EOM Assignment No.2 Case Study 1 Wipro, India’s third largest software company, after the departure.

EOM Assignment No.2 Case Study 1 Wipro, India’s third largest software company, after the departure of its former CEO Vivek Paul, was directly controlled by Azim Premji, Chairman and owner (by virtue of owning a more than 80 per cent stake in the company), who also had to act as CEO, The roles of chairman and CEO were difficult to manage simultaneously but Premji demonstrated efficiency in handling all matters including operations. In fact, during Premji’s tenure, Wipro grew almost three times in revenue (from USD 1.35 billion in 2005 to USD 4 billion in 2008). In the CEO’s role, Premji had

»EOM Assignment No.2 Case Study 1 Wipro, India’s third largest software company, after the departure of its former CEO Vivek Paul, was directly controlled by Azim Premji, Chairman and owner (by virtue of owning a more than 80 per cent stake in the company), who also had to act as CEO, The roles of chairman and CEO were difficult to manage simultaneously but Premji demonstrated efficiency in handling all matters including operations. In fact, during Premji’s tenure, Wipro grew almost three times in revenue (from USD 1.35 billion in 2005 to USD 4 billion in 2008). In the CEO’s role, Premji had to look after day-to-day functioning, which, however, became counterproductive at times. Premji himself realized the conflict brought about by his involvement in the day-to-day functional nitty-gritty since the chairman’s role was more strategic, and in a turbulent global market, it was more important for the chairman to reinforce the strategies of the company to sustain itself and grow amidst competition. In mid-April 2008. Premji appointed two CEOS, perhaps not a very common step in the corporate world, Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani, two veterans of Wipro, were appointed as CEOS of the company. Wipro’s IT business is also divided into two organizations, namely Wipro Infotech and Wipro Technologies. Wipro Infotech’s business domains cover India, Asia Pacific, and West Asia, while Wipro Technologies provides business technology, and process solutions to business in various countries. Operationally, Wipro as a corporate entity follows a matrix structure encompassing three verticals and two horizontals. The verticals are technology, enterprise, and financial services. Technology verticals look after product engineering and telecom services Enterprise verticals cover the business df manufacturing, healthcare, and retail. Financial services verticals focus on the banking and financial services industry (BFSI) The horizontals are global business practices specializing testing, packaging, and technology infrastructure services and business process outsourcing (BPO) operations Each vertical and horizontal was headed by executives who reported to two CEOS. Premji believes that since both the CEOS had been groomed in-house and had worked together for vears, they worked as a team. The ‘two-man army’ model was also considered by the CEOS as the better option to take the company on the growth path Usually, the instance of joint CEOS is seen in cases of mergers, and is mainly meant to dispel any apprehension on the part of minority stakeholders. However, globally, the performance of joint CEOS has a poor track record An example ofan unpleasant experience with two chairmen can be traced to the global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Uniliver The company functioned with two chairmen for almost 75 years. Ultimately, the joint leadership structure could not be sustained by the company and from 2005 onwards, it had to switch over to the single-leadership model. In contrast, for Wipro, the joint leadership worked well. With increased business volumes and revenue earnings Wipro perhaps is an example to emulate and proof that joint leadership can also work well. Questions Draw an organizational structure with two CEOS, fitting them in a matrix structure. Develop your structure using Wipro as a model. On what basis various departments/divisions have been created in the above description? Draw sketches I 2 Case Study 2 Mr. Roy, the president and founder of Electric Manufacturing Corporation (EMCORP) is wondering how he can follow the advice of his doctor, who had told him to take it easy after last year’s coronary attack. EMCORP manufactures a full line of fractional horsepower electric motors sold to both original equipment manufacturers and distributors throughout the country. At present, the company employs approximately 1,000 people. Roy, an engineer by profession, has maintained tight controi over all major functions throughout the years, and though each of the heads of the engineering, manufacturing, sales, finance and personnel departments has the title of vice-president, they come to Roy for approval before making any change in procedure. Usually, each of these executives sees Roy several times a day. The personnel director once suggested a weekly meeting, but Roy voted the idea as too time consuming. Now, worried about his health as well as the problems of the company, Roy is beginning to feel the need for some relief from the constant pressure

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