Over the last year I've gotten know Vijay Govindarajan, the brilliant professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. I've not met Vijay; we've only talked by phone and he is one of those people you occasionally run across who instantly takes an important place in that part of your brain where you think about things of importance to you. In my case, I've been influenced by Vijay's astute observations on the way people lead businesses innovatively and how organizations and people can change in the process.
When we did our Inner Circle in New Delhi in February, we used an interview of Vijay--a marvelous piece entitled "How To Bring Innovations To Market"--as the basis for our pre-gathering conversations that I had with each participant. Participants in that Inner Circle responded thoughtfully to Vijay's provocative thinking. In fact, it was so successful, we used the article again for another Inner Circle, here in New York at the New York Stock Exchange.
For the Inner Circle next Tuesday in London, we're using a article by Vijay which he co-authored with Chris Trimble who is also on the Tuck faculty. It echoes the thinking they pursue in a book they co-authored last year called The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge. This article, entitled "The CEO's Role in Business Model Reinvention" is as provocative as the last one. The London Inner Circle invitees are eager to gather next Tuesday to grapple further with the challenges posed by the article. One of the se days I hope to meet Vijay face to face. Meanwhile, he and Christian Sarkar, a Texan consultant and online marketing expert issued a challenge last August on the Harvard Business Review blog to design a $300 house for the world's most desparately poor citizens.
Vijay tells me that the response has been amazing. The Economist's Schumpeter column has written up their $300 house. It's a compelling concept. The arbitrary $300 ceiling on the house is clearly an attention-grabbing device but it also has a certain logic to it: Apparently Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank calculated that the average value of the houses of people who have just escaped from poverty is $370.
The $300 house is a terrific example of "frugal innovation," the ability to radically reduce the price of something while still delivering first-class value.
If you've got a great idea about how to build a house for $300, you've still got time to enter the contest. Check it out. Your idea could be the answer to our world's worst slums.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
Note the intentionally tasteless lamp in the background and lack of color coordination, which gives the video a very plebian feel, which stands in contrast with the two topmanager's $500 brooks brothers coats.
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Posted by: Sureshkumarnatarajan7 | May 16, 2011 at 11:53 PM
the ability to radically reduce the price of something while still delivering first-class value.
Posted by: vibram five fingers | June 02, 2011 at 01:29 AM