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The business of disruption

In business lingo jugaad is generally seen as the scruffy, bedraggled poor cousin of the swank and voguish ‘innovation’.

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Geetu Vaid

In business lingo jugaad is generally seen as the scruffy, bedraggled poor cousin of the swank and voguish ‘innovation’. It is seen as something that can neither be taken seriously nor adopted on a permanent basis. But Minneapolis-based dental surgeon-turned-business consultant-cum-entrepreneur Simone Bhan Ahuja picks up this unassuming word from local lingo and gives it a complete makeover as a winning business management strategy. That’s Jugaad 3.0 for you. 

Simone is not only the founder of Blood Orange, an innovation strategy advisory group, but also a consultant to the Centre for India & Global Business at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. She has worked extensively in areas like innovation, managing change in business systems and leadership paradigms with big corporates like Stanley Black & Decker, Target Corporation, UnitedHealth Group, PepsiCo, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble etc.

Jugaad 3.0 is the result of her vast experience with business houses and extensive research on how disruption has to be engineered into the basic business systems for long-term relevance and survival of companies. 

The rapidly changing business-scape has diminished the life span of companies as new ones keep replacing the older ones at an alarming rate. In such a fluid eco system, the companies now need to nurture and seed innovation internally to survive and stay ahead of the competition. It is this jugaad pill that Simone offers as an antidote to the ephemeral business success that is becoming the order of the day. 

Encouraging intrapreneurship and adopting DIY (disrupt it yourself) strategy is the path that companies need to follow to stay relevant and viable in the long term. Simone got fascinated with the cost-effective solutions that jugaad could conjure while studying innovation in India. By adding new dimensions of a flexible mindset and fluid approach, Simone’s jugaad is a notch above its frugal improvisation connotation. 

In the book she lays down a roadmap for companies to set a system in place to harness the creativity of its DIYers and provide a fertile ground for intrapreneurs to flourish. She presents an eight-point strategy that businesses can tailor to their needs to encourage innovation within the organisation. These involve keeping the internal disruption exercise frugal, permissionless, fluid, engaging and disciplined. Each of the eight points is elaborated in different chapters. Examples, anecdotes and references presented in the chapters make this book interesting and engrossing.  Relevant case studies in each of the chapters and observations of CEOs and HR heads keep reader interest alive till the end. Simone opens the floodgates of her experience with companies for a refreshing flow of information. 

Informative and engaging, this book is a valuable guide for entrepreneurs and business heads on how to stay relevant and thrive in their field.

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