Rishikesha Krishnan and Vinay Dabholkar say jugaad is good. But, with a structured approach, it could be better
Despite a weak stock market, a shaky economy and the prospects of being laid off, you sense self-satisfaction in the war stories which Indian executives trade with each other.
One evening in Bangalore, a young man complained of a mall in Berlin which didn’t let him in because he was one minute late. Another one narrated the story of a New York hotshot who was devoted to his excruciatingly detailed schedule that even making a call to his son required a time slot.
The underlying message in these conversations is: Westerners are too wedded to their schedules and processes. And that will prove to be their undoing, when Indians, with their more flexible approach, get a chance to rule the world.
The Indian idea of jugaad—which refers to the ‘anything goes’ attitude—has acquired a new meaning (frugal and flexible innovation) in management and is now in the mainstream. In seminars and conferences, analysts and academics talk of it at length in the same way they spoke of Japanese style management in the ’80s.
Two recent books—Reverse Innovation: Create Far from Home, Win Everywhere by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, and Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth by Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja—have received wide attention.
(This story appears in the 03 May, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)