Bangalore Tiger: How Indian Tech Upstart Wipro Is Rewriting the Rules of Global Competition

by Steve Hamm

Of all the tech tigers in India, Wipro is one of a handfulthat stands out from the pack. In the past five years, it has become one of the most accomplished techservices providers in the world, delivering businessvalue through a combination of process excellence, quality frameworks, and service delivery innovation.Totally dedicated to customer satisfaction, Wipro isknown to go above and beyond to make customershappy. It's a move that's paid off...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071474781
• ISBN13: 9780071474788
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Easy, Entertaining, Informative Read - Check It Out!

One of my favorite books of the last 12 months is Bangalore Tiger by Steve Hamm. I bought it when it first came out and couldn't put it down. Well written, it describes Indian Outsourcing firm Wipro (specifically) and gives a detailed review of what's behind Outsourcing / Globalization (in general). I definitely recommend reading it. I'd consider it required reading for anyone providing Outsourcing services to customers, and am disappointed when I see that it's lessons aren't applied. One of the best takeaways I enjoyed is how Wipro pragmatically applied disciplined approaches to production and quality, and saw great results. Were there failures & setbacks in their approach? I'm sure - but they learned from them and re-adjusted their approach. The examples they highlighted really aligned with what I have seen first-hand from Wipro consultants CMM, Six Sigma and Lean Sigma provide a good framework and set of tools (much like ITIL does), but it takes some skill to understand when and how to apply what tools for what effect. There are other great points conveyed throughout various chapters in the book - "Growth: Keep a Thousand Fires Burning", "Adopt Ultrastrict Ethics to Build a Sterling Brand", "Reward Employees with Recognition and Respect", "Measure Everything Constantly", "Plan Three Years Ahead to Prepare for Rapid Growth", "Adopt the Best Ideas, Then Make Them Your Own Way", "Be Obsessive About Customers"...and there are others... It's not so much that there were a lot of new or novel insights in the book - and that's the point! Much of what I read I have read before elsewhere - and so has Wipro. Wipro has tried, applied and "refried" these ideas to affect a positive force for consistent growth at their company, growing from $500 Million USD in 2000, to realizing a market capitalization of more than $20 Billion USD 6 years later - surpassing EDS' market capitalization of $13 Billion at that time (now at $10.91 Billion USD, as of this writing). "We have a feeling that the platform we're on, offshoring, with price arbitrage, is a burning platform. It's only good for a few more years," says Chief Strategy Officer Sudip Nandy. "We need to do things differently to compete against international competition." (p. 69) Well said, and a point that is easily lost on American Nationalists worried about "offshoring of work" - which (I believe) is itself a myopic, misanthropic term that prejudices the speaker into an inaccurate way of thinking about how the nature of work is changing.

Excellent study of a high-tech trendsetter

From humble beginnings as a manufacturer of vegetable oil in India, Wipro reinvented itself, with stunning speed, as one of the world's leading providers of high-tech and business-process outsourcing (BPO) services to clients around the globe. Early in this decade, Wipro's annual revenues were $500 million. B the end of the first quarter of 2007, Wipro revenues had risen to $3.47 billion - a 41% increase over the same period in 2006. The firm is an acclaimed high-tech trendsetter. It received the accolade most prized by true business cognoscenti: becoming the subject of a Harvard Business School case study. The school examined how Wipro applied the principles of Toyota's "Lean" production system to its operations. So who is Wipro, what does the company do, and how did it become so successful so fast? We recommend that executives and managers read this book to discover the answers. Learn how your company can adopt the Wipro Way to turbocharge its operations.

A title with a much broader message!

Steve Hamm's Bangalore Tiger is a very readable book for anyone interested in understanding how Indian companies (Wipro is what he has showcased here) operate, or should operate, in today's global climate. As a journalist, Steve leverages both his observation skills and writing mastery, and, as a Westerner, looks at Wipro (and outsourcing) through an expert lens. His message is quite universal for anyone or for any company trying to succeed in today's world. Although the first four parts are Wipro specific, the subtext of his message in those parts is actually much broader in its implication. His final and the fifth part is the most useful for anyone who wants to emulate the success Wipro has achieved. All in all, it is a must read for anyone who is trying to understand how to work in India today. In fact, as their career coach, to many of my clients, who are transitioning back to India, I recomend them this title to round out their returning plans.

A great wake-up call to American business leaders... it's all about process innovation

As the book description says, Hamm gives you a rare glimpse into the mind of Wipro's charismatic chairman and thought leader, Azim Premji. Premji's adoption of world-class business processes helped Wipro thrive. Indeed, the Wipro Way will soon be a baseline for management, as was The Toyota Way in years past. It's all about "Extreme Competition," as described in Business Process Management guru, Peter Fingar's book by that title. Here's what Premji wrote on the back cover of "Extreme Competition, "In an interconnected world, the services sector has seen varied levels innovation, often inspired by historical breakthroughs in manufacturing. At Wipro we are pioneering the use of Lean manufacturing techniques in the digitization of business processes. This innovation is our key to surviving and thriving in the world of Extreme Competition. --Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd., Chennai, India Taken together, "Bangalor Tiger" and "Extreme Competition" will arm you with the knowledge you need to get ready for total global competition. And you'd better be ready, for globalization is the greatest reorganization of the business world since the Industrial Revolution.

More than Offshoring

While the book focuses on WIPRO (an Indian high tech company), it really is an insightful description of a major global economic shift. While the book focuses on a particular Indian company, it carries significant messages for North American companies - not only what we need to learn to be competitive, but also how we need to adjust to take advantage of the things that "WIPRO" brings to our businesses. I discovered that these Indian companies provide much more than low-cost labor for things like programming or phone services. They are building a whole new infrastructure to engage in the full gamut of development and innovation in high tech. Thoroughly readable and comprehensive, Bangalore Tiger is a must read for those of us who care about staying competitive as this economic shift evolves.