'Indian companies don't have any legacy mindset in management'

Indian firms may have some unique advantages when it comes to innovating, feels M S Krishnan who, along with management guru C K Prahlad, has written 'The New Age of Innovation'.

Foremost among the advantages is the absence of any "legacy" mindset in skills, management, systems and processes. Hence they don't have to unlearn much.

Second, Indian firms are resource constrained but rich in young employees and managers who bring energy and enthusiasm and are prepared to work long hours. Constraints are a necessity for any kind of innovation.

"In our approach, innovation should not be viewed as a cost. It is a strategic necessity for both the firm and the individual employees," Krishnan told Business Standard.

The focus should be to develop an experimenting approach to building new business models. Incentive systems should encourage experimenting in chosen directions.

For employees, this transformation in the new age of innovation is an opportunity to build new skills and work in "teams of the moment". Traditional hierarchy among employees has to give way to ranking built on skills and roles.

Employees need to learn from feedback at the end of each customer engagement "in delivering N=1 experience to customers". N=1 is an idea formulated by Prahalad and Krishnan that stands for serving one customer at a time. It may not be easy for all but ability to adapt to continuous learning will be a critical.

The authors believe that no single firm will possess all the resources and skills required to orchestrate unique N=1 experiences for each customer. Hence R=G, leveraging global resources "" the second pillar in their house of innovation.

In most cases firms have to learn to manage direct customer experience with pieces of it coming from global partners.

For example, Apple relies on its internal talent to manage its customer experience on the iTunes platform, while many partners and content providers make up the offering. Access to information and capacity to connect globally is leading to a new type of customer.

She is not prepared to accept staple products or services firms are used to offering. They prefer business models which are personalised to everyone's unique needs.

Global connectivity of over 3 billion people and the increasing digitisation of business processes has opened opportunities for firms to rethink how well they are leveraging information in their business models," Krishnan added.

The emerging platforms allow virtual access to talent and resources. This has to be used to serve each customer uniquely.