harsh mariwala in a recent conversation with sayantani kar

7/25/2019 Harsh Mariwala in a Recent Conversation With Sayantani Kar

1/4

In a recent conversation with Sayantani Kar, Harsh Mariwalasaid innovation

is as much about encouraging new ideas as about rigorous follow-through

The Little Black Book of Innovation defines innovation as Something

different that has impact. So do yo !elieve in defining innovation" nlikemany others who leave it vage#

We have not defined innovation within the organisation. I am not one for too

many definitions. I am all for practical measures, which have an impact.

Innovation for me is anything unique that creates value. It could create value for

a customer, for employees, any stakeholder or even for the society. So, it need

not always be a new product.

$ recent %all Street &ornal article claimed that the term innovation has

!ecome a clich' and how many companies are sing the term innovation todenote growth when there is none. How do companies identify what is

innovation and differentiate the disrptive ones from changes sch as

efficiency improvements and those that come ot of reglar progress in

!siness#

Efficiency improvements would mostly be through benchmarking and not so

much through innovation. Innovation has to be something that you have done

for the first time on your own. here are three kinds of innovation. !ne is that,

which has an impact on e"isting core business activities, the other is change in

areas ad#acent to the core businesses that e"ist and the third is, of course,

disruptive innovation. he first two are easier to achieve.

$or e"ample, the change from tin to plastic packaging for coconut oil was an

innovation related to the core of our business. While for Saffola !ats, we did an

ad#acency innovation with a variant called %masala& oats. It had not been tried

before and yet was not a completely different from what we already had. I don&t

think we can claim any disruptive innovation, but something like the ata 'ano

car would be surely one of those. Such innovation is transformational but

requires a completely different approach. It is more difficult to achieve and

requires dedicated teams, and yet, at times, you might not get a result. It is like a

pharma company coming out with a new molecule. here needs to be a strongbelief that it will work.

%here have yo seen innovation stemming from# (oes it emerge from la!s

only#

()*E+ISI'

in+ead invented by eads

I have seen innovation emerge from different needs, starting from business

models, human resources to finance. $or aya, we innovated the business

model. o reduce our fi"ed costs, we now rotate staff between clinics in a city,depending on load of appointments at the clinics. It helped reduce our fi"ed
http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Innovationhttp://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Wall+Street+Journalhttp://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Tata+Nanohttp://inread-experience.teads.tv/http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Wall+Street+Journalhttp://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Tata+Nanohttp://inread-experience.teads.tv/http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Innovation


2/4

costs since we deployed the e"isting staff more efficiently across clinics in a

city. Similarly, in administration, we have innovations such as the absence of a

roster whereby employees can fill up their own leaves as and when they need.

ravel for work does not need authorisation and can be claimed by the one

travelling. Such measures tend to build up trust.

(o sch measres foster innovation#

hey say, %the organisation trusts me&. he employee then has a better equation

with the employer, which ends up creating value. Indian employees have often

complain-ed that they feel hierarchical firms are the biggest barrier to

innovation.

We have tried to break down hierarchies. +ight from the way the office is

designed to the number of levels within the organisation. here is fast

communication and a high degree of informality. In the past, a lot of businessideas would take a lot of time in getting cleared. ut then we formed an

incubation cell. his creates a small-company culture in a large organisation.

We tried this when we wanted to create a new profit centre. Earlier, new

business ideas would get passed on to e"isting /E!s, who already had the daily

responsibilities of their businesses. hen the new ideas would get evaluated

through that same lens needed to run a business daily. So, by the time an idea

got evaluated, there would be a huge delay.

Incubation cells, on the other hand, consist of one or two people who report

directly to me and treat me like a small entrepreneur, bypassing the regular

clearing processes when researching new ideas. In this case, I, as an

entrepreneur, took the risk, did the quick and dirty market research and took the

call to float the initiative. ecause of such an incubation cell, the idea of laser

hair removal came about and the aya Skin /linic was launched within nine

months. he normal process would have taken two to three years at least.

Incubation cells are pro#ect-based and are not a regular feature.

)o instittionalised innovation in the early *+s at Marico" !t have !een

practising it since the ,+s" when yo -oined the !siness at Bom!ay il

Indstries. Have yo seen the natre of innovation changing over theyears#

In the 01s, innovation was more of an accident, and lacked structure. oday, it is

through a culture of encouragement. he biggest change has been this culture

where initiatives to encourage an innovative streak has been institutionalised.

(nother important ingredient of change has been the top management&s role in

reinforcing innovation on a perpetual basis.

If innovation is a discipline and not a sdden epiphany" what are the main

practices of the discipline#( coordinated approach to innovation, covering products and processes is the
http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Kayahttp://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Kaya


3/4

mainstay. he culture for innovation is one where people are encouraged to take

risks, to go outside their routine mandate. here could be internal facilitators,

conducting workshops 2 people who will get a group to think differently. !r an

e"ternal innovation consultant could also help. he top management would have

to regularly review what is happening3 for instance creating an innovationagenda for every brand.

If they keep a tab in this manner, then the teams automatically think along these

lines. So the top management will need to go on reinforcing the need for

innovation. o encourage this culture, there could be training programmes,

facilitation, rewards and recognition that are shared with everyone in the

organisation. Ideas could get generated through brainstorming sessions,

dialogues, review meetings, customer feedback. hat is when e"ecution takes

over.

How does one avoid the trap of innovation !ecoming -st another

leadership programme or consltant techni/e#

he key is to go on demanding innovation and make sure that it happens. In our

case, we have an internal award for which we get 41-51 entries every year.

hese are either in product development, processes, packaging or marketing.

he fact that so many ideas come up and are worked on shows that innovation

has not become cliched.

!f course, these ideas then lead to evaluation, implementation, and prototyping.

Innovation is not #ust about creativity but also about e"ecution.

Scaling p and e0ection remain the !iggest hrdles...

6eople underestimate e"ecution. 7ou need to have rigour in e"ecution. (t one

level, rigour and creativity don&t go hand in hand. hat is the key challenge.

!nce you are done conceptualising, then rigour should take over. hat would

mean delegating and setting up timeframes, consumer tracks and review

mechanisms. 7ou have to persist with the e"ecution, too.

We took eight to 81 years to get the traders accept coconut oil in plastic bottles

instead of tin. We could do that because we were confident it was not only

cheaper to make but also easy to use.

How are the teams pt together for innovation# It has !een o!served that

the !est innovations are created !y teams with complementary skills" sch

as a %o1niak to a &o!s...

hat is the problem 2 a lot of people think that innovation happens by design,

whereas a lot of it happens by accident. Everything need not be planned.

( lot happens through dialogue, deliberations and training programmes.

Identifying an idea can be an accident. ut having identified it, one needs to put

up a team comprising marketing, product development, supply chain for acoordinated approach.
http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Managementhttp://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Management


4/4

How do yo encorage and retain the people who take those chances on

innovation#

he top management should not be very specific in measuring innovation.

hey should have an e"ploratory mindset, and accept ambiguity and some bit ofchaos. Else, the culture will turn into a risk-averse one.

I223$TI2S $T M$4I5

6++78 Saffola 5holesterol Management $tta Mi0

he atta mi" is a 811 per cent natural, vegetarian mi" ofingredients, like soya, oats, barley, mai9e and psyllium husk. Itcan be used mi"ed with regular atta, and does not alter the tasteof rotis3 it has been scientifically and clinically proven to lower

cholesterol.

6+++8 9arachte easy -ars

he tub pack facilitates the use of coconut oil during wintermonths when it tends to get congealed3 adopted by many

coconut oil brands

6++:8 9arachte $dvansed Hot il

6arachute (dvansed :ot !il has warming ingredients, enablingdeeper penetration of the oil and an enhanced consumere"perience

6+;+8 Saffola $rise

(rise is better than regular rice because it is made up of goodcarbohydrates and has a lower I than regular rice, whichensures that you stay fuller, lighter and active for longer hours3

yet to be duplicated

6+;;8 9arachte $dvansed Body Lotion

6arachute (dvansed ody ;otion is the first product in theIndian mass-market to bring the goodness of coconut milk onskin
http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Parachutehttp://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Parachute

harsh mariwala in a recent conversation with sayantani kar

Documents