The fifth edition of ?Summer Davos? ?the World Economic Forum?s meeting of New Champion companies at Dalian in China, threw up many questions and provided a numbers of answers to the dilemmas of the global economic turbulence, uncertain industry and company fortunes. From the outstanding opening speech of Premier Wen Jiabao and his subsequent interactions with a select group of 70 CEOs to the deliberations that over 1,600 corporate thinkers, academicians and economists participated in over three days, there is enough food for thought for sustaining and building new global growth companies in this decade.
Across the Western world, growth itself seems to be the biggest challenge with economies teetering on the edge of a second recession. The jobs crisis across the USA and Europe shows no sign of immediate resolution and policy planners in the USA are already calling for a return to local manufacturing and re-skilling the workforce as the more logical way forward even as President Obama presents his tax oriented solutions to funding his new job creation proposals. There is concern in China and India too, that a weak West will pose challenges for the East. In this gloomy environment, the discussions at Dalian were indeed timely.
The two key themes of the Forum were the economy and the role of innovation and it is to the credit of Indian CEOs who participated and spoke at the conference that in every aspect of innovation we more than held our own and presented solutions that are as applicable to the East as they are to the West. In a panel that looked at all aspects of innovation in developed and developing economies and for small as well as established companies, five of us, from India, USA, Germany, China and Denmark debated the aspects of innovation that need most focus at the current critical time for any industry in any country.
For entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in large firms alike, success lies in choosing the path less traveled. In the Indian IT industry, new products and services, new ways of sourcing trained talent, new global delivery models and new delivery processes have all been the focus of individual companies and Nasscom. Recognising patters of evident or latent customer demand as Steve Jobs has done with Apple time and again, is an essential characteristic of true innovators. In the IT sector in India, this has been one area where we have fallen behind our counterparts in the USA, the Nordic States and even Israel, and is an area where attention needs to be paid and incentives provided to create new companies and non-liner industry growth.
The need to ask interesting questions and have the ability to sift through multiple ideas in the search for a new gem is crucial to build a climate of continuous and occasionally disruptive innovation. This presupposes a ?Do rather than Talk? approach to risk taking and an organisation readiness to provide vehicles for brilliant ideas to reach the world. All this, supported with tolerance for failure and adequate incentives for successful innovation as major corporations like GE and 3M have demonstrated, will provide the much needed adrenalin to lift the spirits of individuals and teams in a sagging business environment.
The lack of new ideas for employment and economy regeneration in the West is a major cause of concern and politicians everywhere need to put their patriotism ahead of their party priorities and create and implement progressive ideas. The American Jobs plan is already in danger of degenerating into a ?class war? as the much talked about ?Buffet rule? that would see millionaires and billionaires in the USA paying higher taxes to fund the plan comes under fire. President Obama?s bold assertion that it is simple math and not an attempt to put one group of Americans against another will be the subject of much rhetoric in the coming days and weeks and will take the spotlight away from the urgent need to build confidence in the economy and hiring to begin in the USA.
The Chinese Prime Minister, in his keynote at the World Economic Forum and subsequent interactions with a select group of Growth Company CEOs made China?s position on bailing out various companies very clear. In Europe as well as the USA, the Premier expressed unwillingness to be just a buyer of paper from the West. Chinese investment in infrastructure and subsequent job creation on the lines similar to what is now visible all over Africa is what China wants. And while Gary Locke, the USA Ambassador to China referred to the USA willingness to engage in public private partnerships, the jury is still out on the role China can and will play in getting the Western economies out of the current economic morass.
In the meantime, it does seem to be every country and continent on its own and major doses of innovation and new thinking will be needed if the vast entrepreneurial surpluses in the West can be gainfully deployed and play a role in building the future.
The writer is vice-chairman & CEO of Zensar Technologies and co-chair of the National Knowledge Council of the CII