The Power of two @ WIPRO
April ' 08, Mr Azim Premji announced his retirement as chief executive and appointed Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe joint chief executives of Wipro. In sharing the post, the duo were being asked to embark on a management first for India. Mr Premji would, however, continue as chairman.
Six months on from their appointment, is “the power of two”, as they call it, proving to be better than one? Or are the sceptics right that at a group as sophisticated and fast-growing as Wipro it is just a recipe for chaos?
So far, the joint role has been good for the numbers. Revenue for the quarter ending in June was $1.39bn, up 43 per cent on the year before, while net profits increased 15 per cent to $190m.
However, with the collapse of Lehman and the deepening problems of other major clients in the US financial sector, India’s outsourcing industry is facing its most uncertain period since the tech bubble burst eight years ago.
Wipro’s dynamic duo are about to get the chance to prove whether the power of two is really better than one.
What do you think? Are we looking at a new paradigm in the top management concept or is it just a blip that will fail and fade away. Comment.
(Excerpts from FT.com
By Joe Leahy in Mumbai
Published: September 21 2008 19:32 )
April ' 08, Mr Azim Premji announced his retirement as chief executive and appointed Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe joint chief executives of Wipro. In sharing the post, the duo were being asked to embark on a management first for India. Mr Premji would, however, continue as chairman.
Six months on from their appointment, is “the power of two”, as they call it, proving to be better than one? Or are the sceptics right that at a group as sophisticated and fast-growing as Wipro it is just a recipe for chaos?
So far, the joint role has been good for the numbers. Revenue for the quarter ending in June was $1.39bn, up 43 per cent on the year before, while net profits increased 15 per cent to $190m.
However, with the collapse of Lehman and the deepening problems of other major clients in the US financial sector, India’s outsourcing industry is facing its most uncertain period since the tech bubble burst eight years ago.
Wipro’s dynamic duo are about to get the chance to prove whether the power of two is really better than one.
What do you think? Are we looking at a new paradigm in the top management concept or is it just a blip that will fail and fade away. Comment.
(Excerpts from FT.com
By Joe Leahy in Mumbai
Published: September 21 2008 19:32 )
1 comment:
There are 2 reasons which convince me that this 2 CEO thing might just work out well for Wipro.
First is the size of Wipro which allows leeway to both the CEOs to focus on different areas without much of an overlap.
Second, Mr. Premji is a veteran and a visionary in his own sense. If he takes a decision there must be some reason behind it.
Only time will tell whether the 2 of them jointly display the 1+1=11 phenomenon or pull out a 1-1=0 dud.
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