Man who sacked Steve Jobs says Indian IT needs the guts to fail

Indian information technology companies need to have the courage to fail, if they aim to replicate the success of Apple Inc and PepsiCo Inc in the service sectors, says John Sculley, the former PepsiCo executive who, as Apple’s CEO in 2003, audaciously evicted the company’s founder Steve Jobs.

“I see no reason why product-driven companies like Pepsi and Apple cannot be done in the services industry India offers. But this would happen only when you try taking risks,” proffered Sculley, who is in Mumbai to attend a leadership summit organised by the information technology (IT) lobby Nasscom.

According to Sculley, only “very few” in any company are the brains behind innovative products — rest all just help in distributing the idea.

“I think Apple is the most sophisticated supply chain company. (Chinese manufacturing giant) Foxconn is one of its biggest suppliers. All Apple does is the make sure the product reaches its consumers. There a very few people in the company who actually come up with the idea for a product,” Sculley said.
It can be debated if Sculley’s reasoning for the failure of the likes of TCS and Infosys commanding the global recognition of a Facebook and Google is correct.

But looking back into history, what is not arguable is when he confesses to “not being a good manager” and he having the luxury of working with the people he likes: testimony to this statement is that when he was the CEO of Apple in 1985, he fired Jobs, with the backing of the then-board of Apple.   

That decision went wrong, as when restored to the helm of a floundering Apple in 1997, Jobs has turned the company into one of the most valuable one globally inside 13 years.

Sculley said Indians can leverage upon their strengths as better performers in designing products “as they are good at frugal engineering and adopting and executing projects”.

What they lack, according to Sculley, is “Pepsi marketing skills”

“Why is there so much of opposition in the US against Indian companies when everyone knows that job losses there are not due to Indian companies?” asked Sculley.

He had one marketing tip to budding entrepreneurs who hope to launch the next iPod-like cult gizmo: offer only the best product in the market.

“Now, I think TCS goes with tagline of ‘demand for great products’. Apple does not release a product unless it believes it is the best,” Sculley pointed out
Kumar Parakala, KPMG’s chief operating officer for its advisory services in India, agrees with Sculley’s view that Indian services companies can have a similar branding success as product companies such as Apple or Pepsi.

“These companies have the same sophistication and rigour in service delivery as any other household names you can think of. However, since their end users are enterprises, they haven’t really focused yet on branding or marketing themselves for a wider audience,” Parakala said.

“Given the pace and scale at which these companies are growing, I would be surprised if a TCS or an Infosys is not a global household brand with in the next 10 years,” Sculley said.