In the recent years we all have been reading and hearing about what the Indians have been doing in the areas of IT, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals etc. They have accomplished all through desire, creativity and Jugaad.
Recent issue of Business Week covers "India's Next Global Export: Innovation" called Jugaad. So, what does this new management fad mean? In the simplistic terms, Jugaad literally means an arrangement or a work around, which have to be used because of lack of resources.
This definition is very apropos. All of us have exercised Jugaad in our lives and may not have realized it. It could be developing a better process or a product. It could be stealing a base in baseball, kicking a soccer ball to score a goal or the topspin of the tennis racket to win the match i.e. achieving an objective using whatever it takes. All of us have the creativity to achieve our goals and objectives. We have what it takes.
Many of us might not have heard of Mr. Michael O'Leary. He is the chief executive of Ryanair Holdings Co., the Irish no-frills airline. He is putting his Jugaad to practice. His creativity is evident when he started a one-car taxi company to legally use Dublin's bus lanes and cut an hour from his daily commute. This is Jugaad. Jugaad is not an Indian thing. It is everywhere. All of us have it. We just need to do things in a manner that simplify things and processes.
Can we apply Jugaad to the manufacture of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers, resins and other chemical based products? Yes, we absolutely can. By learning the fundamentals of chemistry, physics, mathematics we have the knowledge base. Along with these fundamentals if we just apply our creativity and imagination we will have the simplest and cost effective processes producing highest quality products. Customer will come back time after time and we will generate sufficient and significant profits.
Girish Malhotra, PE
President
EPCOT International
