The $100-billion Tata group has embarked on a process of “simplifying, synergising and scaling” across its businesses to create an agile and strong platform.

This comes after the group made good progress in strengthening its balance sheets and building healthy cash flows during 2018. In 2018, the group spent over Rs 70,000 crore ($10 billion) to deleverage and restructure Tata companies, consolidate cross-holdings, acquire strategic assets and infuse capital for future growth.

The group is now looking to face macro challenges that 2019 could bring, by harnessing scale, synergy, digital depth, operational focus and agility even as talent will be a major focus area for the group which has 7,02,000 employees globally.

These were some of the action points highlighted by N. Chandrasekeran, chairman of Tata Sons, in his New Year message to the group’s employees. Chandrasekeran disclosed that within the group’s ten business clusters, the process of simplifying, synergising and scaling, or 3S, is evolving in a manner that makes sense to each sector and each particular organisation. He pointed out that while some clusters are focused on simplification, others are building on scale.

For instance, in aerospace and defence, the group is consolidating the businesses into a single entity. According to the Tata group chief, this unified entity will move beyond individual products to developing integrated offerings and executing larger and more complex solutions. In other areas, companies are reducing subsidiaries or exiting non-core businesses to bring focus and agility. Further, all companies are prioritising on leveraging technology to simplify operations.

There are also cases of synergising where companies working together where it makes business sense. The idea is to create new business approaches and differentiation. He disclosed that Tata Motors was developing an electric vehicle ecosystem in partnership with Tata Capital for financing and Tata Power for the charging infrastructure network.