JUGAAD

I attended a seminar on Kanban ( A Japanese concept related to lean and just-in-time (JIT) production ) this week and was pretty much impressed by the Japanese way of Management. This made me think, if there are any business theorems that have originated in India . That is when LD told me about the "JUGAAD" theory that is currently brewing in business circles.
Wow !!! Interesting !!! That was my reaction when I first heard of it. I instantly mined the internet and I found an article published on Harvard Business Review

Below are the excerpts from the blog:
Frugal innovation is a hot topic today as post-downturn corporate America looks for ways to do more for less, while serving broader markets. This will require practicing the gutsy art of Jugaad. The Hindi term roughly translates as "overcoming harsh constraints by improvising an effective solution using limited resources". We call it the art of creative improvisation - within a framework of deep knowledge and experience.

Over the last five years, we have studied and interacted with scores of entrepreneurs in India and beyond who practice Jugaad to understand their mindset and innovation principles. We find that Jugaad-minded entrepreneurs turn adversity - such as widespread scarcity of natural and financial resources in India - into an opportunity to innovate and create more valuable products and services at less cost for more people.

Through our research, we have identified four operating principles or innovation rules:
Thrift not waste. This first rule - which promotes frugality - helps tackle scarcity of all forms of resources.
Inclusion, not exclusion. This second rule helps entrepreneurial organizations to put inclusiveness into practice - by tightly connecting with, and harnessing, the growing diversity that permeates their communities of customers, employees, and partners.
Bottom-up participation, not top-down command and control. This third rule drives collaboration. CEOs who tend to act as conductors must learn to facilitate collaborative improvisation just as players in jazz bands do.
Flexible thinking and action, not linear planning. This fourth rule facilitates flexibility in thinking and action. Jugaad-practicing firms are highly adaptable as they aren't wedded to any single business model and pursue multiple options at any time.

I kind of agree to all of the above but would give more weights to the last 3 principles. Here are my 2 cents on this theorem.
When I think of Jugaad the first thing that comes to my mind is "Socializing".When they use the term Jugaad in India, it refers to how better you use your Social contacts to get things moving at the time of a crisis situation. This refers to the second and third principles that if we can get all stake holders in a FIRM to collaborate, with a sense of ownership, given a situation, then there could be better ways you could think off to make the best of the situation. But in order to get this implemented, you need to identify a benefit for every participating stakeholder. This is what we say a "Win Win Situation" for all. and this can be achieved by "Flexible thinking and action". Getting all of this in place is very essential to get this model moving. And again "Jugaad" is an art that a person develops while handling adverse situations. It is the ability of an individual or a team or a company to come out smiling overcoming harsh constraints.

I am sure all of you will have more to add when they hear this term. Your thoughts / feedbacks / suggestions are welcome