Mumbai: The Ratan Tata-Cyrus Mistry spat has reached the Harvard Business School with global experts in management and corporate governance such as John C Coffee and Paul Pelosi Jr raising serious questions on the role played by Harvard Business School (HBS) dean Nitin Nohria in ousting Mr Cyrus Mistry as chairman of the Tata group. Mr Nohria is on the board of Tata Sons and was one of the directors who voted to oust Mr Mistry at the October 24 board meeting.
It may be recalled that on the eve of Nohria’s appointment as dean, Ratan Tata had made a donation of $50 million to the Harvard Business School. The experts said this has raised significant governance issues about Nohria’s role and actions as a director of Tata Sons in ousting Mr Mistry according to Moneylife digital team.
They also questioned the fact that Mr Nohria did not insist on the board following proper corporate procedures for the removal of a director or chairman as set by the bylaws, or avoiding the appearance of a conflict of interest. The manner in which Mr Nohria inducted three more members including businessman Ajay Priamal to the board of six to facilitate the ouster of Mr Mistry was also criticised.
Moneylife quotes Omari West who, in an article titled ‘Why Is the Dean of Harvard Business School Implicating Himself in an International Business Coup?’ said, “Two years before Nitin Nohria rose from relative obscurity to the Deanship of Harvard Business School in 2010, the seeds of his current ethical dilemmas were already being sown. Mr Nohria’s appointment to the board of such a large donor firm did not raise eyebrows at the time; but in hindsight it presaged the drama that would unfold at the company this year. In a surprise coup on October 24, Mr Nohria along with other Tata Sons directors voted to oust Cyrus Mistry”.
