Frugal theories: Review of Frugal innovation, How to do better with less by Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu, Hachette India, 252p., Rs 599

Abstract

Ron Adner's Wide Lens (2012) looked at innovations, why they succeed and why successful innovations could be business failures. He used a series of cases to build a story that was coherent and consistent. Theory-building, like innovation, is a difficult area. Innovation by definition should break the status quo and the existing understanding. Therefore, an attempt to find the "principles" of innovative business should be lauded for its courage. In doing so, the authors usually expect to decipher a pattern that can be applied on an untested area. Based on the principles, we should be able to predict success. An easier path, however, would be to put the principles upfront, or develop principles from a handful of instances and then populate each principle with multiple examples, even if the example that illustrates principle one contradicts principle six. Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu have written another book, Frugal Innovation, that follows their highly successful first book, Jugaad Innovation. Both these try to retrofit a series of real-life examples into pre-canned principles. Read more at: https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/frugal-theories-115040801304_1.html