Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere [Hardcover]

Vijay Govindarajan (Author), Chris Trimble (Author), Indra K. Nooyi (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: April 10, 2012

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Amazon Bestseller

Reverse Innovation is the new business idea everyone is talking about. Why? Because it presents the blueprint for scaling growth in emerging markets, and importing low-cost and high impact innovations to mature ones.

Innovation is no longer the exclusive domain of the Silicon Valley elite. Reverse Innovation will open your eyes to the fact that the dynamics of global innovation are changing—and if you want your firm to survive, you’d better pay attention. The gap between rich nations and emerging economies is closing. No longer will innovations travel the globe in only one direction, from developed to developing nations. They will also flow in reverse. CEOs of the world’s most influential companies agree and have cited Reverse Innovation as their playbook for the next generation of global growth.

Authors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth explain where, when, and why reverse innovation is on the rise and why the implications are so profound. Learn how to make innovation in emerging markets happen and how such innovations can unlock even greater opportunity throughout the world. You’ll follow some of the world’s leading companies (including GE, Deere & Company, P&G, and PepsiCo) through stories that illustrate exactly what works and what doesn’t.

If you’re in a Western economy, you need to accept that the future lies far from home. But the idea is not just for Western audiences. If innovation is at the heart of your company or your career, no matter where you practice business, Reverse Innovation is a phenomenon you need to understand. This book will help you do that.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Named a Best Business Book for 2012 in strategy+business magazine

“Whether you are an executive of a global company or you are simply interested in innovation among cultural differences, creativity, and diversity, this is a lovely and persuasive read.” — Business Insider

“In Reverse Innovation: Create Far from Home, Win Everywhere, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble make a compelling argument for companies to not just widen their lens, but shift it to a completely different context— that of developing economies.” — strategy+business magazine

“This lovely, persuasive work couples the focused repetition of a good textbook with the lively style of an entertaining article.” — Directorship (South Africa)

“Highly recommended... released this year to a chorus of approval from global business leaders this book explains the way in which the flow of innovation has changed... Reverse Innovation shows senior managers how to make innovation in emerging markets happen, and how these innovations can unlock business opportunities on a global scale - using real-life case studies to illustrate the theories.” — Business Executive

“The book presents its ideas clearly, with about half devoted to the general concepts and the other half to case examples of companies such as GE, Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo, which are leading the way in reverse innovation. If your company can benefit from reverse innovation – or might suffer from it—the book is well worth reading.” — Globe & Mail

“…a book that offers provocative insights into the quickly changing dynamics of the global economy.” “The book is rich with examples…” — The Wall Street Journal

“In Reverse Innovation, [the authors] argue that…western businesses must similarly learn new tricks from their emerging markets. It is an idea that they have been championing for years and which has become increasingly fashionable.” — The Financial Times

“The book, an extension of a 2009 Harvard Business Review article that Govindarajan and Trimble co-authored with General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, reads like a how-to guide for executives looking to innovate beyond the U.S. and Europe...It's a useful and even inspiring read for any executive who cares about the future of business innovation.” — Fortune.com

“Reverse Innovation is a must read for anyone seeking to participate in emerging markets, be they CEOs of multinationals, leaders of NGOs, or government policy makers.” — Stanford Social Innovation Review

“This accessible new book...provides a clear evaluation of the issues faced and expert advice on how to implement a reverse innovation strategy.” — Developing Leaders

“Govindarajan [and Trimble] writes about how reverse innovation is rapidly changing the way companies think and how that’s affecting the way they look at markets.” — Fortune (India)

“This insightful book makes a compelling case for the developing world supplying the strongest emerging market of the new century.” — Publishers Weekly

“This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in how concepts of innovation need to change in order to succeed, and an even more important book for those who can actually take part on the level the authors advise.” — 800 CEO READ

“A well-researched and thoughtful book.” — The Irish Times

“This book shows how, counter-intuitively, there are many circumstances when business models and products developed in emerging markets can provide new opportunities in rich economies also.” — Forbes.ru

ADVANCE PRAISE for Reverse Innovation:

Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, General Electric—
“Govindarajan and Trimble offer a framework for the next phase of globalization.”

Robert A. McDonald, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Procter & Gamble Co.—
“Reverse Innovation is a playbook for leaders who want to unlock growth in emerging markets.”

William D. Green, Chairman, Accenture—
“Innovation knows no geographic boundaries. This book is a defining work on how we invest and engage the future.”

Omar Ishrak, Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic, Inc.—
"Unique and important work, hard-hitting examples, detailed and actionable steps, and clear explanations.”

Ajay Banga, President and Chief Executive Officer, MasterCard—
“As the world’s economic center of gravity continues to shift—and as new consumers continue to emerge—it’s clear that the logic and business practices that drove yesterday’s success won’t drive tomorrow’s.”

Peter F. Volanakis, Former Chief Operating Officer, Corning Technologies—
“I wish I had this book ten years ago."

About the Author

Vijay Govindarajan is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and the first Professor-in-Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant at General Electric. He ranked third in the recent Thinkers 50 list of the greatest management thinkers in the world. Chris Trimble, a well-known innovation speaker and consultant, is also on the faculty at Tuck.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press (April 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1422157644
• ISBN-13: 978-1422157640
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.8 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Professional & Technical > Accounting & Finance > International

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A simple and hugely important idea April 13, 2012

By john moran

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Great business books tend to either explain world-changing phenomena (e.g., Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From) or prescribe steps to become more successful (e.g., Jim Collins' Good to Great).

Reverse Innovation does both. It builds on groundbreaking earlier frameworks (including Clay Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation and Govindarajan and Trimble's own models of innovation execution) to both describe, and explain how to make use of, an astonishing phenomenon: emerging-market innovations that "defy gravity" to gain traction in developed economies.

This trend is real, and the authors have the examples to prove it - from John Deere and GE to numerous small companies and entrepreneurs you've never heard of. But the best part of the book is the combination of practical, how-to advice (they provide counterintuitive organizational steps to "create far from home and win everywhere") with the illustrations of how this trend is literally changing billions of lives.

The potential to win in rich markets as well as poor will attract every major corporation to solve the problems of those not at the "top of the pyramid." This is capitalism at its best: the profit motive as a phenomenal engine for the welfare of the entire world. Kudos to Govindarajan and Trimble for both uncovering the trend and providing a playbook for everyone to take advantage of it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The how-to-guide to The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid April 30, 2012

By Mal Warwick

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Back in 2004, a respected marketing professor at the University of Michigan named C. K. Prahalad raised eyebrows in the business community with a widely-read book titled The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. In 25 words or less, he postulated that multinational corporations could grow their markets and their bottom line by reaching out to the billions of poor people who crowd emerging nations across the globe. Much of Prahalad's book consisted of "case studies" -- written by his graduate students -- that purported to support his thesis. Unfortunately, practically none of them did.

Here, eight years later, is the book that Prahalad -- now, unfortunately, deceased -- should have written. Govindarajan, a professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, and Trimble, a younger Tuck faculty member, have formulated a concept they call "reverse innovation" that is the key to doing business in those emerging markets that excited Prahalad's lust. Their book, too, is dominated by case studies, but in this case the examples do a good job of illustrating how multinational companies have successfully developed products that gained a foothold in developing countries -- though by no means necessarily at "the bottom of the pyramid."

"Reverse innovation" -- an ethnocentric term -- begins with the conventional wisdom that business innovation takes place in rich countries but asserts that transnational corporations wishing to become established in developing markets must cast off traditional thinking and develop products and services within those markets and base them on the needs and wants of people living there. Govindarajan and Trimble advocate reverse innovation as the alternative to exporting rich-country products and services with minor adjustments, a strategy that many companies have found unsuccessful. (The authors call this strategy "glocalization.")

The case studies in Reverse Innovation span a wide range of needs, desires, and prices. The authors write about an extremely inexpensive electrocardiograph machine developed and marketed in India by GE Healthcare, lightweight enough for use by individual physicians on rounds in villages. They relate the story of the development from scratch of a lentil-based new snack food by PepsiCo in India, and of a new automotive "infotainment" system crafted through an international effort by Harman and eventually purchased by Toyota. Other examples include Procter & Gamble, Logitech, and the nonprofit Partners in Health.

Most of the case studies are great stories, even if they are better illustrations of how multinational corporations can make more money than they are of how poor people in emerging nations can gain access to needed goods and services at affordable prices. However, the bulk of Reverse Innovation is given over to discussion about change management in large corporations: it's clear that the real challenge these companies face in growing their markets is to get around the massive barriers thrown up by organizations that are too large, too successful, and too set in their ways. The authors write, "Reverse innovation begins not with inventing, but with forgetting . . . You must let go of the dominant logic that has served you well in rich countries . . . Reverse innovation is what we call clean-slate innovation."

Govindarajan and Trimble make it clear that the only way for a transnational company to bring about reverse innovation is to (1) start with a champion at the top, usually the CEO; (2) appoint a brilliant and politically savvy person to head up an "LGT," by which the authors do not mean to suggest gender preference but simply to abbreviate "Local Growth Team;" (3) recruit to the team a group of mavericks willing to ignore the conventional rules; and (4) work on site in one of the major emerging markets, far, far from headquarters.

Reverse Innovation is well-organized, well-written, and delivers on its promise. Why, then, have I awarded this book only three @@@ out of 5? Out of pique, perhaps, more than anything else. For one thing, the do's and don'ts of management in large organizations are . . . well, for me, the only apt word is boring. And I can't get past my aggravation that this is yet one more instance of brilliant minds being lashed to the task of making the rich richer.

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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Reverse innovation is not optional. It is oxygen." April 10, 2012

By Pepijn Veling

Format:Kindle Edition

World-class open-heart surgery for up to 1% of the costs of rich world comparables...: `Reverse innovations' - innovations developed for and adopted first in developing countries - have shown major potential in both emerging and, increasingly, developed markets.

The authors clearly outline why multinationals everywhere must and how they can learn to develop such compelling reverse innovations, in order to compete both far from home in vast and fast growing emerging markets, as well as in their own backyards.

A very exciting must-read for both those who are interested in sustaining business viability, as well as academics interested in exploring a rather new and stirring field of innovation sciences.