Vijay Govindarajan's Blog http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/ Strategic Innovation, Industry Transformation, & Global Leadership en Copyright 2010 Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:05:52 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss HBR Blog: Could an Indian Hospital Help the U.S. Cut Health Care Costs? In 1995, the famous Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India, developed a course that would give lay people basic skills needed for maintenance of ophthalmic instruments. The result? Soon, they were able to care for equipment at a fraction of the cost it would have taken to create a separate, specialized service staff.

Seemingly small process changes can make a huge difference to a resource-strapped organization, and can often be exported to wealthier settings. Learn how management ideas from poor countries can transform management practices in the rich world >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/07/hbr_blog_could_an_indian_hospi.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/07/hbr_blog_could_an_indian_hospi.htm Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:05:52 -0500 HBR Blog: Affordable School Lunches Can you imagine living on a budget of $28 for lunch at work for a whole year?

The Akshaya Patra Foundation in India has found a way to feed a child daily for the entire school year on just $28. Add an average government subsidy of 50 percent, and $28 ends up feeding two children for the year. This is a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world.

Read the blog post at HBR >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/07/hbr_blog_affordable_school_lun.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/07/hbr_blog_affordable_school_lun.htm Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:48:04 -0500 HBR: Reverse Innovation in Action: Romanian Cars from a French Company on the German Autobahn Imagine you're German, you need a new family car, and you have a limited budget — say, US$9,400. What can you do? Continue using public transportation? Buy a used car? Or maybe buy a brand-new Dacia Logan!

Read the entire post at Harvard Business Review >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/hbr_reverse_innovation_in_acti.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/hbr_reverse_innovation_in_acti.htm Sat, 22 May 2010 03:40:09 -0500 HBR: Reverse Innovation Success in the Telecom Sector The story of how Bharti Airtel Limited, the largest telecom service provider in India, chose to strategically outsource its core functions is nothing short of a fairy tale.

For a typical telecom operator, the pain point during the growth phase is planning for network requirements and preparing budgets for such a capital expenditure. Capacity has to be built ahead of demand, which usually means the telecom operator has to absorb the cost of unused capacity.

But Bharti changed the game >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/hbr_reverse_innovation_success.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/hbr_reverse_innovation_success.htm Wed, 12 May 2010 23:33:03 -0500 Remembering CK

Not a day goes by when I am not reminded in some way of my friend and mentor, C.K. Prahalad.

For those of you who have been asking about CK's passing, I'd like to refer you to a number of tributes written by CK's friends and colleagues. I wrote one for the Times of India: A scholar who lived his theories and another for the Economic Times: CK Prahalad: Celebrating a great life.

See also: CK Prahalad: The Inclusive Visionary and CK Prahalad – The Man in Forbes India.

The folks at HBR have created a special section devoted to him, and Adi Ignatius has penned a tribute here.

We miss you, CK.

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/remembering_ck.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/remembering_ck.htm Fri, 07 May 2010 11:40:14 -0500 HBR: "Nitin Nohria: A Signature Appointment" It was September 3, 1974. I walked into Aldrich Hall, extraordinarily excited to be a student in the MBA program at the Harvard Business School. There were four Indians out of a class of 900. If someone had told me then that an Indian would one day become the dean of HBS, my reaction would have been: "Get serious!"

How things have changed. The top job in our profession is the dean of the Harvard Business School. By appointing Nitin Nohria to be the 10th HBS dean, Harvard President Drew Faust has created a signature moment for America, and for the Harvard Business School.

Read my post in HBR >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/hbr_nitin_nohria_a_signature_a.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/05/hbr_nitin_nohria_a_signature_a.htm Fri, 07 May 2010 10:29:20 -0500 HBR: "What Poor Countries Can Teach Rich Ones About Health Care" Currently, Harvard Business Reviewis running an online forum on megatrends in health care. One of the megatrends is medical innovations in emerging economies, such as China and India. HBR asked me to write a blog post on this topic. You might find it of interest:

What Poor Countries Can Teach Rich Ones About Health Care

As always, feel free to add a comment, observation, or suggestion below the entry.

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/04/hbr_what_poor_countries_can_te.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/04/hbr_what_poor_countries_can_te.htm Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:31:09 -0500 HBR Blog: Modern Strategy and Hinduism A connection between strategic thinking and Hinduism.

See what you think >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/04/hbr_blog_modern_strategy_and_h.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/04/hbr_blog_modern_strategy_and_h.htm Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:12:51 -0500 Upcoming Events: 2010 Here's a list of some of my upcoming public engagements. Thanks for asking about them, and I look forward to seeing some of you in person!

1. May 5 FRONT END OF INNOVATION, Seaport Boston Hotel. My topic: Strategy Is Innovation

2. June 18 Distinguished Leadership and Innovation Conference, Trinidad, West Indies, (Organized by Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, The University of West Indies) My topic: Strategy For Creating The Future

3. August 17 Santiago, Chile and Aug 19 Bogota Columbia: CEO Management Summit. (Organized by Seminarium International) My topic: Strategy As Changing The Rules Of the Global Game

4. Oct 5 World Business Forum Radio City Music Hall. (Organized by HSM) My Topic: Reverse Innovation

5. Nov 9 Expomanagement. Sao Paulo Brazil. (Organized by HSM) My topic: Global Mindset

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/04/upcoming_events.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/04/upcoming_events.htm Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:04:44 -0500 HBR: Why Open Immigration Is Good For America Now that President Obama has signed the health care reform bill into law, Congress's attention will be turning to immigration reform. Not a moment too soon, from my point of view. Immigration is central to American innovation, both historically and in the very recent past — and innovation, in turn, is central to maintaining leadership in the world's markets. Now more than ever, the "welcome mat" for immigrants needs to be out.

More at HBR >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/hbr_why_open_immigration_is_go.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/hbr_why_open_immigration_is_go.htm Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:32:29 -0500 BusinessWeek: What Shaun White Teaches Business What do U.S. President Jack Kennedy, snowboarder Shaun White, and Indian tycoon Ratan Tata have in common? A dream and a desire to push beyond the expected.

Read the column >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/businessweek_what_shaun_white.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/businessweek_what_shaun_white.htm Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:03:11 -0500 Microfinance, Mega Impact Microfinance is more than an innovative scheme to provide loans to poor people. At its core, it's about individual empowerment and dignity. Here is a story about one such example >>

Please let me know what you think; do you agree with my point? Or do you have another point of view you'd like to share?

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/microfinance_mega_impact.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/microfinance_mega_impact.htm Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:05:59 -0500 How Haiti is Helping America "...Partners in Health has in effect created a laboratory for medical innovations in poor countries that have potential applications in rich countries. PIH has established a community-based model of care that is now being examined as a leading health-care delivery model in the developed world."

To see how reverse innovation applies to health services, read How Haiti is Helping America >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/how_haiti_is_helping_america.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/03/how_haiti_is_helping_america.htm Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:13:11 -0500 Lessons Learned from Shaun White What can business learn from Olympic superhero Shaun White?

See: Lessons from the Half-Pipe >>

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/02/lessons_learned_from_shaun_whi.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/02/lessons_learned_from_shaun_whi.htm Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:20:36 -0500 Have We Lost the Will to Compete? I just posted a blog entry on the Harvard Business Review titled "The U.S. Must Grab the Lead on Green".

Take a look, and please submit your comments on the site. What must we do to get back in the "race"?

]]> http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/02/have_we_lost_the_will_to_compe.htm http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/2010/02/have_we_lost_the_will_to_compe.htm Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:44:06 -0500