Is it possible to build a $300 House-for-the-Poor?

How do we get started?

My friend, Christian Sarkar, and I came up with some ideas >>

Let us know what you think.

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 02:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From the Economist:

How do companies generate new ideas? And how do they turn those ideas into products? Hardly a week passes without someone publishing a book on the subject. Most are rubbish. But “The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge” is rather good.

Read the article >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 02:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For successful execution of innovation, companies must adopt a distinct-but-linked organizational model. Under this model, a company builds a dedicated team for an innovation initiative, and then creates processes and incentives so that the dedicated team partners with, rather than fights with the company's performance engine, which is the core business.

Here are ten tips to nurture a strong partnership between innovators and the core business:

1. Articulate a motivating vision of victory in which both the dedicated team and the performance engine win.

2. Highlight the reality that the dedicated team and the performance engine are mutually dependent.

3. Create a common enemy: the competition.

Read the rest here >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

1. The members of the dedicated team frequently use words like "rebellion" and "conspiracy."

2. The dedicated team members act as though they are the company's saviors.

3. Those assigned to the dedicated team feel like winners and those that aren't feel like losers, or vice versa.

Read (4) and (5) here >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Can businesses really change the world?

Yes—but only if they adjust. In our new book, The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge (Harvard Business Press), we argue: "Through innovation, business organizations can change the world. There is just one little problem. Business organizations are not built for innovation; they are built for efficiency."

In fact, we point out, organizations today are only modestly more prepared for the challenges of innovation than they were fifty years ago. While most companies have plenty of creativity and plenty of technology, they lack the managerial skills to convert ideas into reality.

We liken innovation to an ascent of Mount Rainier. Most climbers focus their energy and enthusiasm on attaining the summit, leaving very few resources for the less glamorous and more dangerous part of the expedition—the descent. Similarly, companies devote their energies only to reaching the innovation summit—that is, identifying, developing, and committing to a brilliant idea. "Getting to the summit can seem like the fulfillment of a dream, but it is not enough. After the summit comes the other side of innovation—the challenges beyond the idea. Execution. Like Rainier, it is the other side of the adventure that is actually more difficult." In short: There is too much emphasis on ideas, not nearly enough on execution.

We have spent the past decade studying innovation within established organizations. In the process we have compiled perhaps the most extensive library of innovation case studies in the world (many of which are summarized in the book). Our work has led us to the conclusion that established organizations should be capable of executing any innovation initiative.

In The Other Side of Innovation, we offer practical advice for senior executives, chief innovation officers, leaders of innovation initiatives, members of innovation teams, aspiring innovators, and all those who support innovation. The principles and recommendations in the book span the full spectrum of innovation initiatives—from small process improvements to high-risk new ventures.

A fundamental premise underlying the book is that each innovation initiative needs a special kind of team and a special kind of plan. Part I of The Other Side of Innovation focuses on the team; Part II focuses on the plan.

In Part I we explain the steps for building the project team:
• Divide the labor. Decide how responsibilities for executing the innovation initiative will be split between the two components of the project team: The Dedicated Team, which works exclusively on the initiative full time; and the Shared Staff, who work on the initiative part time while maintaining ongoing operations.

• Assemble the Dedicated Team. Determine who will serve on the Dedicated Team and how to define their roles and responsibilities.

• Manage the partnership. Establish clear expectations for each partner and mediate the inevitable conflicts that will arise between the two.

In Part II we examine three steps for planning an innovation initiative and evaluating its progress:
• Formalize the experiment. The basic principles for learning from experiments are familiar but hard to follow.

• Break down the hypothesis. All but the simplest innovation initiatives are really compound experiments. There are two or more uncertain conjectures.

• Seek the truth. Myriad pressures in organizations push people toward interpretations of results that are comfortable and convenient rather than analytical and dispassionate. These pressures must be understood and overcome.

Once the innovation initiative is deemed a success, the innovation leader may move on to positions of greater authority in which he or she supervises an initiative, chooses the supervising executive for an initiative, oversees a family of related initiatives, and helps shape a more innovative company from the top. We conclude The Other Side of Innovation by extending the principles of the book to address each of these challenges.

Chris and I hope you find The Other Side of Innovation useful.

A final thought:
"For more than a decade, innovation has been practically synonymous with the latest cool gadget. In the new era, innovation will not be about cool. It will be about profound change. . . In the new era, the word innovation will convey breakthrough solutions for a peak world population of nearly 10 billion people, all striving for a better life, all facing the realities of a crowded and constrained planet."

Let us know what you think.

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Innovation is not creativity.

Creativity is about coming up with the big idea. Innovation is about executing the idea — converting the idea into a successful business.

Join the discussion here >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In 1995, the famous Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India, developed a course that would give lay people basic skills needed for maintenance of ophthalmic instruments. The result? Soon, they were able to care for equipment at a fraction of the cost it would have taken to create a separate, specialized service staff.

Seemingly small process changes can make a huge difference to a resource-strapped organization, and can often be exported to wealthier settings. Learn how management ideas from poor countries can transform management practices in the rich world >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Can you imagine living on a budget of $28 for lunch at work for a whole year?

The Akshaya Patra Foundation in India has found a way to feed a child daily for the entire school year on just $28. Add an average government subsidy of 50 percent, and $28 ends up feeding two children for the year. This is a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world.

Read the blog post at HBR >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Imagine you're German, you need a new family car, and you have a limited budget — say, US$9,400. What can you do? Continue using public transportation? Buy a used car? Or maybe buy a brand-new Dacia Logan!

Read the entire post at Harvard Business Review >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 03:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The story of how Bharti Airtel Limited, the largest telecom service provider in India, chose to strategically outsource its core functions is nothing short of a fairy tale.

For a typical telecom operator, the pain point during the growth phase is planning for network requirements and preparing budgets for such a capital expenditure. Capacity has to be built ahead of demand, which usually means the telecom operator has to absorb the cost of unused capacity.

But Bharti changed the game >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Not a day goes by when I am not reminded in some way of my friend and mentor, C.K. Prahalad.

For those of you who have been asking about CK's passing, I'd like to refer you to a number of tributes written by CK's friends and colleagues. I wrote one for the Times of India: A scholar who lived his theories and another for the Economic Times: CK Prahalad: Celebrating a great life.

See also: CK Prahalad: The Inclusive Visionary and CK Prahalad – The Man in Forbes India.

The folks at HBR have created a special section devoted to him, and Adi Ignatius has penned a tribute here.

We miss you, CK.

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It was September 3, 1974. I walked into Aldrich Hall, extraordinarily excited to be a student in the MBA program at the Harvard Business School. There were four Indians out of a class of 900. If someone had told me then that an Indian would one day become the dean of HBS, my reaction would have been: "Get serious!"

How things have changed. The top job in our profession is the dean of the Harvard Business School. By appointing Nitin Nohria to be the 10th HBS dean, Harvard President Drew Faust has created a signature moment for America, and for the Harvard Business School.

Read my post in HBR >>

Posted by Vijay Govindarajan at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)