ee The Internationalisation Strategy of Wipro in Europe* COMPANY HISTORY Wipro Limited (Wipro) was founded in 1945 by Mohamed Hussain Hasham Pretnji as Western Indian Veg. eluble Products Limited, The conipuny igs initally engaged in the manufacturing of hydrogenated vegetable ‘oil, Under the leaderstip of Fremji's son and suecessor, Azim Premji, the company divetsified into the areas of infortuution technology (IT), IT services and products, RacD serviess, business. pticess outsourcing (BPO) sand consumet care and Lighting products. Tt ig headquaneted it Bangalore, Incim and has operation offices in Novih America, Asin and Europe (Vedguriswar and Singh 2002; Wipro 20074), While Wipro hag a wid range of divisions, e.g. infotech, consumer care and lighting, biomed, fluid power and health care, the mast important oite is technology services, Wipro provides comprehensive IT solutions and services to customers around the world, including systems integration, information systems and. infrastcucture outsourcing, 1T enabled services, package implementation, software application development and msinteannce, BPO, IT consulting, product eyginwering and R&D services, Extibit | shows the different technology divisions of Wipro Limited. ‘Wipro was the first company to be assessed at PCMM Level 5, the highett devel in People Capability Maturity Model and SEL CMM Level 5, the Capability Maturity Model developed by the Software Engineering Institute in Plusburgh/US, These certifications point out the company's Focus on total quality ‘and on integrating people, processes and technologies, In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment, offering system integration, aetwork integration, software solutions and IT sézviee, [ts main local Competitors are Infosys and Tata Consultaticy Services (TCS), the IT division of the Tata conglomerate. Moreover, Wipro competes butalso- cooperates with: foreign companies such ag SAP, Gapgemini, Acceoture tnd Hewlett Packard.Exhibit 1 Organisation chart 6 Wipro’s technology servines, Wipre's technology services: ees cal ie Infrastructure outsoureing Package maintengne® & | |’) impiementation dovalopmant a Implementation |. Product engineering 1 eonaulting Tn the Asia Pacific und Middle East markets, Wipro provides IT solutions and services for global corporations. Wipto also has 2 profitable presence in niche market segments of consumer products and lighting. Thc company caploys over 72,000 employees worldvride-and hus approximately 700 clients. Wipro: ‘bas established 53 developmenteentees over the globe. The company has been listed in the New York Stock Exchatge since 2000 ‘Wipro’s softwareand technology division serves global Icudcra incliding Boeing, Eriesson) Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Sony. The company isexpunditg its area of operations across the globe. Some major Buropean Glentsare TUL, Skindia nyo; Loyalty Gate; Thames Water Pudeaa: Devtsthe Bank, Transco, Thomas Cook, Nokia aad Nortel. " WIPRO Gone ‘GLOBAL * The company las four geographic Segments: India, USA, Burope and the rest of the world, Exhibit 2 provides an overview of the revenues and their geouraphical spread, -Souréa: Adapted trom Wipro 20078” - f Alter having swecessfully established its business in the Indian marker, glohally by following a stralcgy of inorganic growth, ie, by ac companies in the US, in Burope as wellas in Asia, For cxample, Wipro acquired US-based mPower Software Services Inc., 2 company in the paymieats processing space it 2005, Through this. deal Wipro gained access to 30-distribution offices worldsride and more than 300 customers ecross the US; Europe and-Japan“The US became quite an important market for Wipro-with abaut 65 pé¢ cent of the tofal revenue coming slieots based in chis country in the financial year 2004. However, 3 grosving dissent in the US against be ‘outsourcing hs led the company (0 adapt a global delivery model to reduce the dependenes om this market [and to concentrate oi other regions such as Burope und Japan. In order to deliver its services to customers *ho Were aowilling to. outsource wock ta India, (he eompany hus further opened onsite-cenires in various countries, In particular, Wipro has expanded its operations in Canada, Germany, France, Eastera Eucupe, the “Middle Zast and China, “We are starting to find tcaction in France and Germany — you can see the difference ‘ver the past four years. We see ther as a major growth markets forus’, cuys Wipro CEO Agim Premji in Pesola 2005), As a comcquence, revenues from the US have been slightly decreasing while revenues from Europe show a constant increase throughout the last three yeurs (Exbibit 2). " (°° Wipro bas been following an inorganiv growth strategy by acquiring companies and by building alliaices ‘nd partnerships with industry leaders aver the globe, “As businesses become global itt soage, there will be a “need for systems fram companies avquired in mergers, aca and partnerships, to interoperute’, says Mano} Nagpoul, Regional Manager of Wipro’ Lid. (cited in IMB 2007), Following this strategy, Wipro “became w etobal player with customers all over the world: During the last two ycars, Wipro has expanded its European operations substantially by Forming strategic “alliances and acquiring especially small- and medium-sized companies which aie tiarket leaders in their particular niche industry: Ta Europe, Wipra has offices in Germany (Kempen, Munich, Frankfurt, Walldort ‘and Kiel); Frange-(Paris and Sophia Antopolis), Spain (Madrid), Sweden'(Solaa); Romania (Bucharest); “Austria (Listen), Tily (Milan), Sviteeriand (Zurich), the Netherlands (Hoofiderp), Finland (Rovaniemi, xis, Espoo, Kokkoli. Seinijoki and Por!) and Portugal (Porto), By 2007, Wipro is active in 30 countries all ‘ver the svorld (Bxnibie’3)." meee Coe om