Hare was the greatest fool on the planet as he went to rest thinking he has achieved a certain milestone and it would take the tortoise a huge time and effort to get there.
Revisiting the story of 1990’s in India, it was a time when Indians were aspiring to touch the western world, and we were being led onto by some sensible and augmented leadership qualities. The era reopened the doors to brands in a bigger manner with aspirational movers and shakers like Pepsi and Coke, again coming over to delight Indian tastes. We started enjoying the globe from India, and so did our attitude towards brands start changing in the newer age of Global Village. However, it was still price that mattered the most to a large number of Indians ‘Sasta hai to chalega’ was the mantra, as people believed in Return on Investment (ROI) concept more than on Value. But with the Growing onslaught of brand presence and innovations flowing into the economy, Indians started thinking differently. And may be we got the que from Apple, which said ‘Think Different’ a pioneer organization in invigorating innovation.
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Take into consideration two most important words in this definition, better or more effective, otherwise you end up becoming nothing but a replica, which has nothing distinct to offer to its consumers. We all sing praised today of the growth of IT industry, new devices and gadgets pouring in around us and the abundance of technological choices around us. But does anyone even remember that a certain company called TOSHIBA actually invented the first ever laptop. Ironically, TOSHIBA’s tagline states,”Leading Innovation”, and this is exactly what they have not done. A smart, intelligent marketer would have announced a subsequent version of Toshiba laptop as soon as it was first launched in the market. Forget about the cascade effect, there wasn’t even a single new innovation done by Toshiba on its newly invented gadget, which has now proved out to be a boon to the world, thanks to the excellent technological inroads made by the likes of Lenovo, HP, Sony, Dell and Apple. Just inventing a great product does not mean you get the first movers’ advantage.
Therefore to win the race of Innovation, and build better consumer connects – Innovation cannot be treated anymore as a onetime involvement but has to be an ongoing process. And the organizations, which will not be able to build this as a part of their process, it will lose in the long run. The effects of this is being felt by stalwart organizations in there domains like Nokia, Maruti, Toshiba, IBM etc. The key to winning that ways is to cascade and create innovation as a part of the experience mechanism for Brands. The reason behind this fundamental thought is the way consumption has changed in character from 1990 to 2012, with the current generational cohorts consuming more products based on the fundamental of Value on Investment (VOI) rather than just ROI, that’s the reason why the relevance for building Brands and intangibles has increased. Therefore a successful organization must integrate Innovation as a part of the organizational DNA, and it must be treated as a part of the Ongoing DHARMA to success. What is DHARMA and how to build Innovation Dharma is an intriguing subject, which we will highlight upon subsequently as a part of this Series.
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