BBA MBA and PostGraduate UnderGraduate Management Courses: From v’getables to v‘pros

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Amalner! In Jalgaon, Maharashtra. The very town that became the birthplace of Wipro; or rather Western India Vegetable Products. Founded in 1945 with 17,000 equity shares priced at Rs.100, Wipro was a Sunflower vanaspati ghee & laundry soap producer. But fate had destined other things. In 1966, due to the demise of Azim Premji’s father, the young 21-year old was called back from Stanford to call the shots.

And take charge, he did indeed! An astute businessman, Premji quickly started looking beyond the viscous liquid. The foray started with a range of personal care products and even light bulbs. But the real ‘fl ash of brilliance’ moment happened when Wipro began to dabble in the IT business. The Indian government, to ostensibly protect the indigenous market, had during the nationalization spree of the ‘70s & ‘80s, sent back the likes of IBM and other foreign technology investors. Wipro soon came up with their own Intel based computers. The 1990s liberalization era turned the strategic focus of Wipro to global hardware research alliances; Wipro R&D labs began catering to the likes of Texas Instruments, Nokia and Nortel. Even today, Azim Premji admits that Wipro’s aim is to be more in the league of IBM or Accenture, than to work to diff erentiate itself from TCS and Infosys.

Net revenues of Wipro stood at Rs.102.64 billion in 2006, an increase of 40% on year-on-year basis. Profits of the company touched Rs.20 billion. Today, if one were to look at its growth chart, then Wipro clearly has been working to beat competition via an acquisition spree. Recent buyouts have included the retail solution provider Enabler Informatica for Rs.2.43 billion, engineering design firm Saraware Oy for Rs.975 million, mechanical design outfit Quantech Global Services for Rs.462 million, technology infrastructure consulting firm cMango Inc. for Rs.925 million and even North- West Switches for Rs.1.05 billion. Confirmed Azim Premji, “We have in the last 6 months (since January 2006) announced six acquisitions... our experience in terms of early wins and business integration so far, gives us confidence that we are progressing well and with the right strategy. We are confident that the investments we have made in our business, to enhance our capabilities... have been well kicked off .” Wipro’s technological competence now draws on its experience of even developing semi-conductors, computers, printers and scanners. Who would have thought this ‘vegetable’ market would one day make semi-conductors? We have the answer – Azim Premji!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006, Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

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