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Getting an Innovation Initiative off the Ground

Volume 17, Number 3 Article by K Kumar and Manohar Mulchandani September, 2005

Getting an Innovation Initiative off the Ground: The Experience of Wipro :

In the globalised world, innovation is key in meeting the emerging technological and demographic changes. For Indian companies, innovation is the means of sustainability in the long run. K Kumar and Manohar Mulchandani describe the Innovation Initiative at Wipro, one of India's top three Global IT Service providers. Launched in April 2000, the initiative was born out of an organisational need to reinvent itself for the globalised economy. It was also the result of the company's endeavour to institutionalise a climate for continuous and predictable innovation, which until then was a sporadic activity. This paper seeks to trace the conceptualisation, the planning, the process and the implementation of the initiative in the form of a case study. Aspects of the initiative are analysed in the light of the conceptual issues identified in the literature on the subject.

Kumar and Mulchandani also describe the change in strategic direction that Wipro's innovation initiative took from 2003 onwards, in response to felt needs. In contrast to the pronounced emphasis on creation of IPs in the earlier phase, solution-based ideas that addressed problems in a specific industry were also included, an approach that was closely aligned with the business strategy of Wipro's industry-focused vertical business units. This also brought the innovation initiative closer to its services model. There emerged an enhanced set of criteria to guide and balance the portfolio and the innovation process also changed.

Though it is premature to comment on the overall success of the initiative, the Wipro experience underscores the importance of two crucial aspects of managing innovation in organisations — institutional leadership and the processes for innovation. Further, there are no ready templates for all innovation programmes, and each organisation has to uniquely address its needs of innovation.

Reprint No 05303