Dimension of Reverse-Innovation to Businesses

Written by: Shantha Martin

About the author: Chief Executive Officer at PENTAGON Group

 The COVID experience has caused a paradigm shift in the choices we will make

The existence of the human race, is a story of survival; in the midst the vagaries of our existence, we have innovated and we have evolved. The unexpected vicissitudes has always brought with itself lessons, which have caused a paradigm shift in behavior; be it our daily routine, our lifestyles, our choices and in the way we conduct the businesses of our life.’’

Keeping this dimension of change simple for a management undergraduate and limiting it to a business scenario, we need to open up a new chapter.

Innovation – Reverse Innovation:

 ‘Value for many – is about doing more with less, for more people’ 

While innovation has been the heart of every successful business, the concept of Reverse Innovation becomes more of a driving force in the “Pandemic affected world of today” This idea was brilliantly thought through by Vijay Govindarajan in 2019. The idea of Reverse innovation posits the transportation of innovation from developing countries to the developed countries.

This idea is very apt in the scenario of today, where certain dominant markets catering to manufacturing, e.g. China will no more be able to cater the countries, which until yesterday were so dependent on it. This is going to increasingly  lead developing countries innovating to first cater locally and then transport to the rest of the world through reverse innovation .

While the pre-pandemic world saw a fast pace of “Globalization”, the Global companies are now supporting the idea of local outlook while maintaining their global ownership – “Glocalisation”.

So the change is from “Globalization to Glocalisation to Local Innovation to Reverse Innovation.”

Highlighted below are macro shifts that will take place in the business scenario and the consumer behaviour :

1. Changes in Employment contracts
2. Increased Focus on Digital Commerce
3. Financial Resource Management
4. Leadership Style and Management practices
5. Changes in Consumer Behavior
6. Changes in Educational Behavior
7. Changes in Health and Hygiene Behavior
8. Relook at Supply Chain Management
9. Redefinition of purpose
10. Shift in the types and costs of Insurance
11. Social coherence of people

Also note that the new environment is getting shaped in a manner that it is slamming brakes on a trend that up until now had defined itself in terms of Globalization . Nowadays the central question discussed at all virtual board meetings of Corporates and  Government deliberations is how to  grapple with the short term consequences of dealing with business loss and turning on the ignition of the machinery that will rev the engines of economy once again. We’ll need to manage our workforce differently, with health and safety measures being given a priority and repairing the broken confidence. Dealing with the pessimism of the human resource is the most important challenge, we need to rise up to.

All in all, we need to be highly cognizant of the decisions and choices we are making today, because these decisions and choices will dramatically affect our ability to accomplish the essential actions that will constitute the right response in the emergent ‘’NEW’’

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