Welcome to our Must Read Series – here you will find the books and articles that are required reading for intrapreneurs, their managers, and anyone interested in innovation. The first book in our series was released last summer and has been making rounds throughout international project managers’ desks ever since. Here at LuckyRobot we have become fans of the kind of open-mindedness and market-listening that this book espouses.
Reverse Innovation details how some of the world’s leading companies led innovation initiatives in foreign markets, and how those products migrated back to the company’s core region to find a profitable market among new consumers. These are the stories of how stripped down and simpler products can be made abroad, then sold to a class of customers in your home market that you might not even know currently exists. From portable X-ray machines to consumer goods, emerging markets have precise needs that many current products build for the developed world cannot hope to meet. Ironically, these goods from emerging markets can and do often find welcome homes back in the developed world as niche or entry-level products.
The authors both used their positions as professors at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business to interview executives at the likes of GE, PepsiCo, P&G, and others on their innovation drives in emerging markets and how that impacted their business back home. It’s a fascinating read that opens the mind to the possibility of finding answers in unexpected places. Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere
