In today's increasingly competitive scenario, all organizations are hitting performance plateau. For continued success, they require to innovate. While organizations have the intent to pursue innovation, many find it difficult to convert this intent into productive outcome. Innovation Management for successful results remains a challenge for many organizations.

Objective
The MDP is designed to ensure that participants understand the fundamentals of the Innovation Management, ensuring that they can use it for successful execution of the innovation activities at their organizations.

Participants of the MDP will take away:

• Knowledge on how to view, select and implement Innovation and Product Development processes according to the needs of the organization.
  
• A clear understanding of the tools and techniques available at their disposal.
  
• Better abilities to facilitate collaboration and understanding across the organization.
  
• If interested to know more and/or decide on participating, click here

View PDF

Wild Vitamin Water was mentioned in a story on beverage industries by Hindustan Times.

The Indian beverage industry hots up in summer. Media covers the industry on feverish pitch. Most stories feature around big players (Pepsi, Coca-Cola and so on). This article looks at what is happening this summer.

The journalists have rightfully identified the trend of special, functional beverages making an entry in the industry. They have also discussed on how smaller companies are entering the industry through targetted products. One such brand is Wild Vitamin Water, launched by Beltek Canadian Water Ltd.

We at TARU Innovations are delighted that the brand has been noticed and written about by the business journalist with Hindustan Times.

TARU Innovations was engaged by Beltek Canadian Water Ltd. to work on 'commercialising' the idea of 'vitaminised water'. We worked closely with BCWL and provided our services through the entire process encompassing product and packaging development, consumer testing, production and supply chain and route to market planning.

Wild Vitamin Water is aimed at consumers seeking smart hydration which is tasty without any artificial stuff. The brand has only natural color, natural flavor, low level of natural sweetner and NO PRESERVATIVES. It has 4 flavours - Lemonade, Dagon Fruit, Tropical Citrus and Kiwi Strawberry.

Its been in market for only few months and already has a loyal base of consumers. The brand is available at premium outlets in Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Chennai.

I would invite you to have a taste of Wild Vitamin Water.

View PDF

Ivey Cases, the publishing unit of Richard Ivey Business School, Canada, has published a teaching case 'Books for Change - Reorienting Business and Marketing Strategies' which has been co authored by Davinder Singh, Founder - TARU Innovations, and Vinod Kalia, Professor - MDI, Gurgaon.

Ivey Cases provides high quality case material to B School faculty for use as class room discussion. Apart from providing real life situation, the cases provide the companies an ability to build positive image with future corporate executives.

We would be happy to have a conversation to write a teaching case around your company. Please write to us at contact@taru.net.in or click at http://www.taru.net.in/contact-us.html

Visit Link

Does organizational control impede or support Innovation?

Every organization has to have control mechanism, which would vary across different organizations. Organizations face a challenge to determine what level of control they want on their innovation programs. High control can lead to lack of initiative and creativity; low control could lead to chaos. How can organizations handle this challenge?

Innovation comprises of two elements - 'generation of ideas' and 'implementation of ideas' which lead to delivering greater value to the organization.

The 'generation of ideas' requires the organization to provide an eco-system to the employees and outsiders (customers, suppliers, others) to be creative, to share freely ideas for new products, processes or other innovations. This eco-system needs to have low control, more de-centralized decision making on use of resources to conduct quick validity tests on ideas.

The 'implementation of Ideas' would, however, not be effective as the lack of control could lead to low level of collaboration across functions. The various teams could be more interested to pursuing their own ideas instead of those of other teams. This would lead to slow, even unsuccessful, execution. To identify ideas which meet organizational objectives, and not just personal or team passions, and then to ensure that resources and collaboration are directed effectively to these ideas would need centralized and formal decision making. The control would be greater.

An organization, therefore, needs to be 'ambidextrous'. It needs to provide a more flexible, free and decentralized environment to encourage creativity and, at the same time, it needs to bring in control and centralized decision making to pursue execution of the selected ideas. Those organizations which create this dual, seemingly paradoxical, environments would have an advantage to succeed at innovation.

I am sharing a paper on interpretive research and its characteristics.

Innovation comprises of two elements - 'generation of ideas' and 'implementation of ideas' which lead to delivering greater value to the organization.

The 'generation of ideas' requires the organization to provide an eco-system to the employees and outsiders (customers, suppliers, others) to be creative, to share freely ideas for new products, processes or other innovations. This eco-system needs to have low control, more de-centralized decision making on use of resources to conduct quick validity tests on ideas.

The 'implementation of Ideas' would, however, not be effective as the lack of control could lead to low level of collaboration across functions. The various teams could be more interested to pursuing their own ideas instead of those of other teams. This would lead to slow, even unsuccessful, execution. To identify ideas which meet organizational objectives, and not just personal or team passions, and then to ensure that resources and collaboration are directed effectively to these ideas would need centralized and formal decision making. The control would be greater.

An organization, therefore, needs to be 'ambidextrous'. It needs to provide a more flexible, free and decentralized environment to encourage creativity and, at the same time, it needs to bring in control and centralized decision making to pursue execution of the selected ideas. Those organizations which create this dual, seemingly paradoxical, environments would have an advantage to succeed at innovation.

View PDF

Many an idea have been downplayed or criticized only to be a success later.

Many a people, even successful, smart and intellingent ones have at times been dismissive of ideas ....and later these ideas have been game changing innovations.

I am listing some anecdote comments from celebrities.

• When trains were first developed, the King of Prussia confidently predicted, “No one will pay good money to get from Berlin to Potsdam in one hour when he can ride his horse there in one day for free.”
  
  
• In 1903, the president of the Michigan Savings Bank gave this market advice to Horace Rackham, Henry Ford’s lawyer, “The horse is here to stay. The automobile is only a fad, a novelty.”
  
  
• A British Parliamentary Committee assessed whether Edison’s light bulb would ever be useful. They concluded it was “unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.”
  
  
• Edison himself made these market assessments, “the phonograph is not of any commercial value” and “the radio craze will die out in time.”
  
  
• In 1946, Darryl Zanuck, then head of 20th Century Fox predicted, “Video (television) won’t hold any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”
  
  
• "A man has been arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people by exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires so that it will be heard by the listener at the other end. He calls this instrument a telephone. Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires.” – News item in an 1868 New York paper
  
  
• In 1980 a Wall Street auto analyst told a Senate committee,“General Motors, already the automotive king of the road, will become even more dominant by the mid-1980′s and will be the only auto company capable of building a full range of cars and trucks.”
  
  
• And from some early market research on steam ships — “What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense.” — Napoleon Bonaparte to engineer and inventor Robert Fulton

(source:http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2011/11/17/innovation-calls-for-leadership/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+business-strategy-innovation+%28Innovation+Excellence%29)

When companies seek to do new things, do they seek 'Ideas' or do they seek 'Innovation'? Are the two not the same? Are they different?

At TARU Innovations we believe 'Ideas' and 'Innovation' are not same, related ...yes, but same..no.

Idea(s) are the answers to a challenge, they are like an opportunity to grow, even gain strong competitive advantage. But they exist in 'MIND' and in a slide of powerpoint (in corporate world).

Innovation is the 'execution' of these ideas such that they reach 'MARKET', leading to a point where in it brings more value in form of one, many or all - business growth, cost reduction and competitive advanatge.

The equation can be
Innovation = Idea + Execution

Infact a good execution can lead to the equation being even better
Innovation = Idea x Execution     (note the red colored mathematical symbol)

Many managers at companies can manage the first equation to an extent, but it requires special focus, teams with that focus to aim for second outcome. The latter is what gives competitive advantage.

If you have real life examples to support the above or to present another prespective, please feel free to email me at dsingh@taru.net.in

Cheers!
Davinder Singh

We Innovate : We take Ideas from 'MIND' to 'MARKET'

TZINGA energy drink was launched on Mar 25th in Delhi NCR by Hector Beverages, a client of TARU Innovations.

TZINGA energy drink was launched on Mar 25th in Delhi NCR by Hector Beverages, a client of TARU Innovations.

Hector Beverages, a startup, engaged TARU Innovations in Nov.'10 to handle the product development and commercialisation with the objective to launch the product by Mar.'11.

TARU Innovations worked with Hector Beverages on
- Process and time plan for the launch
- Developing the product formulation
- Finalising packaging (primary & secondary)
- Establishing production process
- Co-ordinating the work across all functions

The focus on the objective and collaboration across all functions led to timely launch.

We wish team Hector all success with TZINGA.

".....you have made yourself indispensible in our system,...we thank you for all your support and ... we really like you to be around us. "
Mr. Neeraj Kakkar, CEO, Hector Beverages

View PDF

I am attaching an article which was published recently in Times of India. In the article covers the views of Prof. Vijay Govindarajan of Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth on the Executive Challenge of Innovation.

He emphasises that companies need to have dedicated team for innovation (innovation defined not as creative ideas or inventions but as commercialisation of the same). He also covers the reason on why the functional managers are not able to commercialise innovation effectively.

View PDF

I have been following the various surveys on Innovation and Commercialisation on regular basis. McKinsey is one of these and provide very important insights.

The attached file has the abridged version of the survey results.

The two points which I picked in this survey are

• Companies believe that their ability to execute good ideas is poor, resulting in long times to market i.e they have a challenge to Commercialise Innovations. This is true even for companies which have a formal system to manage Innovation. The situation is more challenging for the companies without any formal system to manage Innovation.
  
  
• The three key areas identified as the challenge for commercialisation are 'aligning financial and human resources', 'overcoming internal corporate politics' and 'lack of formalised process'. Here an outside consultants who specialise in Commercialisation provide an advantage.

View PDF

What is required by Innovation Team - 'Desire to Succeed' or 'Fear of Failure'?

Innovation is pursued inorder for companies(and brands) to have success – in market place, with consumers against competition. But this comes with the fear that new(innovative) products(or processes or services or ..) may not succeed and the outcome may be different (and even contrary) from the objective. Thus, ‘Desire to Succeed’ and ‘Fear of Failure’ co exist as part of innovation. Most teams experience these two emotions.

What would happen if one of these were not to be there?

In the absence of ‘Desire to Succeed’ the drive, energy and passion needed to pursue innovation would not be strong enough and the output would most likely be nothing exciting or innovative to begin with. It would ofcourse be slow and turn the brand/company into a follower or laggard.

In the absence of ‘Fear of Failure’ the innovation team would be quick. The speed of execution or going to market would be indeed very high but it can also be reckless. Many processes/checks would be short circuited which could lead to output which does not succeed. Leading to lower efficiency and higher costs.

A balance where the two provide the counter check is essential. The Innovation team needs to have strong and demonstrated ‘Desire to Succeed’ so that there is enough energy and focus behind the pursuit of Innovation. The ‘Fear of Failure’ ensures that the team devotes enough time to understand the critical issues, consumer requirements and foresee(thus prepare for) future problems. This is likely to lead to success i.e support the ‘Desire to Succeed’. Of course, ‘Fear of Failure’ should not be the primary driver but a supporting one.

Therefore, contrary to belief ‘Fear of Failure’ can support ‘Desire to Succeed’ and they are two sides of the same coin.

Follow the link to see readers' comments.

Visit Link

What is Innovation?

Is Innovation 'new to world' or is it 'anything new to business' (and could be re application of an idea/concept used by some one else). Purists want to call it as 'new to world'; something that no one else has done before; really original. Pragmatists tend to see differently- 'reapplication is good'; do not re invent the wheel; find more uses; new to world is restrictive. The debate continues.

Many companies would want to have purists certify that they are truly innovative, but the business pragmatism require them not to lose an opportunity to reapply and gain.

Let me present a different perspective. It is probably more important to evaluate and classify ‘Ideas’ not on basis of new to world or company but on the basis of impact that they would have on the business and as a corollary the resources needed and the associated risk/reward equation.

The ‘Innovation Ideas’ can be

• Incremental : they would lead to some gains albeit small ones. These are like small improvements that companies do to their products/services basis the small shifts in consumer needs or due to a better technology available to do the same work or just to bring a sense of ‘newness’ or change to address consumer fatgue. Things like new flavor, new shape of soap bar etc. would be typical examples of this. These require very little resources, no change in any process – sourcing, manufacturing, selling or marketing, has low risk and also less likely to have great rewards.
  
  
• Substantial : in these the company would be making significant changes to its offering. Like moving from soap bars to shower gels; adding portfolio of still water drinks to carbonated drinks. The company needs to commit resources in devloping these. Add on technology for the new products is required. There would be changes required which could span not only production but also sourcing, selling and marketing. These changes would require organisation to make efforts but would largely be congruent with existing business. the risks would be there, due to new product category and changes mentioned. But the success would have the potential of great rewards – both top line and profits.
  
  
• Transformational : This is pretty much like changing the skin. The company adds not just a new kind of product but also moves into new business. The move requires a BIG change across entire organisation. Like cosmetic company launching retail saloon via frianchising. The business model of new idea is entirely different from the existing business. The risk level is high. The resources needed are large and expensive. And success could take longer but when successful it can open a completely new revenue and profit stream. The company could also undergo transformation.

Now many companies and more importantly their senior managers would have to decide what they want, and how much can they do – i.e can they manage only those ideas which are ‘incremental’ or would they want to go for ‘substantial’ and maybe even ‘transformational’.

This is where the Balancing the Innovaiton Portfolio comes into play. It makes sense to have enough incremental level ideas – to capture the low fruits and remain constantly relevant to consumers. Then it is as well required to have some ideas of the substantial level. These ensure that big opportunities in the existing business are captured and company can build/retain its competiitve advantage. It also allows company to secure its medium to long range business growth. If this is done and company still has the resources to pursue more innovation, have the risk appetite then they can look at transformational ideas. It is essential that company does not take on too many of these. The high resource requirement, high risk, high degree of change entailed and long time required for completion are the obvious reasons for this.

It is always more desirable to have a balance portfolio where in enough numbers of all levels of innovation ideas are pursued. This allows for better overall success and growth through Innovation.

Follow the link to see readers' comments or to post your own comment.

Visit Link

I have been meeting companies and making them aware of my newly started consulting under the name of 'TARU Innovations'. When I present my visiting card at the meetings most people ask the following:

- What does 'TARU' mean?
- What does 'Commercialising Innovation' mean?

The first one is answered quickly. ‘TARU’ means Tree in Hindi language. Tree grows slowly and requires lot of nurturing, but once on its roots(and stem) it continues to grow in sustainable manner, with long term rewards and capability to connect many in the ecosystem. This is possible as the roots are firmly anchored in ground (realities). Innovation (sustainable, long term) is like growing a tree – starts small, is vulnerable but if grounded in business reality it grows into a big entity and lasts over a long period of time.

Now what is the relevance of ‘Commercialising Innovation’ as the descriptor of what we do.

Innovation Idea is valuable when it generates profitable growth. We at TÂRU Innovations work with companies to develop and execute the Innovation Idea such that it leads to ‘profitable’ ‘growth’. The key words are ‘growth’ and ‘profitable’.

Many would say Innovation is to be pursued so as to achieve better connect with consumers, or generate distinct product, or create competitive advantage, or for many more such objectives. True these are all important and essential for growth and Innovation is critical to pursue these objectives. However growth without the value(profit) is not sustainable. Hence, Innovation would not play the right role until it eventually leads to this final objective for business. In other words, we do not let Innovation give the clients only competitive advantage, or better connect with consumer but as well challenge ourself (and clients) to use Innovation to go further and generate more profits for business – for long term.

What do you think?….

'Missile' a fast moving object with tremendous power to lift up and scale great heights; grabs lot of attention with its spectacle; hi tech (now more than ever); but also time bound usually shortlived, expensive and difficult to manage if it goes out of control.

'Tree' grows slowly and requires lot of nurturing, but once on its roots (& stem) is sustainable, with long term rewards and capability to connect many in the ecosystem.

So what form does innovation take at your company?

Missile – a fast moving object with tremendous power to lift up and scale great heights; grabs lot of attention with its spectacle; hi tech (now more than ever); but also time bound usually shortlived, expensive and difficult to manage if it goes out of control.

Tree – grows slowly and requires lot of nurturing, but once on its roots (& stem) is sustainable, with long term rewards and capability to connect many in the ecosystem.

So what form does innovation take at your company? Is it spectacular, fast and furious like a missile but as well ending in a quick/sudden death or perhaps turning into an ‘un manageable’ , lose making venture?

Or is it like growing a Tree. Starts small, almost vulnerable and not seen by many as of any significance, requiring great nurturing, but once it has come of age, it is to be reckoned with, it provides a long term returns and links meaningfully with all entities of the business.

The answer would also reflect the senior management view of Innovation and its role in the business.

Missile (or spectacle) could reflect the urge to do something which gets many and quick eyeballs and alongwith it collective and individual awe. It is truly a heady feeling when many praise this.

Tree to me reflects that company wants to make money and for long term and are therefore, willing to invest time and efforts required. Not be enamoured by the glamour. The awe which comes much later(oh it does) but it is acompanied with sense of appreciation.

I believe in Tree and that is why I have named my consulting ‘TARU Innovations’. ‘TARU’ is Tree in Hindi language. We help companies commercialise innovation by providing consulting and management resources required to take an innovation idea from ‘mind’ to ‘market’ and therafter for atleast one year.