S.R.Luthra Institute Of Management

Name Mohnish K Thakkar

Assignment Profile of any Entrepreneur

Subject Neim

Class B1

Enrollment no -117

Shift 1st

Submitted to - M.s Pooja Patel

Introduction (Dhirubhai Ambani)

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, (Gujarati :) also known as Dhirubhai, (28 December 1932 6 July 2002) was an Indian rags-to-riches business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries in Mumbai with his cousin. Ambani took his company (Reliance) public in 1977, and by 2007 the combined fortune of the family (sons Anil and Mukesh) was 60 billion dollars, making the Ambani's the second richest family in the world, next to the Walton family. Dhirubhai has been one among the select Forbes billionaires and has also figured in the Sunday Times list of top 50 businessmen in Asia.

Dhirubhai started off as a small time worker with Arab merchants in the 1950s and moved to Mumbai in 1958 to start his own business in spices. After making modest profits, he moved into textiles and opened his mill near Ahmedabad. Dhirubhai founded Reliance Industries in 1958. After that it was a saga of expansions and successes. Reliance's story as a company has been a 'bitter-sweet' saga in India. While on one hand it remains one of the biggest Indian conglomerates, on the other hand it is known to be a company evading taxes and being intransparen. It has presence in various sectors like petrochemicals, textiles and is involved in the production of crude oil and gas, polyester and polymer products. The company's refinery at Jamnagar accounts for over 25% of India's total refining capacity and their plant at Hazira is the biggest chemical complex in India. The company has further diversified into Telecom, Insurance and Internet Businesses, Power Sector and so on. The Reliance group with over 85,000 employees provides almost 5% of the Central Government's total revenue. In 1986 after a heart attack he handed over his empire to his two sons Anil and Mukesh.

Early life

Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 December 1932 at Kukaswada near Chorwad in the then princely states of Junagadh. (Now the state of Gujarat, India) to Hirachand Gordhandhas Ambani and Jamnabe in a Gujarati family of modest means. Hirachand Gordhandhas Ambani was a village school teacher with little income. Hirachand and Jamanaben had two daughters - Trilochanaben and Jasuben and three sons - Ramnikbhai, Dhirubhai and Natubhai. Dhirubhai was the second son. Dhirubhai was precocious and highly intelligent. He was also highly impatient of the oppressive grinding mill of the school classroom. He chose work which used his physical ability to the maximum rather than cramming school lessons. When Jamnaben once asked Dhirubhai and Ramnikbhai to help his father by earning money, he angrily replied "Why do you keep screaming for money? I will make heaps of money one day". During weekends, he began setting up onion/potato fries stall at village fairs and made extra money which he gave to his mother.

Life in Aden

When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked with A. Besse & Co. for a salary of Rs.300 (Present Day $6.64). Two years later, A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products, and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the companys filling station at the port of Aden. He was married to Kokilaben and had 2 sons, Mukesh, Anil and two daughters, Nina Kothari, Deepti Salgaonkar. He also worked in Dubai for some time during his early years.

During those days of him, the Yemini Rial was made of pure silver coins and was in much demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai bought the Rials melted them into pure silver and sold it to the bullion traders in London. During the latter part of his life, while talking to reporters, it is believed that he said The margins were small but it was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few lakhs. In short, I was a manipulator, a very good manipulator. But I dont believe in not taking opportunities.

PERSONALITY TRAITS OF DHIRUBHAI AMBANI

Dhirubhai has been an opportunist right from his childhood. All he needed was the whiff of a business opportunity and he was off to tap it. Dhirubhai has always shown all the critical leadership qualities. He would always grab an opportunity and strike on it. He believed that if a person wants to succeed in something then he should have complete access to information on that topic. Whenever he wanted to approach the government to get licenses, information about the competitors, market size etc. he would collect all these information, no matter at what cost it came. He also believes in destiny and gives all the credit to his luck. This shows how down to earth he is. He had a simple ritual of Puja when a new machine is installed. He isnt proud of what he is and he still believes in Simple living, Modern thinking. He always followed the rule to be the pioneer to do anything. He would just grab an opportunity that would come up because of some government policy changes and would implement it successfully. He believed not in meeting demand but in creating demand. He always produced in large quantities. He was of the opinion that customer should be provided with best quality goods at the lowest price. Moreover Dhirubhai as opposed to most other leaders wasnt expert in only one field. He was a manufacturing as well a marketing whiz. He knew how to offer the right product mix, identify markets and establish viable distribution structure, which holds true for one of his famous brand Vimal. He is also referred to as Manchester of India. He didnt mind copying someone elses idea, which he could implement better than his competitors. As in the case of copying the concept of selling through showrooms for his brand Vimal to counter the resistance from the traditional markets which he copied from Bombay Dyeing. He always had the dynamism and confidence in future and was always ready to go against all odds. He always believed in himself. He has always believed that his first responsibility is towards his companys shareholders and he was also concerned in protecting their interests. He is also known as the stock market messiah. This is because when some Marwari clan were trying to bring down the price of his shares by short selling, he counter attacked them and in turn earned a hefty sum from them. He has always had a wide investor base and most of his subscriptions were oversubscribed. He has always been an innovator in the financial market. He innovated and reintroduced successfully concepts like partial convertible bonds, fully convertible bonds etc. He has been successful in manufacturing world-class products. He always believed in Think big, think fast and think ahead. He has never had an ego problem and he knew how to get his work done from people. He was never ashamed to salaam anyone. Another incident that shows his vision as a leader is that when Reliances Patalganga Complex was damaged due to floods. Technical experts from Du Pont estimated hundred days to make the complex operational but Reliance had the complete complex operational in twenty-one days. This was possible because of Dhirubhais vision, his confidence, his dedication proper logistical planning and making available all resources. Dhirubhai has always believed in picking up the best talent. They have a motivated workforce. He only believes in providing leadership, vision and strategy. He thinks that he doesnt run his business but his business leaders do it.

LEADERSHIP STYLE OFDHIRUBHAI AMBANI

The following is a description of the leadership style of Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder ofReliance Industries. The managerial practices in Reliance were all affected completely by the leadership style of its founder. The great success story of Reliance can be completely attributed to the style of management brought in by Dhirubhai Ambani which was perfected by his sons and to some extent by experts in business management hired by the Reliance Group. But the fact remains that the comprehensive and integrated personality of Dhirubhai Ambani permeates and penetrates through all aspects of working of RelianceIndustries and all its subsidiaries.

Dhirubhai Ambani- Yarn Trader to National Business Tycoon

It is interesting to note the gradual development of Ambani as a leader from his birth, growth and blooming into a fully fledged company head. Born in a traders family in Gujarat on December28th 1932 to Jumna and Hirachand Ambani, he was the third of five children and his father was a school master. Having barely completed his matriculation exam at 17 years of age, Dhirubhai reached Aden and joined M/s. Besse & Co. which was dealing with Shell products and was paid a first salary of 300 rupees per month. He studied all the nuances of the marketing of petroleum and as an ambitious young man; he shifted from service to business. He was helped by Jamnadas in dealing with commodities like rice and sugarand returned toIndia in 1958.He starte d Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs 15000 as a trading firm. It is very educative to note that as for an Arab Sheiks request even a consignment of Indian soil was sent to Aden to grow roses in the desert showing that Ambani had the knack to identify an opportunity and strike the iron whenit is hot. Branching out to yarn trading, he started the first spanking new mill at Naroda as he foresaw synthetics as the fabric of the future which shows the visionary nature of the man in general. Dhirubhai registered Reliance Textile Industries with a paid up capital of 150000 as a powerloom unit. This is where the backward integration concept first took roots and later became the central theme for all strategic planning in Reliance.

As a risk taker, Ambani raised Rs. 280000 to get into manufacturing in a project which was predicted to fail by great business stalwarts like Viren Shah. But, because of his advance anticipation of things to come, he made a profit of 1.3 million in the first year. By 1977, Dhirubhai went public and his profit reached Rs 43.3 million from the revenues of 700 million. To manage his exploding business, he took out talent from wherever available and jobs were offered more on showing initiative rather than on paper qualifications which became a classic Reliance management strategy. The best technological talent was poached from all his competitors to form the brains trust of Reliance. When Ambani bought machinery, he was always ahead of tomorrows and had commitment to quality by taking the finest technology the world could offer. The best example is that ofacquiring DuPont technology for synthetic yarn from Delaware, US, the polyester process being first bought by him outside of United States. Dhirubhai entered domestic markets with an advertising blitz on par with Hindustan Lever when Reliance introduced ONLY VIMAL since he was very confident that the brand image was the most important in order to win the consumers confidence. Dhirubhai felt that marketing success was a function of three factors, namely, choosing the right product mix, identifying the market and establishing a viable distribution structure. When faced with resistance from traditional cloth marketers, Dhirubhai opened his own showrooms and appointed agents and offered franchises to his own shareholders. He also opened up non metro urban segments in smaller towns as a result of which by 1980, Reliance fabrics were available to twenty company owned retail outlets, 1000franchised outlets and more than twenty thousand regular retails stores. This was comparable in speed and numbers only to Italian Benetton and American Mc Donalds. Dhirubhai established a good rapport with his dealers by making his business with them risk free because he used to sayif you lose, come back to us, but if you make profits, they are all yours! Dhirubhais future gazing skill could be inferred from the fact that though India is a poor country, people will not mind paying a little more for synthetics provided they have a good quality and had a longer wearand tear. The Naroda mill transformed Dhirubhai from a simple yarn trader to a great mill owner on parwith Mafatlals, Sarabhais etc. Dhirubhai spread out countries abroad through his Reliance synthetic textiles. His dynamism and confidence in the future made him reach a sales turnover ofRs 1 billion in just twelve years whereas Bombay Dyeing needed hundred years. Dhirubhai was accused of black marketing andcorruption to improve his sales and get things done. After 1977, when Reliance went public, Dhirubhais holdings were 16% but he had thousands ofshare holders from the public to support him in all his endeavors. By converting debt into equity through successful debenture issues through 1979 to 1982, he was able to raise up to Rs 500millions. A very important philosophy of Dhirubhai was always to ensure that Reliance share were in the ascendant to draw maximum benefit for the shareholders for whom he was prepared to bend the Govt. rules, use his political influence and any legal Hera pheri required for the purpose.Dhirubhai made sure that whenever Reliance had to impress the Govt. to modify the existing rules and regulations, they used to have all the information in India and abroad on the fingertips of the group which met and influenced the Govt. Reliance always managed to maintain its zero-tax status by changing its accounting practice by capitalizing interest for the long term debt for the purchase of fixed assets. Many people felt that Reliance was avoiding taxes by cheating the Govt. However, all the profits were ploughed into the company by Dhirubhai and his family so that business prospered.Dhirubhai had the knack oftaking on people like VP Singh in which he had the inherent support from Ms. Indira Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee and Rajeev Gandhi. One best example is when he contracted the purchase of a whole years supply of PTA of 60000 tons by having letters of credit from many banks when the Govt. was about todecide to shift imports of PTA from open license topermissible limited list. Dhirubhai was able to show his one-upmanship against Nusli Wadia and Goenka of Indian Express which were bent upon destroying Reliance. Though this led to his paralysis and laterfailing health, he was able to broker peace with his enemies through the success of Reliances G series along with the meeting of Dhirubhai with Rajeev Gandhi through the good offices ofAmitabh Bachhan when VPSingh was shifted from Finance toDefence. However, there was never formal delegation of authority in Reliance as there was flexibility as well as ambiguity. Only the top managers could call the shots in addition to Dhirubhai and his sons. In spite of this, Dhirubhai was very considerate to his employees like when Mr. Sanghvi incurred a heavy loss in a deal with a view to increase the profit for Reliance. After 1995, Dhirubhai handed over the reins of his empire to his sons though he did not lose his craving formoney and power since he was always available for expert advice. According to Anil Ambani, his fathers only fault was he thought too big and clearly ahead of his time.

Dhirubhai Ambanis Impact on Reliances Managerial Practices and their Positive Impact on Business

The great success of the Reliance Group is in no small measure to epoch making changes in management practices and philosophies brought about by Dhirubhai Ambani based on his convictions that reflect his unique management style. The following illustrate and prove Dhirubhai Ambanis influence on Reliances management practices.

Dhirubhai Ambani was a transformational leader. His innovative idea of converting the debentures of the company into equity shares resulted in far reaching changes in the management practices. Reliance was able to convert its liabilities into assets by this masterstroke and the share prices of the company went up and all the investors could make through this process. Though, the Government of the day was against this equity cult starter by Dhirubhai per say, but, over a period of time based on precedence in foreign companies, the statute book itself was modified to be in line with this innovative idea. Consequently, the volumes of business in Reliance increased very fast along with quick multiplication ofits share capital.

Dhirubhai was a visionary who foresaw that mere financing through banks and public limited companies will not suffice to increase the wealth base of Reliance. So, he was able to convince the people of rural Gujarat and elsewhere that shareholders of the company will have handsome returns on their investments. This approach resulted in having more than 3 million shareholders investing in Reliance, which is the highest number in the world for any company. As a result, Reliance Industries was the only public limited company whose annual general meetings had to be held in open air stadiums. So much so, with almost 20% of the shareholders in India belonging to Reliance, it became a dictating factors in Indian economy, courtesy the Indian stockmarkets.Dhirubhai Ambani believed that his people were his most important assets. The most talented professionals were drawn from all and sundry, were nurtured and continuously provided initiative to aim for still higher goals and targets. These highly motivated people comprised the core of what is known as the Reliance family. This practice improved the working of not only Reliance, but other prospering companies who followed this practice also prospered in the long run. He also empowered his managers by giving authority to them to work independently to work independently he had belief in the capabilities of his people. This has grown to become the core of the Reliance groups HRpolicy of staff recruitment and maintenance.

Dhirubhai was a risk taker, but was only prepared to take calculated risk based on the expected future trends. He invested his entire earnings to purchase a huge stock ofpolyester yarn which was felt as a wrong decision by others because cotton was the king in India at the time. But he proved right and this made him a billionaire as polyestercaught the fancy of the people for better value and longer wear and tear period of the clothing. This influenced Reliance to such an extent that it went on with the purchase ofpolyester technology from DuPont as the first non- American company to do so. This move gave the Reliance Group monumental financial resources that helped build a robust growth engine and also developed a core competence to grow business, expand and diversify into a potato-to-petrochemicals conglomerate at abreak neck speed.

When Dhirubhai felt that was a lot of opposition for the introduction of polyester cloth for retail outlets, he started his own chain of distribution centers and gave retail agencies to many of his shareholders on franchise basis. This made it possible for only Vimal to penetrate through A and B class cities and semi-urban neighborhoods which made the market blossom to absorb additional supplies and increase the demand for the same all over the country. In the long term perspective, this also helped develop the much needed knowledge of supply chain management strategies in the Reliance Group, which now boasts of one of the best supply chains in the country in the category of departmental stores, food chains, pharmacy drug storesetc.Dhirubhai Ambani was the one of the first Indian businessmen to realize that high quality actually costs less. Dhirubhai always insisted that Reliance use the best and finest state-of-the-art machinery, equipment and manufacturing facilities. Under his stewardship, the Reliance Industries operated the best manufacturing plants in the country, a comment by the World Bank team affirming the same being a testimony to its technological advancement. In the long run this emphasis on constant up gradation of facilities improved the capacity utilization, economies of scale and reduced the production costs per unit in various factories of the company. Also, this philosophy helped the company to vastly cut down its production/manufacturing costs, provide higher quality products and product pricing flexibility in many of their high volume- low margin businesses.

The Stock Market Adventure:

However, the bear syndicate seemedto have undermined Dhirubhai Ambani's capabilities. When the bearsyndicate sold Reliance's shares in bulk,Dhirubhai's loyal brokers bought back all the shares, which led to anincrease in the share price. The buying took place for3consecutive days and forced the scrip to go up.For the purpose, a new company called the "Friends of Reliance Association" was registered because according tothe then Indianstock market regulations, a company could not buy back its shares. It bought 857,000 shares out of the total 1.1 millionshares sold by Reliance. After this incident, Ambani was only waiting for an opportunity totake revenge on the bear syndicate. The association which bought the shares, sought delivery on 30 April 1982, a Friday. But as the bear syndicate did nothave the shares it asked for more time,which the association refused and demanded a Rs 50 badla charge. The Bombay Stock Exchange had to be closed down owing tothe situation. The exchange authorities tried in vain to bring about acompromise between the two parties. And then began the panic buying ofReliance shares and the share prices soared to an all time high. By May 10th, the crisis ended. Dhirubhai finally succeeded in taming the bulls.

Corporate Battles of Dhirubhai Ambani:

Despite his unprecedented corporate velour, somecorporate bigwigs considered Ambani to be a manipulator. Critics accused him of using the "more thanthe usual" ways of obtaining licenses, getting quick approvals for public issues and capital goods imports, and of getting policies formulated in favor of Reliance. Dhirubhai and Reliance were accused ofmanipulating tariffs to suit their needs and outsmart their rivals.

He was considered to be a symbol ofall that was wrong with the Indian economy. Itis said that Ambani used his connections with key politicians and bureaucrats to obtain licenses and approvals for projects. He is also said to have induced government intervention by offering bribes and using other forms of lobbying prevalent inthe US. Reliance was known to engage politicians, journalists, and others to increase itssphere of influence. Some business men described Reliance as "an out of control monster, a bubble thatwould burst any moment." However, not all analysts would agree to that. They felt thatDhirubhai was quick to reco gnize and exploit opportunities. Dhirubhai believed that "business is nothing but a web of relationships and obligations."Keeping this principle in mind, Dhirubhai managed tocreate favorable centers in all the important areas among the bureaucrats, the ruling politicians, as well as the media. These were the areas where power vested.

Dhirubhai was of the opinion that business was not all about ethics and morality; it was about expansion and success. His amazing ability to use the state and itspolicies to his advantage was responsible for the expansion ofReliance. Be it licenses, foreign exchanges or quotas, he always succeeded in making the bestout ofmost difficult situations. However, his immense success earned him a number of enemies. The fight between Nusli Wadia, the Bombay Dyeingchief and Dhirubhai is well known in the Indian business circles. Both of them were adept in usingtheir business and political connections to suit their ends. During the Janata Party rule (1977- 1979), NusliWadia obtained the permission to build a 60000TPA di-methyl terephtalate (DMT) plant. However, before his letter of intent couldbe converted into a license, thegovernment changed and when the Congress government came to power, his license was being delayed (until 1981) with one pretext or the other.This was the same time when Dhirubhai obtained license to build a PTA plant. Dhirubhai was also contemplating on building aParaxylene facility. All this infuriated Nusli Wadia and marked the beginningof one of the majorbattles in the history of Indian business which lasted for several years. In the 80s, Ramnath Goenka, (Goenka) the proprietor of the Indian Express Group which was into news publication, had often tried to act as amediator and solve the conflict between the twocorporate giants; but in vain. Goenka backed Nusli Wadia. He considered the latterhis son and at times, urged Dhirubhai to bring the rivalry to an end.

Even though Dhirubhai promised to do so, he continuedhis fight with Wadia and Goenka felt betrayed. Soon, Goenka turned against Dhirubhaiand launched a series ofpress campaigns against Reliance. Goenka always promised Dhirubhai that he would put an end tothe campaigns being held against him in the press. But thevery next moment, he would scheme another plot against him. The assaults did not stop even when Dhirubhai was hospitalized after his first stroke in1986. Newspapers, magazines and weekend tabloids continually attackedDhirubhai. To counter these attacks, a few weeks later, Reliance issued 15 advertisements in leading newspapers of the country includingthe Indian Express. The advertisements contained key statements like "concern for truth", "allegiance to ethics", and "commitment to growth". Goenka formulated a fresh assault issuing a statement that Reliance had smuggled extra machines into the country, andtherefore had excess builtcapacity. This resulted in a show cause notice from thecustoms, and a duty and penalty claim of Rs.1.19 billion on Reliance. In spiteof all these attacks, Dhirubhai never failed to retain public confidence. Slowly, tables started turning against Goenka. In September 1987, there was a nationwide raid on the Express group, and a number ofcases were filed against it. Dhirubhai was victorious for once. After Goenka's death in 1991, his son, Vivek Goenka took over. But he did notsee much sense in lobbying against Dhirubhai and this brought toan end the big battle.

Political Battles of Dhirubhai Ambani:

Dhirubhai maintained good relations with Mrs. Indira Gandhi and obtained several licenses and permissions during her prime ministership. However, after herassassination in 1984, her son Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister, and thingschanged drastically. In May1985, Vishwanath Pratap Singh (V. P. Singh), the Finance Minister inRajiv Gandhi's cabinet, decided to shift PTA imports from theopen general license (OGL) category to the limited permissible list.

This could be the beginning ofa new problem for Reliance as it solely depended upon PTA imports for its PFY plant. Dhirubhai sniffed thenews about the imminent change and moved very fast. Between May 27th 29th, hetied up with a hostof banks, like the Bombay branches of the Standard Chartered Bank, Socit Gnrale and the State Bank of India, the Canara Bank and the Banque Indosuez to issue letters ofcredit for almost a year's supply of PTA, which were approximately 60,000 tones. These banks issued LCs worth 1.1 billion.

The last LC was opened just afew hours before the government announced the changed policy. The Finance Minister was not too happy with Dhirubhai and theresult was a 50 percent import duty on PTA. This further nullified Dhirubhai's gains. In June1986, Reliance was considering the conversion of its non-convertible debentures into convertible ones for the second time. This would help improve the company's debt equity ratio, reduce theoutflow of interest, and increase the inflow of funds. But VP Singh was against it. But once V.P Singh was transferred from the Finance Ministry to the Defence Ministry, the conversion of the debentures into shares was permitted and the pending licenses were cleared. October 1986 turned out to be quitefavorable for Reliance. The debenture conversion move proved highly beneficial. A secret meeting between Dhirubhai and Rajiv Gandhi seemed totrigger off a series of decisions in favour ofReliance. Some more pending licenses were cleared. The customs levy of Rs 3 oneach kilogram of PTA was abolished, and the Patal Ganga complex was granted refinery status thus, enabling it to pay alow level of excise duties for raw materials like naphtha.

Reliance without Dhirubhai:

In 2002, the Reliance group with aturnover of Rs 620 billion, assets worth Rs 564.85billion, and a work force of over 85,000people accounted for 5% of theCentral Government's total revenue. It contributed 3 % ofIndia's GDP, 5 % of thetotal exports, and 9 % ofthe GoI's indirect tax revenues. Reliance also accounted for 25 % of India's total private sector profits. Reliance secured nearly 10 % of the profits ofthe entire corporate sector in India. Moreover, one out of eve ry four investors was a shareholder of Reliance. Reliance acquired IPCL, the Indian petrochemical giant. This acquisition gave Reliance a sound footing in the global petrochemicals market. By 2004, it plans totake over more than 35 % ofthe global market. This would make Reliance the 11th largest polymer producer in the world. Withthe amalgamation of RPL with RIL, Reliance became the only company in the world tohave fully integrated world scale operations in oil and gas exploration and production, refining and marketing, petrochemicals, power and textiles.

Presently Reliance enjoys global ranking in all major businesses and its shares lead the domestic market. According to theglobal Fortune 500 rankings, Reliance ranks amongst the top 200 companies in terms of netprofit, amongst the top 300 interms of net worth, amongst the top 425 interms of total assets, and amongst the top 500in terms of sales.

Reliance Mobile, the new venture of Reliance provides cellular telephony services in 13Indian states, and Reliance Basic holds the license to provide fixedline telecom services in the state of Gujarat. With thelaunch 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 tothe common man, at affordable prices. The Infocomm revolution willcover thousands of villages across the country by 2003. Reliance Power intends to pursue opportunities in the powersector with an objective to achieve over 10,000 MWin 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 onthe roads tosuccess both in the licensing era as wellas in the era ofliberalization, privatization and globalization. He faced the toughest battles with thetoughest 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 worldover (Refer Exhibit VI, for Management Mantras of Dhirubhai and Exhibit VII for achievements of Dhirubhai).Some skeptics believe that Reliance would no longer be thesame after Dhirubhai.

The extraordinary growth of the company was based on the vision, energy and lobbying power of Dhirubhai as well as the willingness and abilityof the Indian government to promote its expansion. The competition now is with major multinational players whose ability to influence governments in various ways is well known. Right from thetime he suffered his first stroke in 1986; Dhirubhai groomed his sons Mukesh and AnilAmbani 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 beseen whether Reliance will maintain its lead and growth over large multinationals in years to come.

FAMOUS QUOTES OF MR. DHIRUBHAI AMBANI

From beginning Dhirubhai was seen in high-regard. His success in the petro-chemical business and his story of rags to riches made him a cult figure in the minds of Indian people. As a quality of business leader he was also a motivator. He gave few public speeches but the words he spoke are still remembered for their value.

"Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it."

"Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly"

"Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India."

"You do not require an invitation to make profits."

"If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow."

"Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into opportunities."

"Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will delve between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth"

"We bet on people."

"Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation."

"Don't give up, courage is my conviction

DHIRUBHAISM Management lessons from Dhirubhai Ambani

Roll up your sleeves and helpYou and your team share the same DNA. Reliance, during Vimals heady days had organized a fashion show at the Convention Hall, at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi.As usual, every seat in the hall was taken, and there were an equal number of impatient guests outside, waiting to be seated. I was of course completely besieged, trying to handle the ensuing confusion, chaos and protests, when to my amazement and relief, I saw Dhirubhai at the door trying to pacify the guests.Dhirubhai at that time was already a name to reckon with and a VIP himself, but that did not stop him from rolling up his sleeves and diving in to rescue a situation that had gone out of control. Most bosses in his place would have driven up in their swank cars at the last moment and given the manager a piece of their minds. Not Dhirubhai.When things went wrong, he was the first person to sense that the circumstances would have been beyond his teams control, rather than it being a sl ip on their part, as he trusted their capabilities implicitly.His first instinct was always to join his men in putting out the fire and not crucifying them for it. Sounds too good a boss to be true, doesnt he? But then, that was Dhirubhai.

Be a safety net for your teamThere used to be a time when our agency Mudra was the target of some extremely vicious propaganda by our peers, when on an almost daily basis my business ethics were put on trial. I, on my part, putting on a brave front, never raised this subject during any of my meetings with Dhirubhai.But one day, during a particularly nasty spell, he gently asked me if I needed any help in combating it. That did it. That was all the help that I needed. Overwhelmed by his concern and compassion, I told him I could cope, but the knowledge that he knew and cared for what I was going through, and that he was there for me if I ever needed him, worked wonders for my confidence.I went back a much taller man fully armed to face whatever came my way.By letting us know that he was always aware of the trials we underwent and that he was by our side through it all, he gave us the courage we never knew we had.The silent benefactorThis was another of his remarkable traits. When he helped someone, he never ever breathed a word about it to anyone else. There have been none among us who havent known his kindness, yet he never went around broadcasting it.He never used charity as a platform to gain publicity. Sometimes, he would even go to the extent of not letting the recipient know who the donor was. Such was the extent of his generosity. Expect the unexpected just might have been coined for himDream big, but dream with your eyes openHis phenomenal achievement showed India that limitations were only in the mind. And that nothing was truly unattainable for those who dreamed big.Whenever I tried to point out to him that a task seemed too big to be accomplished, he would reply: No is no answer! Not only did he dream big, he taught all of us to do so too. His one-line brief to me when we began Mudra was: Make Vimals advertising the benchmark for fashion advertising in the country.At that time, we were just a tiny, fledgling agency, tucked away in Ahmedabad, struggling to put a team in place. When we presented the seemingly insurmountable to him, his favourite response was always: Its difficult but not impossible! And he was right. We did go on to achieve the impossible.Both in its size and scope Vimals fashion shows were unprecedented in the country. Grand showroom openings, stunning experiments in print and poster work all combined to give the brand a truly benchmark image. But way back in 1980, no one would have believed it could have ever been possible. Except Dhirubhai.But though he dreamed big, he was able to clearly distinguish between perception and reality and his favorite phrase dream with your eyes open underlined this.He never let preset norms govern his vision, yet he worked night and day familiarizing himself with every little nitty-gritty that constituted his dreams constantly sifting the wheat from the chaff. This is how, as he put it, even though he dreamed, none of his dreams turned into nightmares. And this is what gave him the courage to move from one orbit to the next despite tremendous odds.Dhirubhai was indeed a man of many parts, as is evident. I am sure there are many people who display some of the traits mentioned above, in their working styles as well, but Dhirubhai was one of those rare people who demonstrated all of them, all the time.Leave the professional aloneMuch as people would like to believe, most owners [even managers and clients], though eager to hire the best professionals in the field, do so and then use them as extensions of their own personality. Every time I come across this, which is much too often, I am reminded of how Dhirubhais management techniques used to be [and still remain] so refreshingly different.For instance, way back in the late 1970s when we decided to open an agency of our own, he asked me to name it. I carried a short list of three names, two Westernized and one Indian. It was a very different world back then. Everything Anglicized was considered up market.There were hardly any agencies with Indian names barring my own ex-agency Shilpi and a few others like Ulka and Sistas. He looked at the list and asked me what my choice was. I said Mudra: it was the only name that suited my personality. And the spirit of the agency that I was to head.I was very Indian and an Anglicized name on my visiting card would seem pretentious and contrived. No further questions were asked. No suggestions offered, just a plain and simple Go ahead and do it. That was just the beginning.He continued to give me total freedom no supervision, no policing in all my decisions thereafter. In fact, the only direction that he gave me, just once, was this: Produce your best.His utter trust in me was what pushed me to never, ever let him down. I guess the simplest strategies are often the hardest to adopt. That was the secret of the Dhirubhai legend. It was not out of a book. It was a skillful blend of head and heart.

Biblography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhirubhai_Ambani

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Dhirubhai-Ambani

http://www.ril.com/html/aboutus/founder.html

http://www.mapsofindia.com/who-is-who/business-economy/dhirubhai-ambani.html

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