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Outsourcing U.S. Jobs, Xerox Corp Hires 100 In India
Xerox India currently has close to 10,000 employees
KOLKATA: When Xerox Corp recently appointed a local for the top job at its Indian subsidiary, it broke an eight-year trend of expat CEOs leading the charge at the copiers and printers giant. The shift also made clear the $22.6-billion American company’s intent to kick-start growth and regain lost ground in India with the help of frenetic hiring, an overhaul of the top management – with local professionals taking charge – and a restructuring of the portfolio for sharper focus.In February, Xerox named Rajat Jain as managing director with a clear mandate to accelerate growth in India. Local professionals have also replaced expats in four senior positions, with only the finance function now headed by an expat. Around 100 professionals have also been hired to shake things up.
The urgency is noticeable, for Xerox is now developing India-specific products to enter newer segments like consumers and small businesses. Xerox India also wants to focus on services, which has become a big revenue earner for its parent.
The renewed growth thrust has come as over the years competitors like Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Ricoh have been gaining in key segments like A4 multi-function printers and A3 copier multi-function printers. Canon had grabbed Xerox’s leadership position in the Indian copier market five years ago.
Xerox entered India as Modi Xerox in 1983 under a joint venture with ModiCorp (now the Spice Group). Around 2002, the company got engulfed in a bribery scandal and corporate governance issues. Since then, Xerox has increased its stake in the JV while the Indian partner moved out.
"The fresh appointment of so many senior professionals shows the parent’s recommitment and faith in the Indian operations," says Jain, who joined from Mobile2win India and was earlier MD of Walt Disney India. He took charge from Konstantin Klein, who moved out after serving for seven months. Jain has his task cut out in the midst of fierce competition.
According to technology research firm Gartner, in the A3 copier multi-function printer segment (which targets the enterprise segment), Canon led the market with 24.7 per cent market share in the fourth quarter of 2011; Ricoh followed with 19.4 per cent and Konica Minolta increased its foothold in this space with a 15.1 per cent market share. Xerox which, at one time, was a leader in this segment, lags all these players, with an 11 per cent share.
In the A4 multi-function printer space, HP maintained its leadership position with a 52.2 per cent share in the fourth quarter of 2011, followed by Canon (20.6 per cent), Epson (10.9 per cent) and Samsung (8.6 per cent). Xerox has a negligible share. This segment is mainly targeted at consumers and small and medium business enterprises, areas in which Xerox now plans to focus significantly to become a market leader.
Recently, Xerox restructured its Indian operations under two verticals – services and technology & channels. The hiring spree is now to fill critical positions and beef up strength in each of these verticals.
The company poached Vishal Awal as executive director (services) from Ericsson India, Vivek Chandel as ED (marketing) from Tata Teleservices and Manmohan Kalsy as ED (HR) from Vodafone India.
The four regional business heads, too, are new hires. These regional heads will report to an old Xerox India hand, Vipin Tuteja, who has been made ED for the technology and channels vertical.
Xerox India currently has close to 10,000 employees, including the existing headcount in outsourcing firm ACS, which the company globally acquired in 2009. "What Xerox is undergoing today is a cultural transformation and our employees will be a part of this turnaround story as they will be a key influencer in the decision-making process based on their experience of working in other sectors," says Kalsy.
"We have been assured that India will get separate focus and all the investment support required. The market opportunity is much bigger than we can see," says Jain, who however did not share specific details on investment.
Xerox India will strengthen its presence in the two recently created verticals – services and products. It wants to increase contribution of services to almost half of its Indian revenue, in the same league as parent. "The market and timing are right for the transformation in India," says Jain. Currently, products account for three fourths of revenues, and services the rest.
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