Terror at Taj

By Arlene Chang

The heroism of the employees of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel was one of the few heartening stories that came out of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that took place exactly two years ago today. Less than three weeks ahead of the anniversary, U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michele, on their first trip to the country, expressed their solidarity with the people of India by staying at the historic hotel, and Mr. Obama noted the many acts of bravery of the hotel’s employees in his first speech in India.

Rohit Deshpande, professor of marketing and branding at Harvard Business School, has studied that selflessness and written a case study on his findings: “Terror at the Taj Bombay: Customer-Centric Leadership.” India Real Time spoke to Mr. Deshpande via phone and e-mail about the case study, his experience interacting with the hotel’s employees and the effect this study had on his students. Edited excerpts:

IRT: How did the case study come about?

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Mumbaikars left candles near the Taj hotel a few days after the attacks as paramilitary troops still stood on guard.

Deshpande: A year and a half ago, I was writing another case on the Taj hotels, which was about branding. The Indian Hotels Company Ltd., as we all know, has so many brands within itself—like Vivanta and Ginger—and has been growing in their global presence. In Boston, where I live, The Ritz was taken over by the Taj group and is now Taj Boston.

During the process of writing this case, I spoke to numerous people and the issue of 26/11 constantly came up. While I came across the issue of ‘has our brand been irreparably damaged after 26/11,’ I also heard numerous stories about the exceptional courage of the employees of the Taj Mahal Palace & Hotel and thought to myself, ‘this is a leadership case study’ that must be written about and that the world needs to know about. So, I sought permission from Mr. Ratan Tata to come back to work on this case study....