塔塔集團董事長塞勒斯•密斯特里被炒

Tata Group, India’s biggest conglomerate, has sacked chairman Cyrus Mistry after a “clash of cultures” saw him lose the backing of Ratan Tata, his predecessor and patriarch of the founding family.

印度最大企業集團塔塔集團(Tata Group)炒掉了董事長塞勒斯.密斯特里(Cyrus Mistry)，此前發生的“文化衝突”讓他失去了創始家族的掌門人、他的前任拉丹.塔塔(Ratan Tata，見上圖)的支持。

In a brief statement that sent shockwaves through India’s business circles, the company also said the board was reinstating former chairman Ratan Tata as interim chairman.

塔塔集團發佈的一份簡短聲明震驚了印度商界，該公司同時表示前董事長拉丹.塔塔復職爲臨時主席。

It said it had already established a committee to identify a long-term successor for Mr Mistry, a process it said would be completed within the next four months. The statement gave no explanation for the removal of Mr Mistry, whose family controls 18 per cent of Tata Sons, the conglomerate’s holding company.

塔塔集團表示已成立一個委員會來物色密斯特里的長期繼任者，這一過程將在未來四個月內完成。這份聲明沒有對密斯特里的免職作出解釋，其家族控制着集團控股公司Tata Sons 18%的股權。

A person with direct knowledge of Mr Tata’s thinking told the Financial Times the chairman had been replaced as a result of a “lack of performance”.

一位直接瞭解拉丹.塔塔思路的人士向英國《金融時報》透露，密斯特里被替換的原因是“缺乏績效”。

In the past four years, investors had grown frustrated with Mr Mistry, whom they accused of ducking tough decisions needed to overhaul the sprawling group.

投資者在過去四年對密斯特里感到失望，指責他逃避作出改革這家龐大集團所需的艱難決定。

The person added that Mr Tata had been concerned about an erosion of the conglomerate’s ethical culture and long-term principles under his successor, and that their relations had reached breaking point over the past two months.

這位消息人士還表示，拉丹.塔塔擔心該集團的倫理文化和長期原則在這位繼任者治下受到侵蝕，兩人之間的關係在過去兩個月達到斷裂點。

Mr Mistry created a five-person “group executive council” that was younger than the top team during Mr Tata’s tenure, and was seen by some in Mumbai’s business community as lacking the previous team’s expertise.

密斯特里創建了一個五人“集團執行委員會”，該小組比拉丹.塔塔任職期間的高管團隊年輕，孟買部分商界人士認爲，這個小組在經營訣竅上不如前任管理團隊。

“The clash of cultures was getting to such an extent that it would be difficult to repair,” this person said.

這位消息人士表示：“文化衝突達到了難以修復的程度。”

“The board, on the recommendation of the principal shareholders, decided it was time to consider a change,” said another person close to the group, who confirmed that this was a reference to the Tata Trusts — charitable bodies controlling 66 per cent of Tata Sons’ stock, which are chaired by Mr Tata.

塔塔集團另一名知情人表示：“根據主要股東的建議，董事會決定是時候考慮作出改變。”他確認，主要股東是指塔塔基金(Tata Trusts)——該慈善機構由拉丹.塔塔主持，控制着Tata Sons 66%的股權。

Tata Sons in turn exercises control over the group through large stakes in businesses such as Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Steel.

Tata Sons反過來通過對塔塔諮詢服務公司(Tata Consultancy Services)、塔塔汽車(Tata Motors)和塔塔鋼鐵(Tata Steel)等企業持有大筆股權來對塔塔集團行使控制。