Book review
Innovation is key to competitive advantage, as most Indian managers will agree. Yet, only a few of them believe that their innovation outcomes are as—or better than—expected.

Innovative India: Insights for the Thinking Manager examines the importance of innovation for organizations to grow in a corporate environment that is constantly changing and fiercely competitive. Drawing on years of in-depth research and extensive experience in the Indian industry, Parmit Chadha and Radhika Chadha present an integrated perspective of innovation in organizations as a system comprising the ‘3 Gears’—strategy, culture and processes; three gears that have to mesh perfectly for innovation to be a major profit driver in any set-up. Based on extensive surveys, interviews and real-life cases, the book explores the success of groundbreakers in the corporate sector such as Tata Indica, Tasty Bite, TeNet and Kaya to illustrate how the ‘3 Gears’ work.

In a wide-ranging discussion, the authors also address questions including:

Is there a weak linkage between innovation strategy and overall organizational strategy?
What should be the CEO’s role in driving innovation?
Is the first-mover advantage really critical?
Do Indian organizations encourage diversity of opinion?
Can the corporate sector learn innovation from the non-corporate sector?
Does the Indian education system discourage creativity and risk-taking?
Are entrepreneurs supported or hindered by the Indian innovation ecosystem?
Can there be a quintessentially Indian model of innovation that goes beyond Japanese ‘Kaizen’ or American ‘big-idea’?
Innovative India provides an opportunity for thinking managers to introspect on their organization’s need for innovation as well as a framework to base their strategies on. This is an important book, not just for managers, but also for anyone who wants to know why innovation, despite being so sought after, is so difficult to implement.


About the author Parmit Chadha is associate director of Strategic Decisions Group, a California-based strategy consulting firm that specializes in creating ,value for clients under highly uncertain environments. Parmit helps clients analyse and manage strategic risk, identify and exploit opportunities for profitable growth in dynamic environments, and build internal competencies to meet future growth challenges. Parmit has co-authored Intelligent Investing (Wheeler Publishing), as well as a column on strategy and innovation for the strategy supplement of The Hindu Business Line. Radhika Chadha is principal of Paradigm, a boutique consulting firm specializing in growth and innovation. Radhika works closely with clients in formulating innovation-led growth strategies, embedding mindsets and processes to enable innovation, and finding new opportunities for profitable growth. Paradigm’s approach dovetails the latest in management thinking with hard data from the Indian markets, creating frameworks and tools that are rooted in the Indian competitive reality. Radhika lectures at business schools on strategic innovation. She has co-authored, with Parmit, Intelligent Investing (Wheeler Publishing), and is the author of a monthly column on innovation and strategy for the strategy supplement of The Hindu Business Line.