April 2015

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 apr 2015

For organization's to continuously innovate and provide better products and services, it is imperative that innovation and creativity becomes part of the workplace culture. Dave Ranson, MD of Moog India Technology Center (MITC), says 'A workplace culture wiped clean of fear of failure has the best climate for innovation.' He suggests the following to encourage innovation - (1) What It Takes To Innovate: Right people; Right processes; Right resources; Discipline in strategy, planning and execution of innovation programs; Leadership support. (2) What Leaders Must Do To Foster Innovation: Drive away fear of failure from workplace; Knowing when pursuing innovation and give it the best; Continually reinforcing courage to take risks; Encourage the practice of learning from failure, adjust and move on; Recognize and reward innovative behavior; Judge innovation projects with two questions (Is it producing valued and tangible outcomes and is it creating valuable new knowledge). Read on...

The Economic Times: What business leaders do for workplace innovation
Author: Amrita Premrajan

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 apr 2015

Using technology to bring social change and improve people's lives is a challenging task. 'One-size-fits-all' approaches to implement technology strategies may not be effective and provide expected results. There is need to have proper context, clarity of purpose and supportive environment to fulfil the promises that technology intends to bring for the well-being and welfare of the society. Professor Kentaro Toyama of University of Michigan, in his latest book 'Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology', argues that technologists undermine efforts at social progress by promoting 'packaged interventions' at the expense of more difficult reforms. Prof. Toyama has worked extensively in India and launched various projects that sought to use computers and Internet connectivity to improve education and reduce poverty. Following are selected excerpts from his Q&A session done by Brian Bergstein, deputy editor of MIT Technology Review - • 'There are already several randomized, controlled trials of schools with and without One Laptop per Child. Generally, what most of these studies show is that schools with laptops did not see their children gain anything in terms of academic achievement, in terms of grades, in terms of test scores, in terms of attendance, or in terms of supposed engagement with the classroom.' • 'I think it's perfectly sensible for parents to want a certain amount of exposure to technology for their children, both as a form of explorative play and as a way to get them used to technology that they'll undoubtedly encounter later in their life. I think the fundamental error people make is that, therefore, we should have the computer be the primary instrument of education for all children...I think one of the issues is we tend to think of education as being the content. We overemphasize the importance of content, as opposed to emphasizing the part that's really difficult in any good education, which is adult-supervised motivation - the motivation of the child to learn something.' • 'If you measure some positive benefit in the technology case, your conclusion is that technology helped. But it was always the people that we worked with, the partners that we chose and the people on the ground who interacted with the people that we wanted to support. All of those human factors were required for the technology itself to have an impact; whether the technology helped or not was really up to people.' Read on...

MIT Technology Review: Putting Technology in Its Place
Author: Brian Bergstein

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 02 apr 2015

India's growing number of Internet users, about 300 million and just behind China and US, is facilitating the rise of e-commerce. Considering the ease, convenience and available choices for consumers to buy online indicates that e-commerce will stay and continue to grow. But legal experts view the current laws regarding internet businesses insufficient to handle the unique attributes of e-commerce business processes and transactions. Click-wrap agreements on various e-commerce websites that act as 'user agreements/e-contracts' also involves sharing of customer's personal information with third party service providers that are invisible to users/customers. In India, the Information Technology Act, 2000, deals with the concept of violation of privacy in a very limited sense (from a handling of data perspective). All contracts in India, whether electronic or otherwise, are governed by Indian Contract Act 1872, which mandates free consent, lawful consideration, lawful object and competency to contract. Specific legal framework related to e-contracts and online agreements is still underdeveloped and doesn't provide much recourse to consumers in cases such as violation of privacy or misuse of personal information by third parties in e-commerce transactions. E-commerce websites operating in India are 'intermediaries' as per the provisions of the IT Act. The IT Act has exempted intermediaries from any liability in respect of third-party information, data or communication link hosted by it. The Consumer Disputes Act, 1986, does not address the role played by online marketplaces and evolving forms of service providers. This need to be addressed. Online businesses are currently governed by multiple laws like IT Act, Indian Contract Act, Companies Act 2013, Indian Penal Code 1860, and also other taxation, intellectual property and employment laws. Considering the dynamic nature of e-commerce and internet businesses there should be a unified and distinct legislation that governs these businesses. Read on...

The Financial Express: Indian digital economy needs clear laws
Authors: Sharanya G. Ranga, Pooja Thacker

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 01 apr 2015

For long-term success and continuous growth of their businesses, corporate leaders focus on innovation, performance excellence and risk management as their priority agenda. Their innovation strategy includes 10 types of innovation - product, service, platform, structure, process, business model, network, channel, customer engagement and brand. According to Andy Boynton, Bill Fischer and William Bole, co-authors of 'The Idea Hunter', as a long-term success mantra, corporate innovators need to cultivate habits of curiosity, deliberate observation, diverse information seeking and engagement with other creative people. Peter Sims, author and entrepreneur, explains 'In addition to idea flow, enterprise innovators need to nurture habits of taking 'little bets' via creative play, prototyping, learning and pivoting.' Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen, co-authors of 'The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators', suggest 'At an individual and organisational level, corporate innovation calls for skills in questioning, observing, networking, experimenting and making associations. Gerald Tellis, Director of the Centre for Global Innovation at University of Southern California, says 'In an increasingly competitive and globalised economy, it is only 'unrelenting innovation' that can help companies sustain a long term advantage.' According to Madanmohan Rao, research director at YourStory Media, large corporations can seek innovative ideas and creative solutions by partnering and collaborating with entrepreneurial startups in variety of ways. This will help them save time, money and effort that goes into in-house innovation. He provides 15 tips and suggestions for big organizations to tap startup innovation - (1) Acquisition (2) Accelerators (3) Calls to Collaboration (4) Hackathons and Hackdays (5) Startup Competitions (6) Conferences and Local Meetups (7) Startup Hotspot Visits (8) Customer Engagement Models (9) Thought Leadership Via Startup Media (10) Special Interest Groups (11) Startup Networks (12) Entrepreneurship Networks (13) Incubators (14) R&D Grants to Entrepreneur-focused Universities (15) Entrepreneurs in Residence. Read on...

YourStory: 15 innovation tips - how large corporations can successfully engage with startups
Author: Madanmohan Rao

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