Vijay Govindarajan (1949- )
Indian expert in innovation and global management who works at the Tuck Business School in Hanover, New
Hampshire (pictured right) .
Key books
Ten Rules for Strategic
Innovators: From Idea to Execution (2005), written with Chris Trimble
(pictured right)
Innovation in strategy (“strategic innovation”) is vital to an organization’s long-term
success.
This requires:
1. Box 1-2-3 strategy
Box 1 - present
(which has to be managed).
Box 2 - past
(to be selectively forgotten to avoid the past's mistakes but keeping its good bits).
Box 3 - future
(which must be created through creativity - see point 2).
2. Creativity
The generation of new ideas by
- using resources from existing businesses.
- forgetting some of the key assumptions for the organization’s current success.
2. Execution
The effective implementation of innovative strategies through the “organizational DNA”:
- staffing (talented and motivated employees).
- systems (efficiency of processes like production and continuous learning and
improvement).,
- structure (ensuring the organization’s structure encourages customer responsive
innovation).
- culture (values shared by all employees).
How GE is Disrupting Itself (2009 Harvard
Business Review article), written with Jeffrey Immelt (pictured
right) and Chris Trimble
“Reverse innovation”, used by General Electric (GE), develops a new product in a
poorer/developing country like India or China and sells it to rich countries like America.
This reverses the normal policy of “glocalization” - developing new products in rich
countries that are sold (with slight modifications) to poorer countries.
The Emotionally Bonded Organization (2009
article), written with Subroto Bagchi (pictured right)
In the “emotionally bonded organization” employees sacrifice their own short-term
aims (without any extra money) for the sake of the organization’s long-term success.
This requires an “emotional architecture” that creates positive employee attitudes towards
each other and the organization.
These attitudes result from:
- visible, visionary and empathetic leadership.
- effective two-way communication.
- “bonding through adversity”.
- inspirational corporate values (reinforced by organizational myths and rituals).
- employee support networks.
- recruiting the best people.
Key quotes
on communication
Emotionally bonded organizations experience rich communication.
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