Why everybody needs good innovation

Mrs Arzoo is a 60-year-old lady staying with her retired husband in one of the Tier-II cities. Her banker son lives in a metro and gifted them a top-notch automatic washing machine and a reverse osmosis (RO) water purifier. Her city, like many other cities, gets water for two hours every day that is further rationed to three days a week during summers. She slowly discovered to her sorrow that she was unable to use her water guzzling washing machine or RO water purifier.

The last I heard, Mrs Arzoo had put a tablecloth over her washing machine and is using the top to place her pickle and jam jars. Sadly, she has also discovered that her favourite Bollywood song and TV game show were also ‘inspired’ from the west.

A large number of products in our market are copied and not designed for our unique needs. Is it because it is easy to copy than to innovate? While I was working with industries on a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) project, I heard the terms ‘reverse engineering’ and ‘taking inspiration’ used instead of copying, sounding much better but that’s about it. I used to think that the reason why industries copy designs from existing products was that they did not have the internal expertise to innovate and could not afford external sources.

This was, of course, partially true but there is a stronger underlying reason for resisting new products, or simply innovations.

The industry players wanted to know: Will you guarantee that the new product idea will sell well in the market?

Many of them do not mind paying for new innovative ideas but they felt copying a product that’s selling well abroad will ensure that the replication will sell well in India as well.

They do so in an attempt to reduce the risk involved.

However, this approach does not guarantee success either.

In the 90s, a successful Korean washing machine company entered Indian markets with its bubble wash technology. A machine which washed clothes gently worked very well in Korea but not in the Indian market.

It is difficult to explain why all product ideas cannot be 100% guaranteed. Many reasons contribute to the success or failure of a product.

The only way to maximise success is to understand the real needs and aspirations of people and innovate accordingly. According to a Harvard business school professor, each year more than 30,000 new consumer products are launched and 80% fail.

That is a poor success rate but it proves that these companies are ready to stick their neck out and take the risks.

Behind every successful company, there is an innovation culture which refuses to be complacent and work in a tried and tested manner.

We have been trained to run after success and avoid failure. Success is awarded. Failure is punished. We need to change this pattern. We need to innovate products and services which will connect with the diverse needs, values and socio-economic-cultural needs of our people.

We can only help Mrs Arzoo and many like her if we stop copying and start innovating. Next time, we will talk about how Mr Bala tries to do exactly that.

The writer is a senior faculty at National Institute of Design.
She likes to read koans whenever she can