Can Thierry Delaporte Revive Wipro?

Smita Kulkarni
Assistant Professor, Department of Human Resource and Soft Skills, IBS Hyderabad (Under IFHE - A Deemed to be University u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail: smita@ibsindia.org

Syeda Maseeha Qumer
Assistant Professor, IBS Hyderabad (Under IFHE - A Deemed to be University u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail: maseehaqumer@ibsindia.org

Syeda Ikrama
Senior Research Associate, IBS Hyderabad (Under IFHE - A Deemed to be University u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail: ikrama@ibsindia.org

The case focuses on corporate restructuring at Wipro, one of the largest IT companies in India. Wipro's CEO, Thierry Delaporte, announced a huge restructuring exercise, the first since he took charge of the company in July 2020. The restructuring of the company was aimed at simplifying the existing organizational structure and driving growth in all markets beyond the US. Wipro, which was one of the leaders in the Indian IT space, had been witnessing a slump in revenues since 2012 compared to other IT peers. Its inability to adapt to new technologies, its conservative approach, unimpressive acquisitions, slow economic growth, growing competition, and unwarranted price concessions to clients were some of the reasons for its underperformance. As Delaporte embarked on a major restructuring at Wipro, the challenges before him would be to boost revenues, build a strong talent pool, strengthen market share, help the company regain its market position, and drive growth amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new management has tried to take the bull by the horns-which is what Wipro needed. After many failed experiments, this was perhaps the last throw of the dice by the Wipro board-a CEO who will not shy away from taking hard decisions, to take Wipro to its rightful place, on a par with peers.i

- Analysts at Philip Capital (India) Pvt. Ltd., a financial advisory firm, in November 2020

Introduction

In November 2020, India-based global information technology, consulting, and business process services company Wipro Ltd.'s (Wipro) newly appointed CEO and MD, Thierry Delaporte (Delaporte), announced a major organizational restructuring to turnaround the company's struggling business and meet the changing needs of its customers and clients. As part of the restructuring, Delaporte reduced layers of management, focused on a client centric model, and moved the decision-making authority across industry verticals and geographies. He replaced Wipro's existing structure of seven Strategic Marketing Units (SMUs), service lines, and nine geographies with four SMUs and two Global Business Lines (GBLs). According to Delaporte, the reorganization would accelerate growth and help the company regain the position it had lost in the global IT industry. "For long now, our growth has been largely dependent on the US market. It is important that we broad base our growth. The new model seeks to achieve just this. Besides ensuring adequate sector and domain focus in our go-to-market and execution, the new operating model will help drive growth in non-US markets,"ii he said.

Since 2012, Wipro had been witnessing sluggish growth due to its inability to adapt to new technologies, its unimpressive acquisitions, the growing competition, and unwarranted price concessions to clients. In fiscal 2013, annual revenues fell to $6,865 mn compared to $7,309 mn in 2012. Further, the IT major's annual revenue growth rate was not more than 8% between 2013 and 2019, while the industry reported a double-digit growth frequency. The number of active clients dropped from 1,223 in 2015-16 to 1,074 in 2019-20.iii In fiscal 2020, Wipro's revenue was the lowest among the top four IT services companies1 in India with a 2% revenue growth for the quarter ending June 2020. In Q4 ended March 2020, Wipro reported a 5.3% decline in consolidated profit at 23.26 bn.

According to some analysts, going forward, one of the biggest challenges for Delaporte would be to successfully execute the restructuring plan without that it having any significant impact on the company's revenues, withstand competition, and drive growth amidst the Covid-192 pandemic. It remained to be seen whether Delaporte would be able to boost growth and transform Wipro into an agile organization. In the words of Rajiv Rao, a journalist with ZDNet.com, a business and technology media agency, "Can Delaporte pull it off? If he does, it would probably mean he has the acumen to negotiate the power centres that have been nurtured for years. It would also mean his new service delivery model has worked. Yet those are two huge tasks-both of which will require flawless execution in so many components to the value chain. To sum it up, the Delaporte-Wipro marriage seems to be a plum opportunity for two parties to prove important things. Those two things being that Wipro, in its DNA, has always been top tier-it just needed the right person to catalyze it [...]."iv

Background Note

Wipro was incorporated in 1945 by Mohamed Premji in Amalner, Maharashtra, as "Western India Palm Refined Oil Limited". It manufactured vegetable and refined oils, soaps, waxes, and tin containers. Following the death of Mohamed Premji in 1966, his son Azim H Premji (Premji) took over as the chairman of the company. The company was renamed Wipro Products Limited in 1977. Under Premji's leadership, Wipro shifted its focus from consumer products to IT and software services. In 1981, it ventured into the IT services segment and one year later, changed its name to Wipro Limited. In the late 1980s, Wipro diversified its product line to include heavy duty industrial cylinders and mobile hydraulic cylinders. In 1989, it entered into a JV with US-based General Electric Company3 to form Wipro GE Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd. that manufactured and sold diagnostic and imaging products. During the 1990s, the company expanded by taking on larger software projects, IT systems, and back-office functions such as accounting for US and European corporations. In 1995, an overseas design center was established by Wipro called Odyssey 21 to serve its overseas clients by providing product developments in advanced technologies. In 1994, the company secured ISO 9001 certification4 for five of its manufacturing and development facilities. It set up a new unit called Wipro Financial Services Ltd., in 1991 to serve customers with capital resources, expertise, and ideas to help solve their financial needs. Wipro also invested in the consumer care segment with the launch of Shikakai herbal products for hair care, Santoor toilet soap in the toiletries segment, and the Camel brand of bakery products. To capitalize on the emerging opportunities in the Internet arena, Wipro entered into a JV with a Dutch telecom operator KPN5 to provide Internet services in India in 1998.

In 2000, Wipro's annual revenue was 12,244 mn and it emerged as the second-largest company in India in terms of market capitalization on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE Limited)6. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange the same year. In 2002, Wipro became the first software company in India to receive the ISO 14001 certification. In 2004, it partnered with Intel Corporation7 for the i-shiksha program that provided end-to-end interactive learning solutions to learners through a simple to use delivery platform. In 2006, it acquired cMango, a US-based technology infrastructure consulting firm, and Enabler, a European retail solutions provider.

In 2008, Wipro set up a global service center in Malaysia to serve the infrastructure and application management service requirements of customers across the ASEAN8 region through a remote service delivery model. It also entered the clean energy business by establishing Wipro Eco Energy but later sold the division to Chubb Alba Control Systems for $70 mn to sharpen focus on its core IT business.

In 2012, Wipro demerged to form two separate entities, Wipro Enterprises Ltd (Wipro Enterprises) and Wipro Limited. Wipro Enterprises contributed 10% to the overall revenues of the company and remained as an unlisted company. It included Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (including the furniture business), Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (Hydraulics and Water businesses), and Medical Diagnostic Product and Services business (through its strategic joint venture). Wipro Limited, on the other hand, was a publicly listed company focused on IT services and it contributed about 86% of the total revenues of the company. Wipro Digital was established in 2014 to increase market share in new emerging technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, robotics, analytics, etc.

As of 2013, Wipro was one of the three biggest companies in the Indian IT sector in terms of revenues along with Infosys Limited9 (Infosys) and Tata Consultancy Services'10 (TCS).

Problems

Since 2012, the Indian IT sector had been experiencing sluggish growth due to the Euro debt crisis11, competition from bigger rivals, the changing dynamics of delivering business solutions to clients, and the growing voices from among clients against IT jobs being outsourced by the US. In FY 2014 and FY 2015, Wipro's growth in terms of revenue slowed down to 6.4% and 7% respectively, while the industry par growth was around 11-12% during the same time. In 2015 and 2016, the company posted annual revenues of $7,536 mn and $7,735 mn respectively. According to T K Kurien12 (Kurien), then CEO of Wipro, "There is this huge change...the way clients are buying technology, the impact it is having on the way we have traditionally worked. It is becoming a challenge. How do you balance it all and, at the same time, keep recording higher growth rates?"v

In 2016, with the vision of charting out a new technology roadmap for Wipro, Abidali Z Neemuchwala13 (Neemuchwala) was appointed as CEO of Wipro replacing Kurien. Neemuchwala was believed to have a deep understanding of technology, sound judgment, and team building skills that would boost growth at Wipro. Under Neemuchwala's leadership, Wipro built a strong foundation in the digital project space and acquired several digital assets and capabilities ranging from a robust automation suite to a gig platform for access to top coding talent in the applications space. Neemuchwala gave priority to cross-selling services and offered clients complimentary services such as wealth management and insurance, Integrated Management Services, Business Process Outsourcing, etc. He tried to push the company toward the digital realm. He even hired people from the US to differentiate the IT major from its larger rivals.

Wipro faced tough challenges in the global IT marketplace that was witnessing rapid technological changes and changing client preferences. Some analysts pointed out that the company was unable to cater to the changing needs of clients. The sudden advent of digitalization, automation, and cloud services weighed on its financial metrics. Wipro's single-digit growth in terms of annual revenues widened the gap with its IT peers Infosys and TCS in terms of performance. In 2017, the IT major posted a 7.4% growth in revenues in the IT services segment against the industry growth rate of 8.6%.vi The growth rate further dropped to 2.9% in FY 2018. Between 2014 and 2019, Wipro lagged behind its competitors in terms of revenue growth. In Q3 2018,it posted an 8.4% decline in net profit on a year-on-year basis due to higher costs as some of its clients had filed for bankruptcy. Analysts said that Wipro had lost on its core strengths-engineering, research and development, and Infrastructure Management Services-while trying to catch up with the industry's big players in sectors like Banking and Financial Services Institutions (BFSI).The slow growth was also attributed to other reasons such as price concessions to clients, unimpressive acquisitions, and leadership changes at the top (see Exhibit I).

In 2019, HCL Technologies (HCLT)14, with an impressive growth rate of 10% year-on-year revenues reaching $ 8.63 bn in FY 2019, overtook Wipro to become the third-largest IT services provider. Wipro's IT revenues were $8.1 bn in 2019 (see Exhibit II). In terms of client base too, Wipro lagged behind its competitors. Its client list grew only by 7% between 2014 and 2020 while its competitor Infosys' client base grew by 63%. Further, for Wipro, the number of clients that earned more than $100 mn had gone up from 10 in Q2 FY 2015 to only 11 by Q2 FY 2020, while Infosys's clients had grown from 13 to 30 during the same time.vii The number of active clients of Wipro dropped from 1,223 in 2015-16 to 1,074 in 2019-20.viii Wipro grew 1.6% year-on-year for fiscal 2020 to $8.256 bn in terms of revenues compared to its FY 2019 revenues of $ 8.12 bn. Infosys reported an

Some analysts attributed Wipro's downfall partly to its conservative approach and low spending on global branding efforts. According to some analysts, macro environmental factors such as the US-China trade war15 and slow 5G growth were also responsible for the company's underperformance in 2019. According to Murthy B S, CEO of Bengaluru-based HR consulting firm Leadership Capital, "Wipro is a very conservative organization and has not spent much on its global branding and sales efforts when compared to Infosys and TCS. They need to lay strong emphasis on their global marketing and sales efforts. Around a decade back, the company used to be an employer of choice, but people may not want to join an organization that has been performing below expectations in different segments. The overall organization needs to be restructured so as to become more visible and agile when dealing with customers and winning over new customers. Large customers will be hesitant to do business with an organization that has not been growing for a long time".xi

Industry experts felt that though Neemuchwala had invested in the right sectors and sowed the seeds of digital transformation, impressive incremental growth was still eluding the company. He could not lead Wipro to achieve market-leading growth in the digital world. Managing the old model of app development and infrastructure maintenance with the new digital technology was challenging for him. Reportedly, under Neemuchwala's leadership, Wipro's annual revenue growth rate stagnated at 2.3% while under his predecessor, it was around 6%xii (see Exhibit IV). Analysts observed that between fiscal 2016 and 2019, when Neemuchwala was CEO, Wipro had added less than $800 mn to its top line. The company's IT revenues were about $8,120 mn in 2019 compared to $7,346 in fiscal 2016.xiii TCS reportedly added over $4 bn between 2016 and 2019, more than five times the revenues Wipro had added while Infosys managed to add over $2 bn between 2015/16 and 2018/19 to its top line (see Exhibit V and Exhibit VI). Industry insiders felt that a leadership change was necessary at Wipro. "A new leadership is required to push digital acceleration, improved execution, automation and stronger large deals for Wipro going ahead,"xiv said Thomas George, president of Cyber Media Research & Service Ltd. Meanwhile, Rishad Premji (Rishad), son of Premji, was appointed as the chairman of Wipro in July 2019.

In early 2020, the Bengaluru-headquartered firm also flagged concerns on the likelihood of increasing pressure on its cash flow position due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Wipro said its overall financial performance was likely to be adversely affected owing to the crisis with gross profit margins coming under pressure in fiscal 2020."The conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic can affect the rate of customer spending, including through cancellations or ramp downs of existing projects, increased requests for furloughs and requests by customers for price discounts, all of which could adversely affect our future revenues, operating results and overall financial performance,"xv stated the company in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. For Q1 2020, Wipro reported its lowest growth rate of 1.7% y-o-y.xvi The low growth trend was attributed to a slowdown in the BFSI sector, delays in client decision-making, and closing up of large deals, said analysts.

In January 2020, Neemuchwala stepped down as the CEO of the company citing family commitments. He was replaced by Delaporte16, an IT veteran and COO and a member of the Group executive board at Capgemini SE17 Group (Capgemini). Delaporte was the first non-Indian CEO of Wipro. According to Phil Fersht (Fersht), chief executive of HfS Research, a research, insight, and advice company, "The Wipro board was clearly determined to bring in an outsider to make some changes to the company leadership team, organizational structure, and culture. The search was extensive, lasting several months, and the pandemic clearly slowed down the whole process. Moving for Delaporte, a dyed-in-the-wool Capgemini man with a strong operations and finance background shows Wipro is keen on playing it safe as the industry goes into a long cycle of volatility as we (eventually) emerge from the Covid crisis and deepening recession."xvii

Restructuring WIPRO

After taking over as CEO of Wipro in July 2020, Delaporte drew up a set of priorities for Wipro as he aimed to transform the company into a powerful next-generation software giant. Under his leadership, the company aimed to achieve industry leading growth and improvement in all its segments. He analyzed the threats and opportunities faced by Wipro by discussing them with senior leaders and teams across the units at the company. He regularly interacted with customers, clients, and employees across all levels through virtual meetings. As of October 2020, he had boarded over 100 customer and 20 partner meetings.xviii In his first letter to Wipro employees, Delaporte wrote, "Despite the immediate challenges, I have no doubt that we will emerge stronger. We must strive for improvement in all spheres and aim to achieve industry leading growth. Disruption has always been a part of business. Yes, today our normal lives have been upended. The challenges are new, but I know Wipro, with a history of 75 years, has overcome many challenges with tenacity and resilience. The culture of innovation fostered here over the ages will help us pivot and transform."xix

In November 2020, Delaporte announced a major restructuring at Wipro to accelerate growth and regain the position it had lost in the Indian IT industry. As part of the restructuring, Delaporte planned to focus on five key areas - accelerate growth, strengthen clients and partnerships, lead with business solutions, build talent@scale, and simplify operating model (see Exhibit VII). He planned to overhaul the company's entire operating structure to focus on large deal wins and build strategic partnerships. Seeing it as a big shift from what the company had been doing earlier, analysts stated that the aim of the restructuring was to cut out red-tape and give precedence to high-growth sectors and

markets. Motilal Oswal, a diversified financial services firm, stated in a report, "Wipro is undertaking the drastic restructuring of its business, reducing the layers, and splitting the business by region. It expects this to result in a much more agile and nimble organization, which will accelerate growth."xx

The primary change that Delaporte was bringing about was the simplification of the company's operating model. Delaporte decided to streamline the company's business segments and geographies and reduce the number of layers in the firm as part of an effort to drive sharper client focus. According to him, accountability had been adversely impacted by the multiple layers as there were some 200 SVPs and VPs in the company. He stated that the existing complex delivery structure with multiple delivery units (seven strategic business units, service lines, and nine geographies) would be replaced by a simple delivery model that would yield economies of scale. As part of the overhaul, Wipro's operating model was reduced from 26 segments to just six-divided into four Strategic Market Units (SMUs) and two Global Business Lines (GBLs), effective from January 1, 2021. The four SMUs were the Americas 1, Americas 2, Europe, and Asia Pacific Middle East Africa (APMEA) (see Exhibits VIII and IX). Each of the four SMUs would be led by an individual unit head and supported by a newly created job role of CGO. "The CGO

would play a vital role in pushing large deals and build relationships with partners, besides overseeing marketing, advisor/analyst relationships, sales excellence and sales enablement."xxi

Delaporte moved away from more than 20P&Ls (Profit and Loss Accounts, otherwise referred to as business segments) to four and shifted the focus from industry verticals to geographies. Under the new strategy, the company planned to significantly invest in business consulting and next generation capabilities such as robotics, blockchain, digital strategy and transformation, IoT, and cloud hosting and cloud migration. In December, 2020 Wipro struck a five-year digital and IT contract with Metro AG18 for $700 mn to offer an integrated, flexible and robust digital infrastructure extendable for additional four years, taking the total value of the deal to $1 bn. Reportedly, 12 new and renewal deals were finalized by Delaporte that were valued close to $1.2 bn between July 2020 and February 2021. According to Delaporte, "I see my mandate clearly as putting this outstanding brand and organization back to where it belongs, which is leadership position, I will not be surprised if you soon hear that we have won some large deals."xxii Though Wipro was largely dependent on US markets, Delaporte felt the need to focus on non-US markets such as Switzerland.

Upping the talent quotient at Wipro was also a key pillar of the restructuring. The focus was on hiring domain specialists and experts even if it required hiring from outside. To accelerate leadership diversity across Wipro, Delaporte planned to focus on client facing leadership roles, gender diversity, and nationality composition. Ambitious programs were planned for hiring deep subject matter experts and go-to-market leaders by 2023. "The need for talent has changed from less operators and less generalists to deep content and domain specialists and technology experts. We are also bringing talent from the outside. We want to be a true global player,"xxiii said Delaporte. Reportedly, the reorganization of the company structure resulted in some 75 senior VPs and VPs and 300 general managers exiting the firm by the end of January 2021. Two veterans - Anand Bhanumurthy, who was president for business strategy and strategic sales, and its COO, Bhanumurthy, retired from the company.

Delaporte created a new job role called 'Global Account Executive' (GAE) to grow client accounts and engage with customers, as 70% of the revenue was reportedly derived from key large client accounts at Wipro. The role was similar to a 'client partner' who was responsible for the top 80-00 client accounts, with higher accountability and decision-making authority. As of 2020, out of the 200 leadership positions at Wipro, 3% were GAEs. "Our target is that GAEs should constitute 25% the top 200 leaders in Wipro. That is not the case today by far. These client-focus executives will focus the majority of their time on proactive growth and relationship building,"xxiv Delaporte added.

In order to boost sales, Delaporte tracked the sales of the company every month as opposed to its previous strategy of reviewing quarterly. "After many failed experiments, this was perhaps the last throw of dice by the Wipro board - a CEO who will not shy away from taking hard decisions, to take Wipro to its rightful place - at par with peers,"xxv stated securities broking firm Phillips Capital in its report.

Results

Though Wipro's revenue growth for the quarter ending September 2020 was 2 %, much below the Tier I IT companies, it outperformed its own estimates with robust results. Wipro's active client base improved from 1,070 in Q3 2020 to 1,136 in Q3 2021.xxvi The new customer figures improved to 89 for Q3 2021 from 79 in Q3 2021. Wipro's stock surged by almost 70% between July 2020 and December 2020.xxvii Delaporte stressing on growth being top priority at Wipro, said, "I think we are more present in the market, more ambitious and more active than ever. Growth remains our top priority. We have begun to make investments in our frontline sales and domain specialists."xxviii

During Q3 2021, the EMEA19 region of Wipro grew by 18%. However, for Q2 of FY 2021 ending September 2020, revenue from IT services (Q-o-Q) rose 3.66% to $1,992.4 mn and for Q3 of FY 2021 ending December 2020, revenue (Q-o-Q) rose to $2,071 mn. Operating Income for Q2 of FY 2021 also increased to 27.8 bn, an 8% increase compared to the previous quarter, and in Q3 the operating income rose by 17.12% to 33.2 bn, which was the highest since Q1 of 2018. Reportedly, the company stated that between December 29, 2020, and January 11, 2021, it had conducted a share buyback process where Premji and promoter companies had tendered 228,904,785 shares that were worth 91.56 bn.xxix The annual revenues from IT services of Wipro for Q3 ended December 31, 2020, was $2.1 bn a 1.3% Y-o-Y increase, while for Q4 of FY 2021, it generated $2.2 bn in revenues, an increase of 3.4% Y-o-Y. Net income increased by 20.7% Y-o-Y to $406 mn in Q3 of FY 2021 while in Q4 2021, net income was $406.4 mn, an increase of 27.8%

Y-o-Y. For the year ended March 31, 2021, Wipro's Gross Revenue was 619.4 bn

($8.5 bn), an increase of 1.5% YoY (see Exhibit X). IT Services Segment Revenue was at $8,136.5 mn, a decrease of 1.4% YoY. Net Income for the year was 107.9 bn ($1,475.9 mn), an increase of 11.0% compared to the previous year.xxx "I am delighted with the way we have finished the financial year. We delivered a third consistent quarter of strong revenue growth; deal wins and operating margins. We also announced our largest ever acquisition of Capco that will bolster our global financial services sector. We are excited with this wave of business momentum that we are witnessing. All key markets are now growing on YoY basis and this provides us a solid foundation to build on next year growth rates,"xxxi said Delaporte.

Challenges Ahead

Some analysts opined that for the restructuring to be successful, execution would be key. They cautioned that the restructuring process could be time-consuming and fraught with teething troubles. Travel restrictions imposed due to the pandemic made meetings and plans complicated, leading to delays in execution. "Wipro's new operating model should help drive growth and is a step in the right direction in our view. However, its execution will require change management at scale which in our view may only be gradual. We maintain our 'underperform' rating as Wipro's price-to-earnings multiples imply the highest Price/Earnings-to-Growth (PEG) ratio of 2.1 times, the buyback catalyst is behind us and the results of new strategic focus remain to be seen"xxxii stated a report by Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd, a diversified financial services company.

Some analysts pointed out that bringing the IT behemoth's growth in line with industry growth would be difficult for Delaporte. Changing the mindset of the majority of employees at Wipro would be yet another trial before the Frenchman. Some analysts felt that the reorganization exercise would not show immediate benefits; it could be a time-consuming process. Besides, the company did not share a clear timeline on when it expected to see the changes reflect in its revenues. Sudheer Guntupalli and Hardik Sangani, research analysts at ICICI Securities, said, "The increased focus on large deals, while simultaneously maintaining margins, will be a challenge in our view. Given these considerations, we believe, growth acceleration to industry levels in the near term may be an uphill task. Limited precedence of such a major turnaround in the Tier-I space makes us more cautious. We await execution evidence before turning constructive on the stock".xxxiii

According to analysts, the key challenges before Delaporte going forward would be to focus on growth, revive the business verticals, change the mindset of its employees, and regain the weakening market share. According to Fersht, "At least for the first few months, opening up the war chest may seem like the natural way for a new CEO to make a stamp on a firm. But with Wipro, acquisitions have a checkered past, and even those that have worked have taken several years to fully embed. Instead, the firm should focus on turning around creaking business lines and above all, get them talking to each other. A process Abid (Neemuchwala) started, but sadly failed to finish."xxxiv

Some analysts were concerned about the short-term pain on margins due to the restructuring. The company forecast that though the revenues from IT services in Q4 of FY 2020 were between $14 and $16 mn, the segment posted revenue of 152.96 bn, a 5.9% increase. Experts said new recruitment, appraisals, and other increasing overhead costs would weigh on its profits in the future. Despite the challenges, Rishad was optimistic that Delaporte would be able to revive Wipro, boost revenue growth, and help it regain the ground it had lost in the IT sector, "The board and I are very excited about Thierry and his leadership. He is making some bold changes, driving a more customer-centric and a growth-oriented organization. You will see a more ambitious Wipro as we move forward. I believe Thierry is just the right leader in helping us ride the wave of this opportunity. I've never felt more confident or excited about our future"xxxv he noted.

End Notes

1. Harsha Jethmalani, "Wipro's Growth Strategy is Exciting but Execution Key for Revival of its Fortunes," www.livemint.com, November 19, 2020.
2. Thimmaya Poojary, "Wipro Announces Major Organisational Revamp," www.yourstory.com, November 12, 2020.
3. Kunal Talgeri and Supriya Roy, "How Thierry Delaporte is Re-Building Wipro's Growth Engine," www.techcircle.in, January 14, 2021.
4. Rajiv Rao, "Can Thierry Delaporte Revive Wipro?" www.zdnet.com, December 18, 2020.
5. Varun Sood, "Indian IT at Inflection Point," www.livemint.com, November 6, 2015.
6. Varun Sood, "Wipro Posts Strong Q4 Results, But Q1 FY18 Growth Forecast Weak," www.livemint.com, April 26, 2017.
7. Swathi Moorthy, "Will CEO Thierry Delaporte's Strategy Help Wipro Catch Up with Its Peers?" www.moneycontrol.com, November 20, 2020.
8. Kunal Talgeri and Supriya Roy, "How Thierry Delaporte is Re-Building Wipro's Growth Engine," www.techcircle.in, January 14, 2021.
9. Swathi Moorthy, "Will CEO Thierry Delaporte's Strategy Help Wipro Catch Up with Its Peers?" www.moneycontrol.com, November 20, 2020.
10. Saritha Rai, "Wipro's CEO Departs After it Fails to Close Gap with TCS, Infosys," www.theprint.in, January 31, 2020.
11. Abhinav Singh, "Slow Growth May Continue to Haunt Wipro," www.theweek.in, July 25, 2019.
12. Kunal Talgeri and Supriya Roy, "How Thierry Delaporte is Re-Building Wipro's Growth Engine," www.techcircle.in, January 14, 2021.
13. Goutam Das, "Why Wipro Needed a Leadership Change," www.businesstoday.in, January 31, 2021.
14. Saritha Rai, "Wipro's CEO Departs After it Fails to Close Gap with TCS, Infosys," www.theprint.in, January 31, 2020.
15. Debasis Mohapatra, "Covid-19 Crisis: Wipro Sees Short-term Impact on Gross Profit Margin," www.business-standard.com, June 2, 2020.
16. Sandeep Singh, "Wipro Profit Rises Nearly 3% To 2,390 Crore in June Quarter," www.ndtv.com, July 14, 2020.
17. Sohini Bagchi, "Is Thierry Delaporte the Right Choice as Wipro CEO? www.cxotoday.com, June 1, 2020.
18. Rukmini Rao, "Simplified Structure, Sharper Client Focus Among Wipro CEO's 5-point Growth Mantra," www.businesstoday.in, October 14, 2020.
19. Ayan Pramanik, "We Must Aim to Achieve Industry Leading Growth: Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte Wrote to Staff," www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, July 6, 2020.
20. Prabhjote Gill, "Wipro CEO Delaporte's New Plan Could Give the Indian IT Services Giant the Edge it Needs to Catch Up to Its Peers, According to Analysts," www.businessinside.in, November 19, 2020.
21. Mugdha Variyar, "Wipro's Structural Overhaul Could Boost Performance in Line with Peers," www.cnbctv18.com, November 12, 2020.
22. Harichandan Arakali, "How Wipro's Thierry Delaporte Plans to Put the Company Back in Leadership Position," www.forbesindia.com, December 24, 2020.
23. Shilpa Phadnis, "Wipro Restructuring Leads to Many Exits at the Top," www.timesofindia. indiatimes.com, January 29, 2021.
24. Swathi Moorthy, "Will CEO Thierry Delaporte's Strategy Help Wipro Catch up with Its Peers?" www.moneycontrol.com, November 20, 2020.
25. Prabhjote Gill, "Wipro CEO Delaporte's New Plan Could Give the Indian IT Services Giant the Edge it Needs to Catch up to its Peers, According to Analysts," www.businessinsider.in, November 19, 2020.
26. Kunal Talgeri and Supriya Roy, "How Thierry Delaporte is Re-Building Wipro's Growth Engine," www.techcircle.in, January 14, 2021.
27. Saritha Rai, "New CEO Drives Wipro's Stock Up 70% Without Stepping into Office," www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, December 7, 2020.
28. Kunal Talgeri and Supriya Roy, "How Thierry Delaporte is Re-Building Wipro's Growth Engine," www.techcircle.in, January 14, 2021.
29. "Wipro Completes 9,500-cr Share Buyback," www.thehindubusinessline.com, January 19, 2021.
30. https://www.wipro.com/content/dam/nexus/en/investor/quarterly-results/2020-2021/q4fy21/press-release-q4-21.pdf
31. Chiranjivi Chakraborty, "Wipro Q4 Takeaways: Strong Guidance, Deal Wins May Lift Stock on Friday," www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, April 15, 2021.
32. Harsha Jethmalani, "Wipro's Growth Strategy is Exciting but Execution Key for Revival of its Fortunes," www.livemint.com, November 19, 2020.
33. Swathi Moorthy, "Will CEO Thierry Delaporte's Strategy Help Wipro Catch Up with Its Peers?" www.moneycontrol.com, November 20, 2020.
34. Vinershea, "Wipro's New CEO Takes Charge; Tough Task to Him and Company: Read Why?" www.behindwoods.com, July 6, 2020.
35. Harichandan Arakali, "How Wipro's Thierry Delaporte Plans to Put the Company Back in Leadership Position," www.forbesindia.com, December 24, 2020.

1. The top four IT companies in India as of 2020 were Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies, HCL Technologies, and Wipro Technologies.
2. The Covid-19 pandemic was a global pandemic of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), caused by a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV 2). The outbreak was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The pandemic caused severe social and economic disruptions globally.
3. General Electric Company is a New York-based multinational conglomerate with operations in aviation, healthcare, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing, and venture capital and finance.
4. ISO 9001 is defined as the international standard that specifies requirements for a Quality Management System (QMS). Organizations use the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements.
5. KPN is a Netherlands-based mobile telecommunications company.
6. BSE Limited, formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange, is an Indian Stock Exchange located at Dalal Street, Mumbai.
7. Intel Corporation is a California-based semiconductor manufacturing company.
8. ASEAN stands for Association of South East Asian Nations and comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
9. Infosys Limited is a Bengaluru-based multinational technology company that provides business consulting, information technology, and outsourcing services.
10. Tata Consultancy Services is an Indian multinational technology company, a subsidiary of the Tata Group. It is headquartered in Mumbai, and operates in 149 locations across 46 countries.
11. The Euro Debt crisis was a debt crisis period from 2008 to 2012 when several European countries experienced the collapse of financial institutions, high government debt, and rapidly rising bond yield spreads in government securities. It spread to Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain gradually leading to a loss of confidence in European businesses and economies.
12. T K Kurien joined Wipro in 2000 and served as the chief executive of Healthcare & Life Sciences. He headed the BPO division of Wipro between 2004 and 2008. He was appointed as CEO of Wipro in February 2011.
13. Abidali Neemuchwala is an IT veteran who worked for Tata Consultancy Services for 23 years, rising to the position of CEO of the BPO division of TCS. He joined Wipro in 2015 as a group president and COO of Wipro. He served as the CEO and MD of Wipro between 2016 and 2020.
14. HCL Technologies is an Indian IT services company founded in 1976. It specializes in Information Technology (IT) services and consulting, serves with operations across 50 countries globally.
15. The China-United States trade war is an ongoing economic conflict between China and the United States. The dispute has seen the US and China impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of one another's goods.
16. Prior to Wipro, Thierry held various leadership positions in Capgemini, most recently as the chief operating officer and a member of the Group executive board. He drove Capgemini's strategic planning and operations for several key businesses, and led the group's transformation agenda. He joined Capgemini in 1995 through its acquisition of Sogeti and spent nearly 25 years at the French tech services major. Delaporte, who helped integrate iGATE with Capgemini, quit after he lost out to Aiman Ezzat for the top job. Thierry holds a Bachelor's degree in economy and finance from Sciences Po Paris, and a Master of Laws from Sorbonne University.
17. Capgemini SE is a Paris, France-based multinational information technology company that provides consulting, technology, professional, and outsourcing services.