A report on The Economic Times said mid-sized IT services firms in India are targeting their bigger rivals' senior executives in a quest to gain management bandwidth. Ambition and the quest for growth are the driving factors behind the partnership as the executives are given powers that are not available to them in the larger company while the smaller firms get the skills they need.
The report cited the example of Ashok Vemuri who made the jump from Infosys to iGate which was only a sixth of the size of Infosys. Although he had a shot at becoming CEO because he headed a key unit and was a member of the board, there was still no certainty of that happening. So he traded his post at India's second largest software exporter so he would be free to think about and implement his desired strategy.
Mindtree is one example of a company that has hired actively from bigger peers. In an interview with The Economic Times, Co-Founder and President NS Parthasarathy said, "At every milestone - be it $5 million, $10 million or $50 million - a company needs a different escape velocity to move into the next orbit. But the kind of escape velocity that is needed to take it to the next orbit from a revenue size of $400-$500 million is very different."
Just this month, Mindtree got former HCL Technologies executive Ramesh Pillai on board to lead its hi-tech vertical. Pillai worked at HCL for 13 years where he headed various segments like the aerospace, automotive and medical devices. Last month, Mindtree also engaged the services of former Infosys executive Paul Gottsegen to take care of marketing and strategy.
Mid-sized tech firms have also shown that they can deliver consistent financial results. Executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles Principal CK Guruprasad told The Economic Times, "Mid-sized IT players have become more credible and they are now of a size where they can afford to pay top-dollar salaries."
Join the Conversation