Book Title: Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen – How 11 Indians pulled off the impossible
Author: Porus Munshi
Publisher: Collins Business
ISBN: 978-81-7223-774-5
Price: Rs. 295
We rarely hear about innovations by Indians. It doesn’t mean that Indians rarely innovate but we, common man, are not aware of such stories. Also, there is a common belief that India is the place where innovation is something very foreign. For innovation to happen, you don’t have to have best of the technologies, or best of the facilities. All it is required is passion and perseverance. And this is what this book is going to tell to the readers. This book is a collection of 11 case studies on innovations in India spread across diverse fields.
The stories are really inspiring. The first case study is a story of Dainik Bhaskar, a newspaper, who became No. 1 on the day of launch! We normally know how we are addicted to one newspaper, and it is very difficult to change the newspaper. In such circumstances, how a newspaper which is never heard of, can become No. 1 on the day of its launch!
The second case study is about Aravind Eye Hospital. An wonderful story of Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy or Dr. V, who introduced assembly-line technique of surgery to increase the productivity of surgeons! As book mentions, what’s remarkable about Aravind is that only 30 percent of its patient pay! The remaining 70 percent are treated free or almost free! It still makes 35 percent operating profit!
What it requires for you to take on giants worth billions?! A mere Rs. 15000 capital! Yes, this is how Cavinkare jumped into the market to take on giants like Hindustan Lever! Today, Cavinkare is Rs. 750 crore company! This is the third case study presented in the book.
Another story is about eChoupal, a new business model from ITC-IBD on commodity trading, a marriage of “technology” and “trading in rural markets”. An interesting model which deals directly with end farmer with both farmers and the middlemen being co-opted.
The case study of Trichy Police is really an interesting and eye-catching story which should be made a role model for all other states across India. Do you believe when the figure says Trichy police brought down crime rate by 40 percent with mere 260 constables, who were not highly trained commandos but ordinary constables?! How was it possible?
We all know Swiss are masters in watch making. If Swiss says something cannot be done, everyone else agree. But, there was one team in India which transformed the thinking from “If Swiss cannot do, we cannot do” to “If Swiss cannot do, we’ll do!”. That is how, Titan Edge, the slimmest water-resistant watch in the world was innovated! This was achieved by R&D team in Titan headed by B.G. Dwarakanath. One interesting note is the way Dwarakanath himself tested the watch. He calls it Bangalore-Hosur road test! He ties the watch to the shock absorbers of his car and makes several trips on the terrible roads between Bangalore and Hosur, covering 200km!
Another astonishing story is of Surat, which transformed from one of India’s filthiest cities to India’s second cleanest city in twenty months! This credit goes to S.R. Rao, whose transparent model is becoming the standard across the country.
There are similar interesting stories such as Bosch India, which created a new pump, which is cost effective and meets Euro norms, Chola Vehicle Finance which grew from Rs 140 crore to Rs 800 crore, Shantha Biotech, which reduced vaccine dose from Rs 750 to Rs 50, and Su-Kam, which shows what it takes to create an industry!
As the title says, all these stories shows how the people pulled off what it was termed as impossible and made that big and striking difference to the world and the society!
Go, get this book, and get inspired!
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