How to turn a crisis into opportunities for growth? What does jugaad, or frugal and flexible innovation, mean for business? These and other questions will be discussed during events in Italy this week
How to turn a crisis into opportunities for growth? What does jugaad, or frugal and flexible innovation, mean for business? These and other questions will be discussed during events in Italy this week to mark the launch of the Italian edition of Jugaad Innovation, the bestselling book co-authored by Jaideep Prabhu, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business & Enterprise at Cambridge Judge Business School.
Jugaad Innovation has been translated so far into Japanese, Portuguese, French and Dutch. The Italian edition, with a preface by Frederick Rampini, a noted Italian writer and journalist, now joins this list. A Chinese version is expected out later this year.
Jugaad is a Hindi term used to describe an innovative solution born from ingenuity and intelligence. The jugaad approach helps managers and entrepreneurs look at crisis from the perspective of opportunity. The book argues that Western corporations ‘must look to countries like India, China, and Africa for a new, bottom-up approach to frugal and flexible innovation.’
The book’s authors are the School’s Jaideep Prabhu, Navi Radjou, an innovation and leadership strategist based in Silicon Valley and a Fellow at CJBS, and Simone Ahuja, founder of Blood Orange, a marketing and strategy consultancy with expertise in innovation and emerging markets.
The three events next week will be held in Milan, Rome and Turin on 6, 7 and 8 May and will feature presentations by and discussions with the authors Jaideep Prabhu and Navi Radjou about what jugaad means for business, entrepreneurs and culture more generally.
Speaking about the Italian launch, Professor Prabhu said:
I am delighted to be in Italy for the launch of the Italian version of our book. Italy has a great tradition of creativity, design and innovation. I am looking forward to meeting Italian entrepreneurs and managers who have been doing frugal and flexible innovation. I have no doubt that there will be plenty I will take away from these events in Milan, Rome and Turin.
Jaideep’s paper on jugaad titled ‘The democratizing effects of frugal innovation: Implications for inclusive growth and state-building’ in the Journal of Indian Business Research has been selected as a 2014 Highly Commended Paper winner. The paper is freely available until the end of May.