­Startups innovate to challenge existing top players

Lahore: Well established companies mostly owe their success to better execution of plans to optimise their existing business; but startups move ahead on creativity and innovation and challenge existing top players that have the realisation to innovate, experts said at a workshop on Tuesday.

They pointed out that it was an uphill task for established corporates as it required change in old company culture. They said it was possible to change this culture provided there was will at the top management level to go for this change. They said there was no set formula to ensure success for every innovation. However, they pointed out that study of successful innovations does reveal a pattern that if followed enhances the chances of success.

“Innovators aspire to goals that to a common man look unachievable,” said entrepreneur Nabeel Hashmi. He said if the management of a large company shows determination to keep ahead of competitors, it would have to set seemingly unachievable goals in product design, marketing and management. If there was aspiration nothing was impossible. He said when Kennedy expressed the determination to go to the moon in 1962; the statement was brushed aside by the world. However, Kennedy motivated his researchers to reach the moon within a decade, even though Kennedy was killed in Texas in 1963. He said corporate bosses also have to set time-based explicit targets to achieve a product or service innovation. He said risks should be taken to the extent that does not hurt the immediate business interests of the company.

Hashmi said innovative ideas would be in abundance in a big company. The actual test of the innovation head is to choose the best. He said the financials of the company should not be put at total risk in pursuit of an innovation.

Chairman Hi Tech Lubricants Shaukat Hasan said innovation excites customers and brings some value addition in the product. He said once an innovation was achieved the management should then find out the ways to apply most efficient technology and a business model that enriches the company coffers.

He said business model innovation was now the priority of the established industries, as they were being regularly challenged by mobile apps. The companies now need to reinvent their business model ahead of the technology driven upstarts. He said generally established companies are reluctant to risk tampering with their core business model until it’s visibly under threat. This risk, he warned might prove very costly if the upstart enters earlier, the damage caused would be irreparable. He said bigger companies tackle this issue by increasing market intelligence, and separate signals from noise. He said the new comers were constantly monitored and prompt action was taken when signals were observed.

Hasan said in established firms companies stifled attempts to innovate. In fact, research revealed majority of lucrative innovations came from the workers that bypassed the bureaucratic approval process until the innovation was a reality. He said large companies in current destructive innovation scenario cannot afford to remain locked in bureaucratic ways.

He said innovation team should be given full autonomy within the budget parameters. They, he added should not be made to go through an approval process all the time. The innovation process should be as fast as possible.

Speaking of reward, he said the innovating teams in the companies should get incentive for their successful endeavours. However, he said that without a paradigm shift in management culture it was difficult for bigger companies to establish themselves as leading innovators. ‘They will have to do away with many routine factors embedded in the company culture to challenge technically savvy upstarts that still are the king in innovation,” he added.