narrated with exceptional degree of fluency and flair. The fact that it is the author's debut compilation makes it even more praiseworthy. A brilliant effort for a debut business book. Have fun reading this tremendous and terrific work of substance. A good read. Cheers!
I) It scripts a set of chronological events beginning August 1975 up to until November 2017, providing memorable insight into incorporation of Titan Watches Ltd. further making available to readers an inscribed fascinating tale of Titan's journey up the corporate ladder, predominantly accelerated by launch of fashion brands - Tanishq, Titan Eyeplus, Skinn, and Taneira.
II) Using aforementioned details the author offers a fairly painted picture on Titan's establishment, progress, sustenance at top level, overwhelming success, and popularity among Indian and overseas consumers.
1984 was a landmark year for Titan which laid a solid foundation for the corporate's now illustrious history. It brought to fore well-deserved accomplishments of Xerxes Desai, the first managing director of Titan, the watchmaking company. Titan's biography is a well-crafted, thought-provoking work of researched writing which leave no stone unturned with its intelligible, reverberating account on selfless leadership provided by founder Xerxes Desai and challenge of pressure and expectation encountered by Bhaskar Bhat to keep Titan and its subsidiaries ahead in corporate race with revised scheme of things for Titan's workforce after the former's retirement. The Titan story presents invigorating corporate anecdotes on persistent teamwork and effective leadership that set a benchmark for its competitors in realm of watch manufacture. The promptly scripted biography is unswerving and encourages book enthusiasts to read and complete the book in one go. Put in other words, the business genre narrative is an intellectual read which has all elements and making of a good engrossing bestseller. Besides pinpointing Titan's credibility, the book provides crucial standpoint on the corporate watch-making giant's prowess as a successful institution of innovation and progressive output. The Titan evolution is a story of company's pride and consumer gratification.
TITAN: Inside India's Most Successful Consumer Brand has an interesting tale of company's artistic confluence with Mozart's music - The Titan signature tune. Unanimously chosen the official tune for Titan ads, the magic of Mozart's symphony had acquired the stature of colossal composition at Titan. Now, in this aspect, Titan in every way had a tryst with classy celebrities, and its fashion brands always conformed to this popular notion. Titan in its early days had reputation of making quartz watches with simple pattern and design. Simplicity in manufacture and design had been the benchmark and strong point for years, and it took lot of convincing on part of Titan's strategy devising and planning workforce to get the watch company into digital watch market. Several detailed events of such kind find enormous writing space dedicated to it in this brilliantly composed, gem of a written work on one of India's leading, largest watch manufacturer. To sum up, this book about Titan's various ventures on domestic and overseas front provides deep, thoughtful insight on work culture that was established, and gained prominence at the corporate through mutual cooperation and strive for excellence among the work force, and the modest results derived from the environment at helm by the leaders of the company.
The author, Vinay Kamath's effort and dedication toward presenting well learned facts and events which took place at Titan during a period spanning over four decades by deploying a methodical paradigm, reflects well in the written piece about Tata Group's brainchild. The author succeeds in instilling a certain degree of curiosity among readers with skillful word play, clarity of thoughts, and expression of artifacts using words which establish good interconnection to preserve and portray Titan's massive reputation as a leading watch manufacturer. And, all this for a debut book from the author. Way to go, Sire!
The book titled, Titan: Inside India's Most Successful Consumer Brand by Vinay Kamath gets a full monty worth a whopping 5 on 5 from my repertoire of points. The author's uncanny knack of effecting continuity and rare trait of keeping the narration simple and agile has potential to win readers a many. This book ought to be one of the best I have had an opportunity to lay my hands on. A scintillating corporate tale narrated with exceptional degree of fluency and flair. The fact that it is the author's debut compilation makes it even more praiseworthy. A brilliant effort for a debut business book. Have fun reading this tremendous and terrific work of substance. A good read. Cheers!
March 22, 2020
The books is nicely written with logical reasons for the strategies that worked or did not work for Titan,Tanishq and Fastrack. Practical application of marketing and strategy is clearly evident in the chapters of the book. Overall,gives an understanding of how a business goes through different phases.
January 14, 2019
A better rating should be 3.5.
I think there definitely is a story on Titan . A company which has one after the other created strong resonating brands , and forms a crown Jewel in the Tata empire .
But the story has not got the best justice in writing and the narrative could be a tad better .
I think there definitely is a story on Titan . A company which has one after the other created strong resonating brands , and forms a crown Jewel in the Tata empire .
But the story has not got the best justice in writing and the narrative could be a tad better .
January 22, 2019
Must read
Very interesting read on journey of Titan. Different chapters dedicated to different brands and their formation. Ethics, engineering, marketing and belief in oneself lot to learn from the culture Xerxes nurtured.
Very interesting read on journey of Titan. Different chapters dedicated to different brands and their formation. Ethics, engineering, marketing and belief in oneself lot to learn from the culture Xerxes nurtured.
May 11, 2020
TITAN (Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand) by Vinay Kamath
TITAN stands for Tata Industries and Tamil Nadu.
An excellent portray of a journey with serial innovative adventures that lead Tata Press to Titan to Tanishq to Tata Eye Plus to Tata Skinn to …
Too good a book !
TITAN stands for Tata Industries and Tamil Nadu.
An excellent portray of a journey with serial innovative adventures that lead Tata Press to Titan to Tanishq to Tata Eye Plus to Tata Skinn to …
Too good a book !
March 25, 2019
Good book with deep insights on the Titan brand, how it started and how it diversified into multiple brands. Initial part is a bit boring but later half has good insights across business functions.
April 13, 2019
Persistence,passion are clear themes that are needed to build something from the scratch. The Titan story has spoken the same through this book.
June 28, 2019
Compelled me to rediscover the wonder that Mozart was.
July 19, 2019
Beautiful story of how the brand has evolved
June 10, 2020
Decent book which covers the journey of Titan.
October 29, 2023
Nothing less than brilliant and excellent book. Just mesmerized by the story of one of the world's leading brands.
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