Sagar A.

Agrawal
Assignment no.1
Introduction to business Management

The leadership style and its central characteristic of the Indian leading industrialist

Dhirubhai Ambani

When we talk about Indian leaders one name, which we cannot miss out, is Dhirubhai
Ambani. He has voyaged through a journey of rags to riches. He was born on 28th
December 1932 to a local schoolteacher in a village called Chorwad, in Junagadh
district, Gujarat.

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. During the Mahashivratri fair,
he would sell ‘ganthia’ a gujaratri savoury to earn money. Due to shortage of money,
he left education after matriculation and went to Aden to earn money. He worked for
almost eight years in a petrol station where he learned about oil business until a day
came when he was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. He came back to Bombay to
start his own business. He took a loan with which he started Reliance Commercial
Corporation, which has been a stepping-stone to one of India’s largest Corporation.
They were involved in general merchandising.

Dhirubhai has always shown all the critical leadership qualities. He would always
grab an opportunity and strike on it. He then started his yarn business in the 60’s and
then he build his own spinning mill in 1966 known as Reliance Textile industries.

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. Even
today he has a simple ritual of Puja when a new machine is installed. He isn’t proud
of what he is and he still believes in ‘Simple thinking, Modern thinking.’

He always followed the rule to be the pioneer/first 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 wasn’t 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 didn’t mind copying someone else’s 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 company’s
shareholders and he was also concerned in protecting their interests. He 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 over subscribed. 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 Reliance’s 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 Dhirubhai’s
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 doesn’t run his business but his business leaders do it.

Dhirubhai is criticized for manipulating the government for his benefits. Apart from
that he has paid zero tax on corporate earnings for several years due to the loopholes
in the system. He was also involved in manipulating the L&T board to gain control.
Apart from that he was heavily criticized for buying shares under dummy companies
which never existed.

But be it whatever Dhirubhai is one of the greatest leaders of India who has the zeal to
achieve something big rather than just earning money and the obsession to build. He
wants to work till his death.

As a true leader Dhirubhai had once said that, “ People think I have finally arrived but
I think I have just begun.”

Analysis: -
Personality TRAITS:-

According to me MR.Dhirubhai Ambani blends well in Stogdill & Ghiselli’s theories

i.e. he was physically attractive,intelligent, convincing, task oriented & self-motivated,
lastly he was both high on IO & EQ.

Behavioral Theory: -
Exploitative

Managerial Grid: -
I would say that he is at (9,0) Exploitative Autocrat

Situational Theory: -

During 1950s
•In the 1950s, the Yemini administration realized that their main unit of
currency, the Rial, was disappearing fast.
•It was found that a young man in his twenties was placing unlimited buy orders
for Yemini Rials.
•Rials, 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.