It’s not really easy to catch a Harvard professor and like any other student you have to ensure you talk to the professor between lectures. On a busy weekday afternoon, Professor Stefan H. Thomke, William Barclay Harding professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and the faculty chair of leading innovation — India, sits down for a delightful and in-depth conversation with this correspondent on the innovation practices in India and worldwide. But this professor goes beyond the classroom dynamics and offers a whole new list of possibilities in the area of innovation. The culture and the demand for innovation has seen a tremendous rise in the last couple of years and Prof. Thomke believes that India is going through an exciting phase of innovation and development.
Having authored a book on innovation, Prof. Thomke puts innovation in an interesting and experienced perspective. He says that innovation is all about novelty and creating a value for something. Given its complex facets and undercurrents, innovation can be categorised as per the products and areas of service.
“There are different types of innovation. Right from incremental innovation, which is predictable to breakthrough innovation, which borders on being risky, the elements and areas to explore are quite complex. It is so multi-layered with various dynamics playing different role in different situations,” says Prof. Thomke.
An authority on the management of innovation, Prof. Thomke believes that there is no one particular figure one has to spend on innovative practices in a company.
“I’m often asked about how much money should be spent on innovation. Basically, it all depends on a portfolio of activities. It also depends on how aggressive the company is in its systems and practices. Traditionally speaking, the spending in the research and development sector is the highest in the R&D departments of most pharma industries. But one has to understand the spending pattern. The minimum levels of spending and more importantly, how to spend it wisely. Having said that you do set a benchmark figure,” says Prof. Thomke.
We move on to speaking about why innovation is exactly so complex and what factors basically drive it. “Mostly, innovation was studied under the production and manufacturing department of the company. But over the years considering the market dynamics, innovation has grown beyond the traditional thoughts and practices. Innovation is extremely variable and depends on the other building blocks,” says Prof. Thomke, adding that cultural mindset of a country often has a lot to do with its innovation. “Germany for example, has an engineering mindset, while India always looks to do more with less. Cultural aspects show up at the workplace and frugality shouldn’t be seen as an excuse,” Prof. Thomke adds.
He hits upon an interesting point of how innovation needs to go beyond departments in a workplace.
“R&D departments often face the big question of how to manage funds and be effective. There’s a variety of roleplay in different industries. There is often a false assumption that innovation is the responsibility of only R&D departments. Innovation should be seen as a company activity. We have a huge departmental mindset and we need to overcome that. However, over the years the black box of departmentalising everything is disappearing and employees come together to help in the innovation process.”
India has been looked upon for its stable economy and its growth rate, but has it arrived on the global platform with that one product that differentiates it from the rest. In other words, when will India’s Googol or Apple moment arrive? And quite often, India and China are being looked upon as imitators rather than innovators. Thomke pauses for a moment before he says that there is a truth in many of those kind of assumptions, but are changing of late.
“I think India is catching up quite fast with the world. It has a long way to go, but the mindset and hunger for creating something out of the box certainly exists. The entrepreneurial mindset is growing and how. Indians are fast learners. And they have been sophisticated in terms of thinking and have transformed over the years. The larger companies have access to global markets and picture looks positive,” says Prof. Thomke.
Ethics and moral responsibilities constitute core of innovation and Thomke believes companies should stick to high standards of ethics.
“Innovation is a noble part of business. Companies and people have a great ethical responsibility towards their employees. There is an emotional connection between people and the company they believe in. For instance, Apple has a great emotional connect with its customers. It’s their design, ethics and integrity that people fall in love with,” he adds.