CHAPTER 5

Innovation Indian Style

From VG to Jugaad

“Most companies don’t lack for ideas. What happens is they mistake creativity for innovation. Innovation has little to do with how creative you are. Innovation is about commercializing creativity. As Thomas Edison, the great innovator, pointed out, innovation is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Inspiration and creativity are what people get wrapped up in (and there are a lot of ideas in companies!), but the 99 percent perspiration is what they forget,” reflects Vijay Govindarajan.

Govindarajan, known as VG, is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. His books include Reverse Innovation, ...

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