My presentation at the 15th Management Circle Innovation Conference, Munich, Germany, Nov 5-6. Unfortunately, I was not able to travel and present this talk in person, but presented the key topics from it in a Skype chat with Prof. Oliver Gassmann, University of St. Gallen, and Chair for this conference

1. Innova&on
in
a
Flat
World:
Lessons
from
India
Tathagat
Varma,
VP,
Strategic
Process
Innova2ons,
Innova2on
Labs,
[24]7
Customer,
Inc

2. India Yesterday vs. India Today
#54
Governance
#1
Milk
Producer,
Two-­‐
wheeler,
IT
Outsourcing
Country,
Bollywood,
Gold
consumer,
#94
Corrup<on
Percep<on
Index
#97
Educa<on
#100
Personal
Freedom
#104
Entrepreneurship
&
Opportunity
#106:
Prosperity
Index
#109
Health
#120
Safety
&
Security
#134
Ease
of
Doing
Business
OR
AND
#2
Wheat,
Rice,
Mobile
Users,
Labor
force,
Roadways,
Cement,
CoYon,
Potato,
Sugarcane,
Tea,
Students
studying
abroad
#3
Internet
Users,
Coal,
GDP
(PPP);
#4
Railways,
Steel;
#5
Heavy
Truck,
Wind
power;
#6
Car
maker,
Electricity
Producer

3. …and India Tomorrow?

4. India’s Innovation Spectrum
IT
Outsourcing-­‐
led
Innova&on
Glocaliza&on
“Jugaad”
Innova&on
“India-­‐scale”
Innova&on
Reverse
Innova&on
New
to
the
World

5. IT Outsourcing-led Innovation
Intui<ve
Customer
Experiences.
2.5
Billion
<mes
a
year.
[24]7
Customer,
Inc.

6. Glocalization
Globaliza<on
+
localiza&on
Well-­‐established
examples
in
India
Explainable,
even
if
not
always
repeatable

7. “Jugaad”
Grassroots
approach
to
solve
daily-­‐life
problems
Simple,
Quick,
Frugal,
Workaround
Might
not
be
elegant,
sustainable
or
scalable!
hYp://jugaadinnova<on.com/infographics/

8. A Billion Examples of Jugaad…but only a few
become big!

9. Missed-call – a “Zero Billion $” Idea?
96%
of
India’s
900m
user
give
missed-­‐call
–
India’s
zero-­‐cost
Morse-­‐code
for
rou<ne
‘updates’
like
‘arrived
safely’,
or
‘call
me
back’,
etc.
Industry
es<mates
loss
of
revenue
between
20%
to
30%
due
to
missed
calls
However,
it
is
a
$100m+
business

10. For “India-scale” Problems…
1.2Billion+
People
Largest
democracy
30%
<$1.25/day
and
97%
<$5/day
70%
live
in
rural
areas
31%
use
improved
sanita<on
(2008)
0.6
Doctors
per
1000
(#124)
Largest
popula<on
of
blind
…and
many,
many
more!

11. … “India-scale” Innovations
Polio
Eradica<on
Jaipur
Foot
Sanitary
Napkin
King!
Educa<on
for
underprivileged
Mid-­‐day
Meal
Scheme
Aravind
Eye
Care
System
UID
“Aadhar”
Card
Project
Maha
Kumbh
Mela
…and
many,
many
more!

12. India vs. Polio
Till
2009:
India
accounted
for
50%
cases
13
Jan
2011:
last
recorded
case
hYp://www.cdc.gov/polio/progress/
hYp://www.unicef.org/india/Polio_Booklet-­‐final_(22-­‐02-­‐2012)V3.pdf

13. World’s Largest Organization
for the Disabled
Since
1975,
over
1.3
million
beneficiaries,
mostly
in
India
and
also
in
26
countries
of
Asia,
Africa
and
Lan
America.
Rapid
fitment
—
limbs,
aids,
etc
generally
fiRed
in
one
to
three
days.
All
arficial
limbs
and
other
aids
and
appliances
given
totally
free
of
charge.

14. India’s Sanitary
Napkin King!!!
Arumugam
Muruganantham,
a
school
dropout
who
wants
to
give
dignity
to
rural
women
Only
2%
of
rural
women
use
sanitary
napkin
Generates
local
He
became
first
630+
machines
employment;
man
to
wear
installed
across
Cost
per
sanitary
23
states
and
6
napkin:
napkin…
countries
0.02-­‐0.03
US$

15. “Every Child in School
and Learning Well”
Established
in
1994
to
provide
pre-­‐school
educaon
to
the
children
in
the
slums
of
Mumbai
city.
Pratham
is
the
largest
NGO
working
to
provide
quality
educaon
to
the
underprivileged
children
of
India.

16. • In June 2000, started
mid-day meal program in
Bangalore by feeding
1500 children in 5
schools
• 1.37m children everyday
Objectives of the mid-day meal
scheme
- avoid classroom hunger,
- increase school enrolment,
- increase school attendance
- improve socialization among castes
- address malnutrition
- empower women through employment
Today, India's midday meal scheme is
the largest
school lunch
program in the
world, reaching
out to nearly 120
million children
in the country.

17. Aravind Eye Care System
Founded
by
Dr.
Venkataswamy
in
1976.
Now
300+
hospital
network
Has
seen
32m+
paents
and
done
4m+
surgeries
Each
year,
Aravind
does
60%
as
many
eye
surgeries
as
the
UK’s
NHS,
at
one-­‐thousandth
of
the
cost.
“My goal is to spread the
Aravind model to every nook
and corner of India, Asia, and
Africa; wherever there is
blindness, we want to offer
hope.Tell me, what is this
concept of franchising? Can’t
we do what McDonald’s and
Burger King have done?”
—Dr.V, 1993

18. “Aadhar” – Unique Id for
India’s 1.2 Billion!
To
empower
residents
of
India
with
a
unique
iden2ty
and
a
digital
plaForm
to
authen2cate
any2me,
anywhere.
Cost
per
card:
$3-­‐5
Cost
to
cizens:
Free

19. Maha Kumbh Mela 2013
Largest
peaceful
gathering
of
mankind
every
12
years
58
sq.
kms
campus
100m+
pilgrims
visited
in
2013
30m+
took
dip
on
10
Feb
2013
No
major
disease
outbreak!

20. Reverse Innovation: Create far
from home, win everywhere!
Microso_
is
creang
new
phone
app
services
for
dumb
phones
which
allow
users
with
exisng,
non-­‐
smartphone
devices
to
access
Web
sites
such
as
TwiYer,
Facebook.
Built
for
markets
in
India
and
South
Africa,
there
is
surprising
potenal
for
these
apps
as
a
low-­‐cost
cloud
compung
plaxorm.
GE
is
now
selling
an
ultra-­‐portable
electrocardiograph
machine
in
the
U.S.
at
an
80%
markdown
for
similar
products.
The
machine
was
originally
built
by
GE
Healthcare
for
doctors
in
India
and
China.
Tata
Motors
is
planning
to
sell
an
upgraded
version
of
the
Tata
Nano
in
western
markets;
it's
called
Tata
Europa.
Procter
Gamble
found
that
a
honey-­‐based
cold
remedy
created
for
Mexico
also
had
a
profitable
market
in
Europe
and
the
United
States.
Nestlé
learned
that
it
could
sell
its
low-­‐cost,
low-­‐fat
dried
noodles
originally
created
for
rural
India
and
posion
the
same
product
as
a
healthy
alternave
in
Australia
and
New
Zealand
In
China
and
India,
Harman
designed
from
scratch
a
completely
new
infotainment
system
for
emerging
markets
with
funconality
similar
to
their
high-­‐end
products
at
half
the
price
and
one-­‐third
the
cost.
It
has
generated
more
than
$3
billion
in
new
business.
Mahindra
Tractors
developed
smaller
tractors
for
small
me
farmers
across
the
world
and
have
succeeded
tremendously
from
it
based
on
their
India
model
Narayana
Hridayalaya
has
developed
the
process
for
low
cost
cardiac
surgery
and
is
now
se{ng
up
hospitals
close
to
the
USA
to
deliver
lower
cost
healthcare
based
on
the
model
they
perfected
in
India.

21. Key Takeaways
Outsourcing
and
glocalizaon
have
opened
up
India
markets
for
MNCs
beyond
just
cost
advantages
Jugaad
reflects
day-­‐to-­‐day
constraints
=
ideas
for
future?
India-­‐scale
problems
test
every
aspect
of
design,
development
and
delivery
Local
innovaons
from
MNCs
and
startups
could
be
eventually
funneled
back
as
reverse
innovaon
for
global
markets

22. References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
40 Years of Innovation in India, Harsh Wardhan Gupta,
http://www.ipfonline.com/IPFCONTENT/articles/technical-articles/40-years-of-innovation-in-india-1.php
9 Talks about Innovation In India, TED, http://blog.ted.com/2012/11/13/9-talks-about-innovation-in-india/
Rs. 500-cr missed call biz in India: Banks, FMCG cos, political parties use this tool for customer feedback, Joji Thomas and
Harsimran Julka,
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-01-26/news/36564149_1_ceo-vishwanath-alluri-political-parties-imimobile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missed_call
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/06/zipdial-has-turned-400m-missed-calls-into-moneymaking-connections/
India: On the Path of Innovation, Shivkamal, http://www.ibef.org/download%5Ccover_story_Innovation_131107.pdf
http://hbr.org/2012/04/a-reverse-innovation-playbook/
http://www.fastcompany.com/1738533/10-most-innovative-companies-india
http://pratham.org
http://www.akshayapatra.org/
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-gets-poor-101st-rank-on-global-gender-gap-index/1187096/
http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/report/
http://www.prosperity.com/#!/country/IND

23. Thanks!
hYp://managewell.net