Who in Your Company Can Say “Yes” to Innovation, Without Permission?
The truth about big innovation is that you get what you play for. If that looks like a typo — if it's jarring to see "innovation" and "play" in the same sentence or to hear anyone suggest that you, a manager, should play at anything — then this blog post is for you.
Read entire post at Harvard Business Review>>
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 05/29/2012 at 08:57 am
To Innovate, Turn Your Pecking Order Upside Down
Here's an uncomfortable truth about innovation: No matter how great your idea, you can't deliver breakthrough innovation without breakthrough organizational design. Some companies are great at finding opportunities, diagnosing what customers want, and even designing the perfect offerings to satisfy them. But even if you get all of that right, your effort will fall apart if you build the wrong team to execute....
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 05/08/2012 at 12:44 pm
Telecom’s Competitive Solution: Outsourcing?
U.S. telecom carriers face daunting challenges from device makers, content providers, social networks, and an array of disruptive technologies. But the solutions may not be housed on their own soil.
Read entire post at Harvard Business Review>>
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 05/08/2012 at 12:42 pm
Developing Countries Are Revolutionizing Mobile Banking
On February 16, 2012, Barclays of U.K. launched Pingit, a service that lets people send and receive money using a smartphone.
But this isn't the first big innovation in mobile banking. These innovations are already happening in developing countries.
Read the entire post at Harvard Business Review>>
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 05/08/2012 at 12:40 pm
Telemedicine Can Cut Health Care Costs by 90%
If you've not yet heard of telemedicine or think that it's not a great way to deliver quality health care, you may want to read this. Telemedicine, made possible by the availability of mobile networks, is revolutionizing health care. But not in the U.S.
Read the entire post at Harvard Business Review>>
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 04/25/2012 at 12:41 pm
P&G Innovates on Razor-Thin Margins
If you shaved today, either in the U.S. or in India, you probably used a Gillette razor. Gillette (now a brand of P&G), reportedly has had a U.S. market share of more than 80%, with Schick a distant second. Even more remarkably, they achieved this without resorting to price competition. The blade cartridges for its latest-and-greatest razor, the top-selling Fusion ProGlide, retail for around $4 each, leaving...
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 04/16/2012 at 11:59 am
Health Care for 1% of the Cost
There is a general consensus that U.S. healthcare needs major reform. Can reverse innovation — innovations originating from poor countries — provide one important answer? Most definitely.
In the U.S., the approach is to spend more money on major technological advances and come up with innovative products and solutions. In poor countries, the innovation paradigm is just the opposite: spend less and innovate...
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 04/09/2012 at 01:32 pm
Reversing the Curse of Dominant Logic
Western multinationals — especially the most successful ones — consistently struggle to achieve their growth targets in emerging markets. Why? Because they try to repeat their past success formulas — the ones that work so well for them in developed markets.
This was the case at Harman, which had achieved extraordinary success in the high-end automotive infotainment systems for luxury cars. However,...
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 03/26/2012 at 01:29 pm
Reverse Innovation
On April 10, 2012, my book, Reverse Innovation, (co-authored with Chris Trimble) will be published by Harvard Business Review Press. This book is the culmination of several decades of research, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about its potential impact.
Reverse Innovation is any innovation that is adopted first in the developing world. In the past, reverse innovations have been the rare exception to the...
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 03/20/2012 at 10:04 am
The $2,000 Car
Increasingly, Western companies are developing products in countries like China and India, and then distributing them globally. For example, GE developed an ultra-low-cost ultrasound for rural China which is now marketed in over 100 countries. Logitech developed an affordable mouse for the China market which sells for (the Chinese equivalent of) $19.99 and which they now sell in Europe and the U.S. Deere & Company...
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 03/12/2012 at 11:21 am
TEDx: Reverse Innovation
Vijay Govindarajan's TEDx presentation in New York on Feb 4 2012 on Reverse Innovation— any innovation that is adopted first in the developing world.
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 03/04/2012 at 10:01 am
The house that students built.
When Vijay Govindarajan and Christian Sarkar wrote a blog entry on Harvard Business Review in August 2010 mooting the idea of a “$300-house for the poor”, they were merely expressing a suggestion.
“Of course, the idea we present here is an experiment,” wrote Prof Govindarajan, a professor of international business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and Mr. Sarkar, a marketing...
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 02/14/2012 at 12:45 pm
Profitable Audacity: One Company’s Success Story
The sharp recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis and the uncertainty created by the 2011 debt crisis have fundamentally reset the world. The new reality is austerity. But that should only be fiscal reality. Businesses, sitting on trillions in cash, seem to be using the economic environment as an excuse to build into their business a kind of strategic austerity that is inappropriate. In fact, when there are...
Posted by: Vijay Govindarajan - 01/26/2012 at 12:52 pm