Marggo's Blog: Innovation Iceberg: Invisible Organizations Contri...

Marggo's Blog: Innvoation Iceberg: Invisible Organizations Contri...: Somebody has to bust the perception that Innovations are always from the Developed World. The more pronounced is the belief that Innovatio...

Innvoation Iceberg: Invisible Organizations Contributing to Global Innovations

Somebody has to bust the perception that Innovations are always from the Developed World. The more pronounced is the belief that Innovation means all about new products. So, naturally the great product companies are charting the best of innovations year after year. 

Professor Nirmalya Kumar of London Business School has come out with stunning information that majority of the innovations are happening in India, since companies involved in Innovation across quartiles are having their R&D base in India. He claims, low profile Indians are playing a significant role in the research and development efforts of large MNC’s and India will become a global Hub for Innovation. Process plays an important role in the development of the product and third world is becoming the centre for excellence in operational efficiency. He calls that as invisible innovation and it is unfortunate we are not getting the visibility on that.

It will be a big morale booster for the demographic profile of the country ,since the critical fact is that the people involved in such invisible innovations are all not those academic stars but those who have their normal education, but still able to deliver to the demands of global standards. Schools and colleges in India should be aware of this and this can generate lots of positive energy among the teaching and the learning community.

I am equally stunned on why government is not using its machinery to propagate this on a measured way. This can boost the confidence among the children and youth of the country, that they too can contribute to innovation and creativity and it does not warrant that one should be from the best of academics to lay their minds on such things.

Come to think of SME’s, we do not have any data on what kinds of innovations are happening at that level?  Many small companies may be into innovations and they may succeed and fail, but never the world will come to know about the same.

SME’s are the best place for creativity and innovations to happen, since small business units can have better control over such activities and also have some level of cost discipline. The authorities should come with some interesting schemes which can induce small players to mandatorily get involved in innovations which can contribute to the world at large.

Every innovation depending upon its potential and impact should be recognized and there must be a system through which such things that are happening at the bottom of the pyramid are captured and rewarded.

Failed innovations also need to be captured, evaluated and recognized, to motivate such entities to involve themselves on such initiatives on concurrent basis.

Today Organizations are challenged by the changing dynamics of the market and volatile behavior of the customer, leaving Value creation through cost discipline and process efficiency delivering limited success. Though they are essential and cannot be ignored, relying upon the same for business growth cannot generate higher valuation multiples.

Organizations irrespective of the size, looking for progressive growth, are in search for approaches which can meet the challenges thrown by the changing market dynamics.

BCG talking about Business Model Innovation considers two critical factors which determine the future prospects of Organizations.

• 1.       Entities defending their business models against declining industry trends
• 2.       Entities looking for breakout growth

How proactive organizations are, in identifying their business, in one of the above is very critical and Innovative business models are required on how to approach in the given situation for sustenance. Globalization and fast changing technologies are going to pose constant threats and even SME’s should get into the culture of innovation no matter how small they are, in order to grow in shorter economic and business cycles.

Business should operate on agile operating model which responds through comprehensive change in

• ·         Strategy
• ·         Organization Culture
• ·         People and Process Management

in order to scale up and grow in dynamic business environment. 

T Margabandhu