As American businesses struggle after an economic downturn has blown their sails, smaller business firms in far-flung India are turning to numerous ingenious techniques to survive the financial tsunami (see 01-21-2010 BusinessWeek, Don’t underestimate Indian consumers). Many of these noteworthy”jugaadu” The practices have been around for a long time, but are only now getting the attention they deserve (see 02-12-2009 BusinessWeek, India’s Next Global Export: Innovation).
In this and subsequent articles we will look at some of these “jugaadu” practices and matching examples from Lancaster PA traditions of american ingenuity Y amish wit. Then, by examining the thinking at the heart of these inventive styles, we hope to encourage more innovation from local business owners.
Before continuing, it is important to first understand the word ‘jugaad’ itself. Essentially, it has a dual connotation: a narrow one that refers to robust vehicles cleverly assembled from salvaged parts (see images posted on my blog…see link below), and the much broader connotation of an innovative solution. or an ingenious solution that is applicable in a wide range of environments.
Can the assembled machines you see in the images really teach us anything about innovative business practices? At first glance, it seems difficult, but digging deeper we realize that they can help us think about things more creatively as our ancestors did. Among other features, his “Conestoga Wagon” (part vehicle, boat, motel, store, and part fort) had an arched bottom that prevented goods from moving up and down hills and that could float the wagon when fording water. , a top canvas to protect passengers and goods, wheels higher than rocks and stumps on what was going on the roads, and a brake. Today’s wacky equivalent would be a gas-guzzling RV with an awning and furniture, a boat tied up on top, and a towed car.
We can also look to the 1,600 Amish-owned businesses in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for examples of innovative thinking as done by Donald Kraybill, “the foremost living expert on the Old Order Amish,” see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Kraybill . Another observer, Ed Tenner, a historian of technology and culture, states: “Amish life may not be utopian, but it remains one of America’s oldest and most robust technological experiments, with something to teach the rest of us.” “. (See 07-2005 MIT’s Technology Review, simple technology).
Ed Tenner brings us back to India when he says, “Amish ingenuity focused on making horse-drawn farming more efficient. With the rise of large-scale mechanized farming in the US, equipment manufacturers stopped developing machines for horse-drawn agriculture. Amish entrepreneurs saw this opportunity and are now exporters of devices that help make Third World draft animal husbandry competitive with tractors as fuel prices rise.” . (See 10-2008 Forbes, The Amish Technological Vanguard).
In his insightful article on innovation in technology and in the ministry, What the Amish can teach us about innovationTodd Rhoades, an observer of the Amish community in Ohio, takes us back to the United States, where rising fuel prices are a recurring critical economic problem: “Amish metalworkers are at the forefront of the revival of scrap agriculture. by horses in the US (The number of horses on US farms increased 20 percent between 1997 and 2002).”
Compared to the practitioners of jugaad, American Ingenuity, and Amish Ingenuity, we find many American companies, large and small, paralyzed by a rigid mindset that resists change. High-priced products with all the “bells and whistles” sit on the shelves as business owners complain about the recession and their customers, failing to envision newer, more affordable ways of doing things.
Let us agree that too many examples of “jugaad” from the Indian setting will not help us in our mission “To make Lancaster County a beacon of prosperity for 21st century America” see www.lancasterchamber.com/. The activities themselves do not happen here. However, as we will see in later articles, you can definitely draw analogies and find examples of innovative thinking that could become the rule rather than the exception in the US economy. Fortunately, such a change in mindset requires nothing more than a return to business fundamentals and our own traditions.