Cheap Laptops, Low Cost Cars…..Is India at the Innovation Tipping Point?

Kudos to the Tata Group for delivering on its promise to manufacture the cheapest car – Nano – at half the price of the cheapest Chinese car. This feat was achieved through some ground-breaking work by the Tata team in putting together cost effective designs, using cost effective material, and (as News reports suggest) optimizing distribution and sales channels. Another recent news that was relatively much less celebrated (unfortunately Tatas hogged all the limelight) was HCL’s launch of a Rs 14,000 laptop (approx $350). Though these two news items were quite unrelated, they definitely point towards the fact that the Indian industry is finally spreading its wings and coming out of the shadows of the West dominated technology terrain. After decades of benchmarking its technology and manufacturing advancement against the West, the Indian industry is setting new standards. This makes me think if we are at the Technology Innovation "Tipping Point" (thank Malcolm Gladwell for the term).

Till now the technology and to some extent manufacturing in India has largely followed an "incremental" approach towards improvement. And, this "incremental-ism" is what causes a linear-sloping growth in technology improvements. While engineers in the developed countries mostly considered a "step" approach to technology (Germans in engineering; Japanese in technology; and now Chinese in low cost manufacturing!), Indian industry was happy to register gradual improvements in technology and process fine-tunings in manufacturing.

Thanks to the courage of Mr Tata and some other great business leaders, the industry seems to be evaluating a "Stepped" approach to technology/manufacturing innovation (and breaking the linear growth pattern). And as Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book "The Tipping Point," I sincerely hope this quest for setting new benchmarks in technology and manufacturing is infectious and spreads like wildfire in the Indian industry!

All the Best for Your New Year Resolutions

I spent the last one week randomly asking people around me (friends and colleagues at work) about their new-year resolutions. And I was surprised to note that most people had very predictable set of resolutions for 2008. People who had nothing in common (going by their personality type) strangely had very similar resolutions! The only trend I saw was that almost all resolutions could be tagged in one of the three categories (directly or indirectly) – Health, Relationship, and Money.

While relatively not-so-young (30 years +) went for “better work-life balance” and “shed extra weight”; younger folks went for “better career”, “make more money” and “regular exercise”. (Though “shed extra weight” and “regular exercise” appear quite similar in terms of desired end-results, there is stark difference in the motivation behind the two.)

Based on my one week of sampling, here are the top-five most popular resolutions (see if your resolution shows up here):
1. Regular Exercise: Most popular with young folks. Key motivator: looking attractive.
2. Shed Extra Weight: Most popular with the not-so-young. Key motivator: looking “presentable” (read: not ugly).
3. Better Career Move (read: make more money): Popular with all (more with the under 25 year category). Key motivator: peer pressure (sad but true!).
4. Quit Smoking/Drinking: Popular for all ages; more for the young (strangely).
5. Develop a New Skill (take up a hobby, etc.): Popular with the not-so-young. Key motivator: too much monotony in work/personal life.

How many people will be able to keep their resolutions is another story all-together. Random Googling points to the fact that four out of five people who make New Year’s resolutions eventually break them. In fact, a third won’t even make it to the end of January 2008.

All the best to you!