Business Visionaries

Akio Morita



“It’s a Sony”–the world’s leading electronics

company started from a small radio repair shop. It was Akio Morita, born in Nagoya, Japan,

in 1921 who’s led Sony Corporation through the past 50 years and built it into a

renowned company. He started his business in 1946 in an abandoned department store with

$375. The multifaceted industrial giant that is Sony today is Morita’s vision at

work.

Andrew S Grove



After Gordon Moore of Moore’s Law fame, Andy Grove is the most

familiar name from Intel. During the dizzy days of Intel’s rapid climb as the leading

microprocessor manufacturer, it was Grove who was at the helm of operations. And Grove

didn’t stick to just microprocessors. During his stewardship, Intel made successful

forays into many areas, including networking and add-on cards.

Bill Gates



Like with Steve Jobs, we had quite a debate on whether Gates fits best

with technologists or with the men who created business empires–the men who went

after the bottom lines. The final answer came from a simple question–what is he

better known as? As the man who wrote Basic or as the richest man in the world?

For long, Gates was seen as the quintess ential nerd,

someone who marched to a different tune. Gates may be marching, or even creating his own

different tune, but nobody misjudges his business acumen anymore. Not only has Gates

become the richest individual by far; he’s also created one of the most capitalized

companies of the world (till recently, Microsoft was no 1, but GE has since overtaken it).

He’s also probably created more millionaires and billionaires than any other.

Jeff Bezos



If you’ve heard of e-commerce, then you’ve heard of

Amazon.com.

And Jeff Bezos is the brains behind Amazon. com. In the process of setting up this

e-business paradigm, Bezos rewrote the rules of the market economy and the capital market.

He had impeccable credentials before he started off with Amazon, and having been in the

investment business himself probably eased the way for him. However, neither pedigree nor

prior experience alone can be held responsible for the impact that Bezos has had not only

on the computing industry, but also on businesses, economies, and economic thought at

large.

Lawrence J Ellison



The other software billionaire (Gates is the obvious first), Larry Ellison

is passionate about everything he gets into–be it databases, hating Microsoft or boat

racing. Forbes recently listed Ellison as the fifth-richest man in the world and the

second-richest “active player in the technology world”. The ultimate self-made

man, Ellison began Oracle Corporation with a $1,200 investment in 1977 and built it into

one of today’s software powerhouses, with interests ranging from databases and

development tools to ERP.

Louis V Gerstner Jr



When IBM was in the doldrums, operating costs were high, and productivity

was low, it was Lou Gerstner who came to the rescue. He took over as chairman and chief

executive officer of IBM on April 1, 1993. Since then, there’s been no looking back,

and big Blue shot right back up into the top ranks. Gerstner Jr’s credited with what

is probably the most successful business revival in history.

Richard Stallman



Richard Stallman is not going to like his name being mentioned amongst

businessmen. Stallman started off the Open Source software development model, where you
don’t charge for software, and instead you give out the source code. He also founded

the GNU (an acronym for “GNUs not Unix”) project in 1984.

Today, the Open Source model and GNU are impacting the

business models of software majors, and more and more are adopting, at least in part the

Open Source way of development. It’s because of this profound impact that Open Source

has had on business, that we decided to call Stallman a businessman, rather than a

technologist.

Scott McNealy



“We’re the dot in .com”, that’s the latest punch line

for Sun Microsystems. In just 17 years since its inception, Sun has become a multi-billion

dollar company ($11 billion in the last fiscal year). This success is attributed to its

co-founder and witty leader–Scott McNealy. The 40-year-old chief executive has led

the company through a range of technical innovations like open architecture, open

interface, Java, etc. McNealy also serves as vice chairman for trade of the Computer

System Policy Project–a consortium of 13 of the largest computer companies in the US.

The consortium addresses public policy issues affecting the industry.

Thomas J Watson Jr



There was a time when computing was synonymous with IBM. Be it the PC or

the mainframe, it was IBM who drove both the technology and the marketplace. But who built

IBM to the super-power that it was? Thomas J Watson Jr–chairman and chief executive

officer of IBM during the company’s most explosive phase (1956-71). It was Watson Jr

who led the company from the age of mechanical tabulators and typewriters into the

computer era. It was Watson, who in spite of believing that the worldwide market for PCs

would be limited to five numbers, still let the product be produced. And the rest as they

say, is history. So, in many ways, we owe Watson for what computing has become today.

William R. Hewlett and David

Packard



You don’t have to be a millionaire to create a huge multi-national

conglomerate. You just need $538 of capital, and a shabby cottage behind your house for

R&D. David Packard and William R. Hewlett–two youngsters fresh from an electrical

engineering course–started one of the most popular companies in the world

today–HP–on January 1, 1939. What a way to start the year! The company’s

name was decided at the toss of a coin. Though the pair started off by creating a radio

oscillator, and later had more innovations up their sleeves, they’re better known as

keen businessmen. This is because with every decade, they expanded their business empire

through acquisitions, joint ventures, and new start-ups. They set foot into microwave

devices in the 40’s. The 50’s saw them entering the plotter business by

acquiring a company called F L Moseley. In the 60’s, they entered the field of

analytical instrumentation by acquiring F&M Scientific Corporation. HP also shone in

medical instruments and operating systems during this decade. The 70’s said good-bye

to slide rules as HP introduced the first calculator. HP entered the PC market in the

80’s. It also introduced its first inkjet and Laserjet printers in this period. And

you thought HP was just a printer company?