The Tatas have moved into the second phase of restructuring the international beverages business

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of the group under Tetley by unifying the sales and marketing and order fulfilment systems across the globe. A top Tetley official told Financial Chronicle that they had put in place a new central global sales and order processing system that “helps us to efficiently cater to our 100,000 customers from our 10 factories and 30 core packers worldwide”.

The new system will help the Tatas schedule production at its plants more efficiently based on demand and also help drive buying efficiencies through a centralised global procurement system, said the official.

Prior to the virtual merger of the beverages business of the group, each legal entity ran almost independently of others focussing largely on specific products and regions it was strong in. As a result, its coverage across different regions of the globe was uneven. “The new regional presidents are not responsible for manufacturing or supply chain. Their sole focus is on getting products to consumers and ensure they purchase them. Distribution is the key focus post the new structure coming in,” said the official.

The new regional structure combines regions in such a way that many individuals have one area where distribution is strong and another virgin territory. For instance, Nigel Holland, who is in charge of Great Britain and Africa, will have to focus his efforts on securing distribution for the beverages business outside the UK and South Africa where it’s largely dominant.

Tetley, which enjoys good brand equity in Central African and North African countries, may be the brand used by Holland’s team to get greater distribution in the untapped continent.

Similarly, Steve Rice, who is in charge of Canada and South America, has the task of securing distribution of the Tata Tea group’s global beverage brands into the Latin American markets. Pradeep Poddar, who has been given charge of Asia Pacific, has a completely virgin territory that’s also a high growth area that the Tata’s beverages business wants to actively tap.

“We need to penetrate the white spaces where we are not there directly, such as Asia Pacific, Latin America and most parts of Africa.

With the new regional presidents structure and the centralised sales and order processing system that we have set up, we hope to be able to do the same by freeing up presidents to look at route to market,” said the Tetley official.

The Tatas have identified Tetley, Tata Tea, Good Earth and Himalayan as part of their four global focus brands.