Wipro Technologies Europe (a)

Vivek Paul was hired to run the IT division of a global company that originally sold cooking oil. A native of India, he was educated and had worked in the United States for many years. Paul was brought on board to develop Wipro Technologies into a leading provider of software services to the world's largest corporations. He faced a number of challenges in achieving this goal. His most immediate challenge was attracting, developing, and retaining key talent. Paul needed someone at the helm who had established relationships and credibility with the employees at Wipro Technologies' Indian operation centers. He wanted someone who knew the Indian corporate culture and who had the cross-cultural sophistication that comes from extended expatriate experience to be the director of Wipro Technologies Europe. Sudip Nandy was the perfect fit for such an assignment. This story illustrates the cultural challenges of transforming an Indian company in order to enhance its global effectiveness. The A case (UVA-OB-0755) discusses some of the methods Wipro used to leverage diversity in the workforce to create competitive advantages for the firm. The B case (UVA-OB-0763) further describes some of Nandy's ideas for business growth. In the C case, which updates the business situation to late 2002, Nandy reviews more strategies. This case series illustrates the importance of national culture and ethnicity issues to everything a large corporation does, including its own culture of origin, the cultures of its potential customers, and the cultures of its employees. The series lends itself well to the unfolding of the Hofstede cultural model during class.