> > This is one option for a quick global career. > > Umesh > > ------------------------- > Saturday Interview With Azim H. Premji > Outsourcing: Its Been Good to Him > http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/business/16interview.html?_r=1&oref=slogin > By SARITHA RAI > Published: September 16, 2006 > > Azim H. Premji, 61, is chairman of Wipro, Indias > third-largest outsourcing firm, with $2.39 billion > in revenue last year. Mr. Premji, whose 81.4 percent > ownership stake makes him Indias richest man, is > known for his austere style, whether providing > visitors recycled drinking water at the companys > Bangalore headquarters or flying himself and his top > executives in economy class. > > He talked recently about outsourcing, competition > and education. Following are excerpts: > > Q. Has the furor over outsourcing cooled down? > > A. The debate in the United States is significantly > more balanced. But what is not getting adequate > focus is that globalization is a two-way street. If > the United States wants access to Chinese, Indian or > Vietnamese markets, we must get access to theirs. > U.S. protectionism is very subtle but it is very > much there. > > The important thing about outsourcing or global > sourcing is that it becomes a very powerful tool to > leverage talent, improve productivity and reduce > work cycles. The West is not producing enough > engineers. The United States will produce 75,000 > engineers this year; they will produce more sports > therapists than engineers. Germany, the great > engineering power of Europe, will produce 35,000 > engineers this year; they will produce more > architects than engineers. Western companies want > access to Indian talent, that is why they outsource, > that is why they come to India to set up base. > > Q. Wipro began as a company making cooking oil and > is now the third-largest outsourcing firm in India, > but you still make cooking oil? > > A. Being in the consumer business helps us groom > talent in areas like marketing, finance and > logistics. We can benchmark our outsourcing business > to our consumer business and its best practices. > Plus, our consumer business is independent, > profitable, growing at 25 percent annual growth > rates and is now of a respectable size. > > Q. In 1977, Indias socialist government sent I.B.M. > packing. Was that the turning point for Wipros > technology business? > > A. Their leaving gave us a chance to build the > business from the start and we also learned to have > a high degree of sensitivity to the customer. I.B.M. > was not really bringing their best technologies to > India. They were dumping old machines in the country > that had been thrown away in the rest of the world > 10 years before. Now they have a vastly changed > attitude and they are back with a frenzy. > > Q. You came into managing the company recently, > after several executives had brought your > outsourcing business to a level of success. Do you > enjoy being so hands-on? > > A. We have transitioned; we have collapsed the > corporate office into the business office and > de-layered our structure. We have four presidents > who run the four businesses; each of these > businesses is under a billion dollars in revenue. We > continue to see it working well. > > Q. Now global consulting firms like I.B.M. and > Accenture are your competitors and they are > investing billions of dollars in India. Is that a > threat to your business model? > > A. The fact that I.B.M. and Accenture are > cannibalizing our model is a rubber-stamp > endorsement of the global delivery model. It > legitimizes our business from the customer point of > view. But in terms of the quality processes, > business model changes and fulfilling employee > career goals, our domestic competitors and we are > two to three years ahead of global consultancy > firms. > > Q. Is finding talent an increasing challenge for > firms like Wipro? > > A. Talent is in short supply everywhere. At Wipro, > we are training nonengineers to be engineers. We > hired 2,500 of them last year and coach them on the > job. Thus, we are supplementing engineering talent > on a significant scale. > > Q. You dropped out of graduate school at Stanford to > take charge of Wipro when your father died in 1966, > but you have since made education your cause. How > has it become so important to you? > > A. Because education is the fulcrum for an equitable > society. A girl child who is even a little bit > educated is more conscious of family planning, > health care and, in turn, her childrens own > education. Thus, we are killing three birds with one > stone. I am particularly interested in primary > education because the state of affairs in primary > education in this country is a cause for concern. > > This message was sent to you by Umesh Sharma. To see > Umesh's profile click: > http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=14312205275574945249 > > * * * > > To control notification emails, access your Account > Settings: > http://www.orkut.com/Settings.aspx > > If you are not an orkut user, you can block all > orkut users from sending you email by visiting: > http://www.orkut.com/Block.aspx > >
Umesh Sharma 5121 Lackawanna ST College Park, MD 20740 USA Current temp. address: 5649 Yalta Place , Vancouver, Canada 1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone] Canada # (607) 221-9433 Ed.M. - International Education Policy Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Class of 2005 weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/ ___________________________________________________________ Inbox full of spam? Get leading spam protection and 1GB storage with All New Yahoo! Mail. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
