Dhirubhai Ambani and Reliance

RELIANCE WITHOUT DHIRUBHAI contd...

Reliance Mobile, the new venture of Reliance provides cellular telephony services in 13 Indian states, and Reliance Basic holds the licence to provide fixed line telecom services in the state of Gujarat. With the launch of Reliance Infocomm, Reliance has taken another major step in its continuous search for growth and excellence. It was Dhirubhai's dream to provide information technology and communication facilities to the common man, at affordable prices. The Infocomm revolution will cover thousands of villages across the country by 2003. Reliance Power intends to pursue opportunities in the power sector with an objective to achieve over 10,000 MW in the next decade. With Reliance General Insurance and Reliance Life Insurance, the group has also entered into the insurance sector.

Dhirubhai's entrepreneurial abilities enabled Reliance to progress on the roads to success both in the licensing era as well as in the era of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. He faced the toughest battles with the toughest of politicians and bureaucrats and was eventually successful in gaining a victory over all his political and corporate rivals. His business ideologies have been praised and are being emulated the world over (Refer Exhibit VI, for Management Mantras of Dhirubhai and Exhibit VII for achievements of Dhirubhai).

Right from the time he suffered his first stroke in 1986, Dhirubhai groomed his sons Mukesh and Anil Ambani to take care of the day-to-day operations of Reliance. It was from Dhirubhai that his sons imbibed the quality to think big. Mukesh's skills were quite evident from his successful management of the Patalganga and Jamnagar projects and Anil was adept at the finances. Despite their elite education, their most important training came from Dhirubhai. He provided them with a strategic vision.

His sons always considered themselves as co – builders rather than inheritors of Reliance. Dhirubhai's words way back in 1993 reflected the immense confidence he restored in his sons, “Reliance can now run without me.” After his demise, Mukesh was appointed the Chairman and Managing Director of the Reliance group while Anil became the Vice Chairman. It remains to be seen whether Reliance will maintain its lead and growth over large multinationals in years to come.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1. Starting as a small trading firm with a capital of Rs. 15,000 in 1958, Dhirubhai developed Reliance into a Rs. 620 billion company in 2002. Discuss the leadership style and entrepreneurial qualities of Dhirubhai which enabled him to achieve such heights.

2. Risk-taking is one of the most important characteristics of entrepreneurship. Explain how Dhirubhai's risk-taking ability helped Reliance grow as the largest private sector entity in India. Also discuss some specific situations where Dhirubhai took risk.

3. What were the obstacles faced by Dhirubhai in building Reliance and how did he overcome them? Is the criticism levelled against Dhirubhai justifiable?

4. Many studies have revealed that successful leaders/entrepreneurs are well educated and practical people who work hard to achieve their goals. Do you think Dhirubhai had all the qualities that make a successful entrepreneur/leader? What were the most crucial attributes that accounted for Dhirubhai's unparalled success?

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