Impact Innovation: Tins of Vanadium Oxide to kick out tons of Carbon dioxide

As the 3^rd world is fighting hard on global climate deal, shirking away the responsibilities for the green house gas emission, an innovation under process from an Indian Scientist can eliminate the risk posed for the earth atmosphere. 

Sarbajit Banerjee, an associate professor at the University of Buffalo, a state university of New York and his research team recently pioneered an innovative window coating that blocks heat when hot and allows it to enter when cold. This has become a breakthrough innovation in the fight against global warming

"Through research, we discovered that high temperatures caused the compound's crystalline structure to change from one that is transparent to heat to one that actually reflects it. When formed as thin nano wires, the vanadium oxide could be directly applied as a coating on glass. That's how this smart window - capable of reflecting heat at high temperatures instead of allowing it to pass through the glass - got invented. Conversely, in colder temperatures, the coating remains transparent and allows both light and heat through to warm a building's interior," adds Banerjee, who was named as one of the world's top innovators under the age of 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2012

According to him, around the world, billions of dollars are spent every summer on air conditioning to cool homes, factories and vehicles, while releasing hundreds of millions of tons of harmful carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere.

A 2012 report published by Transparency Market Research valued the global air conditioning market at $98.2 billion, with projected growth reaching $178.4 billion by 2018. With this heat-blocking window coating, our goal is to transform windows to adapt dynamically to the external-environment instead of being static, immutable structures that are gluttonous in their energy consumption," shares Banerjee, who is currently in the process of licensing his heat-blocking window coating to industrial partners in the United States.

Banerjee also has a partnership with Tata Steel in Mumbai to explore how to use the coating to deflect heat from the corrugated steel roofs in India and other parts of the developing world. He predicts that it will cost just 50 cents per square foot once this window coating is commercially available.

This is going to be an impact innovation as it has multiple positives. One, it helps to mitigate global warming risk which can translate into better quality of life for the future generations and the other is, it also can help people to live in conditioned temperature without air conditioning equipments. 

The negative will be for the global air conditioning market which can shrink sharply if this becomes effective, in terms of its purpose and price.

Here comes the criticality of “Reverse Innovation”. The development of such products should happen at third world countries which can help to keep the cost low thus making the innovation more affordable when the product comes to the market.

T Margabandhu

Marggo India

Tug the Frog from the Boil

Of all the qualities deemed essential to a dynamic corporate culture, none trumps empowerment. Without it, any organization — old or new, large or small, public or private — would be hollow and devoid of creative talent. An empowering culture is what prompts capable people to join a company, nurtures their sense of ownership and motivates them to give their best. Singularly, it shapes the business’s brand, story, character and impact. Because of it, clients become loyal, suppliers get engaged and partners stay on for the long run.

Moreover, a culture that celebrates resourcefulness and promotes agility and flexibility is a must in a world that is constantly changing. It imbues companies with resilience, strength and a sharp competitive edge.                         

Fadi Ghandour, Founder, Aramex

Absolutely inspiring words, from the owner of a successful venture. In fact, the famous HOW report has come with empirical data to support the change in organization culture. Their study and analysis of several companies across 100 0dd countries concludes that organizations with self governance culture grow exponentially, than organizations with top down command based management culture. While self governance leads to growth in geometric progression but the companies with other lesser culture at best grows in arithmetic progression

This culture of empowerment or self governance has been embraced by new generation enterprises with proactive leaders at the helm of affairs. Also organizations which are big in size and which are put into challenges constantly ,slowly move towards inclusive approach, as they realize the importance of the power of collaborative effort s to achieve organization visions.

However, the key challenges are with the majorities which are at the bottom of the pyramid, struggling to grow. The most difficult part, for the change consultants or transformation coach, is to enable leaders or owners realize the power of inclusiveness or empowerment.  Many businesses are struck in the Boiling Frog Syndrome making them to fail, without even realizing they are failing.

The task before the Change Managers is not about bringing change to those who have the intent. The job is done well only when the same can be achieved with those who are not able to understand or appreciate such thought process. The very fact that they perceive themselves to be successful in whatever they are doing makes them be less responsive to changes

  

The change management process is so skewed on the top, the responsibility of the consulting community  will be to do the balancing act at the bottom to make things even out.

Automakers - Ascendancy to Advancement

Cars are no longer just cars -- they have become "computers on wheels." Cars now have more computing power than PCs or smart phones, running on millions of lines of software code, and loaded with sensors - “Smart Planet”

For the first time in the last 10 years, Auto companies have dominated into the top league of the world’s most innovative companies list released by Boston Consulting Group.  While Toyota has leapfrogged into the top 5 of the list, Ford and BMW have moved into the top 10 list. 

This is interesting as, this implies the shift in strategy from being Customer Delight to Innovation gaining prominence across industries to succeed in the new century. 

BCG says an increasing emphasis on more fuel-efficiency, intelligent safety systems, and in-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communications is driving much of the renewed innovation in the auto sector

Perhaps it's because auto companies have become technology companies

The dominance of innovation will be more rapid as customer delight will become order of the day for survival and companies will move ahead towards continuous innovation to be successful  

The changing dynamics of the globalization will make more organizations to move towards collaborative innovation to stay sustained in high growth platform.  Design thinking and inclusive innovation within the organization and innovation outsourcing will help enterprises to move up the value chain faster in a volatile and ever changing business environment.

Tesla’s bid to produce a self-driving electric car, BMW’s  light-weight assembly for electric cars and GM  electric-car aspirations are few other interesting stories besides Autonomous cars and Cars on Hydrogen/Water as fuel which are expected to happen in due course.

“The bar is continuing to rise for what it means to be a world-class innovator,” says Andrew Taylor, a BCG partner who works on innovation strategy. 

Innovation is no longer the buzzword of tech firms, but companies in all industries must be on top of their creative game to compete.

 

T Margabandhu

Marggo India

"Made in Crisis" Leader, Akio Tyodo - Toyota Turnaround Story

Leaders are born… But better leaders are made on Conditions. If somebody says his business is going smooth, I am worried.. because his business is not growing. That’s why Organizations are measured on their longevity since they go through various economic cycles to survive and grow. If I come across organizations going through crisis, that entices me more since the ability of the organization to overcome such crisis, gives us a free of cost learning on the leadership.

New Toyota chief Akio Toyoda finds feet, company set for big profits

It was August 28, 2009, two months after new Toyota Chief Mr Akio Toyoda took over. "We're in a Lexus," said a man calling 911. "Our accelerator is stuck. We're in trouble, there's no brakes." The panic mounted as the car neared an intersection. "Pray, pray," someone said, before the car flipped over, killing all four passengers.

The minute-long recording played over and over on the news all over America, Toyota's biggest market. More than 10 million cars were recalled globally to fix floor mats that caught on accelerator pedals and other issues. As Toyota's reputation crumbled, Akio all but disappeared.

A summons from US Congress finally drew Akio out. Over one gruelling day on February 24, 2010, he testified for three hours. Akio told US lawmakers: "My name is on every car. You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers." Later, Akio choked back tears as he thanked dealers for their support.

Akio had to weather an extraordinary run of bad news. He took over at the height of the global financial crisis, after Toyota posted its first annual loss in 59 years. Then came the vehicle recalls and 2011's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. To top it off, the yen surged close to a post-World War II record, squeezing profits on every car sold abroad.

Akio has since made a convincing case for himself as head of the world's biggest automaker. As this year's Tokyo Motor Show gets under way, Toyota is on track for a record profit, its Lexus luxury unit predicts the best-ever year of sales and industry surveys show public questions over deteriorating quality are fading.

"And the numbers speak for themselves." Toyota earned $4.4 billion last quarter, more than the combined profits of GM and Volkswagen, the second- and third-largest carmakers. Analysts estimate Toyota will rack up $18.3 billion in profit in the 12 months through March, beating the previous record set in 2008 by more than $1 billion.

Pupose and Not Profits - Creating enduring Values to Organization

"The Only valid purpose of a firm is to create Customer"

The famous words of Peter Druker was recapped in the Global Peter Druker Forum 2013, when eminent management thinkers came together to find a way forward for Organizations in VUCAD environment.(Volatile,Uncertain,Complex,Ambiquiois,Dynamic)

Many of the discussions and finer points are well known to the business leaders and corporate heads, but the challenge they face is in executing  the same.The so called VUCAD environment is going to be permanent feature as we see business world getting connected globally. 

Organizations need to understand the New Center of Gravity for Management. The traditional concept of maximizing profits to shareholders does not help enterprises cause, in the new age of VUCAD  environment. The business leaders have to go beyond the monetary values and look into the" Purpose" of their existence. The center of gravity lies in the Purpose and not in the Profits.The adaptability to this change will be a critical factor for organizations to sustain and succeed in VUCAD milieu. 

Purpose is the glue that sticks the people together, which is critical for the success of business. Denial to adapt to the change can lead  the organization to become extinct over a period.

The responsibility lies with the business leaders to get into the transformation act and the challenge will be much more for Change Management Consultants who have to sweat out to get the buy-in from everyone. 

Here again we can get to understand the relevance of Customer centric organizations Peter Druker was talking about a generation back. The balance of power in the marker place has shifted decisively from inside the firm to the customer. 

The evolution has gone that far from being a sellers market few decades back to buyers market and then to customer delight to collaborative innovation. The change in recent period had been faster with the advent of VUCAD post the globalization and the metldown. 

The conventional methods of doing business will be a serious risk. Today succussful organizations talk about shared vision, participatory management.and self governance as key differentials. Age old practices like command based control and hierarchical bureaucracy, with its rules, plans and reports, simply can’t get that job done. 

People have to align to the organizations purpose through collaborating from inside and outside by networking. Continuous improvement through getting their creativity will make a positive impact in the given conditions. 

Final words,  Business has to happen in VUCAD conditions and the Purpose can act as the compass to get the control.The focus should be to converge the critical dimensions of the organization like Goals,Structure,Value and Communication with that of People to deliver value to customer. 

T Margabandhu , Marggo India. Visit us in www.marggo.in

Corporations are people, too : Brian Doherty , Capegemini

I quite like technology and innovation. So I was intrigued by a recent news story about Norwegian oil company Statoil who are introducing new seabed-based technology that is so efficient, it is expected to find more than €20billion worth of oil from a hitherto redundant well (redundant because of the costs of retrieving the remaining oil in a more conventional manner).

It is a great story of innovation and engineering and, of course, as a corporation with responsibilities to employees and shareholders, Statoil is duty-bound to innovate and invest. That’s true, too, of their competitors who are all striving to discover new sources of oil and gas to ensure the life of the company and profitability. Any reasonable person enjoying life in a capitalist-based economy would surely agree that a CEO who didn’t have such a focus would be failing in her or his duty.

The problem is, of course, that for the oil companies, the pursuit of profit (which equates pretty much entirely to the production of carbon dioxide) is contrary to the global, planet-saving imperative to reduce carbon output.

There is a disparity between fulfilling legal objectives on the one-hand and protecting the long-term future of the planet on the other. However, the mindset switch required to change this is not a corporate one, nor a governmental one. It starts with you and I making the effort to get smarter about our fuel consumption; investing in low-carbon cars, choosing the train when it’s an option, video-conferencing instead of flying, thinking wind or sun to heat our houses, installing smart-meters, turning off lights, putting on sweaters and encouraging our neighbours to do the same. Why? Because step-by-step as each person adapts their behaviour then, you, me, the CEO and the shareholder will think conservation and sustainability ... and make decisions accordingly.

Autonomous Cars Will Transform the Auto Industry, Boost the Economy.

Morgan Stanley Analysts Believe Autonomous Cars Will Transform the Auto Industry, Boost the Economy.

With Self-Driving Technology Already Available, Obstacles to Adoption Are Largely Social, Legal in Nature.

Cars with basic autonomous capability are in showrooms today, and completely autonomous cars—those that drive themselves—are likely to be available before the end of the decade. The result may be a potential transformation of the auto industry business model, according to a new Morgan Stanley Research report.

According to the report's authors, autonomous cars "can drive one of the most significant transformations of the automobile in its history." In addition to their many practical benefits, autonomous cars can contribute $1.3 trillion in annual savings to the US economy, with global savings estimated at more than $5.6 trillion. The report attributed the savings to a number of factors, such as a decline in costs for fuel and accidents, as well as $507 billion in annual productivity gains, since people could work, not drive, in their cars while commuting to work.1 

Morgan Stanley Research analysts held brainstorming sessions with top executives in the auto industry to help develop a specific vision of what the industry's future might look like. In doing so, they broke new ground on the topic by focusing on areas that have not yet been addressed. Specifically, they determined a timeline for adoption, highlighted global implications, quantified the socio-economic benefits and examined investment implications, including categories such as long-haul freight delivery, telecommunications services, semiconductors, media and software. The authors also came up with a variety of potential solutions to the industry's most pressing obstacles. 

The technology to make a car autonomous is already available, and only incremental research and development will be required. The report’s authors believe that the main barriers to autonomous vehicle growth include questions around liability in the event of an accident, customer acceptance and infrastructure development.

"With US drivers driving 75 billion hours a year, autonomous cars are poised to have a much greater impact on society as a whole than most people give them credit for," said lead author Ravi Shanker of Morgan Stanley Research.2 "It is now clear to us that not only are autonomous cars real, but also they are likely to come around sooner than most people think."

This report is the latest Morgan Stanley Blue Paper and is designed to address long-term, structural business changes that are reshaping the fundamentals of entire economies and industries around the globe.

Golden oppurtunity to Manufacturing Sector in India

Mckinsey's latest analysis expects Indian Manufacturing sector to grow 6 fold and will hit 1 trillion USD by 2025. The demographic profile will impact the demand side so much that it will become imperative for the supply side to catch up on the chase. This will be a golden opportunity for Indian Manufacturing sector to make good of the coming wave.The global players will certainly make use of the explosive consumption demand and will be too happy to invest on supply side to make good of the opportunity. Indian SME's will have to adapt themselves to the changing dynamics of the business environment and should participate in the new growth cycle. Lack of adaptability will prove detrimental to their cause for sustenance