Innovation – The BUZZ Word Execution with Perfection: Technological advancement in the fields of aerospace, computers and communication has transformed the world we live in today, into a ‘GLOBAL VILLAGE.’ While most of the countries look to the U.S to adopt and follow management techniques , it is quite amazing to know that the U.S look to Japan for implementing these techniques more effectively. As we all know that Japanese are very good when it comes to “Execution with Perfection.”The point here is not to establish or brand that one is better than the other but rather to suggest that many countries can contribute to innovative managerial theories  and practices and let it be a mutual affair. Management practices and thinking: Innovation is the Buzz word that has defined the paradigm shift in the approach of management practices and thinking. This has helped organizations grow and sustain regardless of competitor and market pressure and challenges. Innovation management gives entrepreneurs the liberty to think out of the box and come up with new ideas leading to the development of new products, processes and services.  Change is Inevitable: Change is inevitable and change is the one that never changes. People love variety and it is the responsibility of business people to satisfy the customer wants and requirements. New approaches are required to avoid monotony and stereotyping. “Old wine in a new bottle” concept may come in handy when you feel that your product has reached the saturation point and about to decline in its life cycle.   Picture Courtesy: Digital Information World   Inspiration from the Internet Let us look at some services available on the Internet that exist as proofs for innovative and strategic thinking:  1. IRCTC –  The e-ticketing portal of Indian Railways. Saves lot of time and effort. Connects huge number of metros and small towns.  Tatkal scheme is a huge hit and a great revenue generator for the railways. The interface is very user friendly and interactive. 2. Bharat Matrimony – Online matrimonial service that assists brides and grooms to find their perfect partners. Profiles can be created to express your views and expectations on your life partner.  3. Make my Trip – Helps you to plan your travel, ticketing and accommodation, all in one place. Extensive data is available for people’s benefit.  4. Facebook – Gives you the liberty of having your own space to connect with number of people. Helps as well to promote your business. Facebook generates huge revenue through advertisement banners positioned at the right niches.  5. Twitter – Again a social networking portal that helps in link building. Retweets make the scope of you reach wide and bright.    Education Portals: Educational portals that offer online learning, management portals that teach online MBA, Auction websites with numerous products at affordable prices, travel websites, online portals for paying tax and duties have transformed the lives of individuals and organizations for good. The full bloom of internet is yet to be seen when many more third world nations will have the opportunity to access the...

The Idea behind Patent Protection In product markets, the problem of imitation poses a great problem for innovators who are deprived of enjoying economic profits fully. If imitators are able to move in rapidly and capture a substantial share of the market, the initial profits earned by innovators may not be sufficient to cover their costs and risks in the long run. However, a substantial delay between the time of innovation and successive entry by competitors may provide the pioneers with decent profits and make invention and innovation a more attractive activity. The patent system, by establishing a period of time during which the firm faces reduced competition, increases the expected return for innovative effort.     Product and Process Innovations: A nation by stimulating research and development can increase the prospects of product and process innovations. Governments can encourage such innovations by granting patents. Three criteria must be satisfied to obtain a patent: The invention must be new It must not have been known to the public before the inventor completed it for more than one year prior to a patent application It must be useful and must be non-obvious     Picture Courtesy: Basics What are Patents? Patents confer the exclusive right to the use of an idea for a long period (which varies between nations,say,in countries like India, it is seven to fourteen years, depending on the nature of the product) within which the innovator might be able to recover his initial investment. Another reason to grant patents is to provide for widespread disclosure of new ideas and techniques. The main objective of patent protection is to encourage research and development. Patents: Encourage research and invention Induce an inventor to disclose his discoveries instead of keeping them as a secret. Offer a reward for the expenses of developing inventions to the state at which they are commercially practicable; and Provide an inducement to invest capital in new lines of production Granting of Patents: The idea behind granting of patents thus is to benefit the society. Developing countries have to offer patent protection, the lack of which has made many foreign firms shy away from investing in core sectors like pharmaceuticals and biotechnology in these nations. As a result, people of these countries are forced to buy life saving drugs like those for cancer and have to pay ruinous prices. Once patent protection is available, there is a possibility for manufacturing most of the drugs that are being imported, eventually leading to a fall in the price levels.     One of the difficult aspects of patent law is the principle that, whether a patent is to be issued to the person who conceives the idea or who first files for a patent. Another international issue involving patents is that, countries allow firms to steal and copy protected ideas, due to lack of severe legal enforcements or lack of interest. Either way it proves detrimental to the interest of the patent holders and such violations have to be strictly prohibited. Note: THE PATENTS ACT, 1970: An Act to amend and consolidate the law relating to patents The Patent Amendment Act,2005 The Patent Rules,2003 and Amendment Rules,2006 are some of the laws that protect patents in...

Technological Impact on Business Environment and Society The tremendous technological growth that is being witnessed is made possible through extensive programmes of technological research being conducted by many types of researchers working within universities, business, and non-profit research organizations. Technological developments are strong and all pervasive forces of the business environment. Technology is the scientific knowledge to practical problems. Technology feeds on itself and it affects business in two major ways: Through its impact on society in generalThrough its direct influence on business operations and activities. Technology and Economic Growth: Technology affects society. In fact, we feel its effect in our everyday lives. It affects economic growth, our standard of living and our culture. However, some of the effects of technology are highly beneficial and some detrimental. These effects on members of the society may in turn affect business practices. We are surrounded by so much of technology, that we take it for granted and usually do not realize how much it affects us until we have to do without electricity, water, transport or telephone. Technological developments have raised the standard of living. In spite of inflationary pressure and considerably a high degree of unemployment, generally families eat better, wear a wider variety of clothing, and live in more comfortable homes. Technology and Lifestyle: Technology also influences basic aspects of our culture, including religion, education, mobility, health care, art, language, laws and their enforcement. For example, technological advances in health care allow physicians to treat their patients in a virtual environment through video conferencing, which again is helpful in legal environment too for the judges to proceed with investigations on hard core criminals, who need not be produced before the court for security reasons. Creative Destruction: Every new technology is a force involved in creative destruction. Say, television hurts movies, synthetic fibers are considered rival for cotton fiber. The discovery of new technology even sometimes affects economic growth-TV with its high entertainment value takes away productive hours of mankind. Each new technology creates major long term consequences, which are not always foreseeable. How do you justify nations spending more money to develop missiles, nuclear weapons and bombs for the sake of security? Developing nations have to buy technology from foreign countries, as they are not resourceful in terms of capital needed for Research and Development, expertise, patents, licenses, and equipments and so on. This transfer of technology involves huge costs as a result of which a vicious circle is formed, in which weak technology creates dependence and dependence creates weakness. Conserve, Reduce, Recycle: The recent trend can be enumerated through this slogan, “Conserve, reduce and recycle”. The stress today is on clean production measures, advanced robotics, zero-emition vehicles, material recycling and alternative fuels and materials. This change towards love for environment by the technologists is a sure sign of positive...

Transfer of Technology- Commercialisation Vs.Benefit The total influx of technology in underdeveloped countries is from the advanced capitalist countries for obvious reasons, which will be the highlight of this discussion. Multinational corporations play a vital part in technology transfer, the motive being profit maximization for the parent company through their subsidiaries. These corporations act as the principal instrument of technology transfer, either through their subsidiaries or through contractual agreements made with developing countries. The idea is to bring mechanized processes and equipments that are not locally available. Dominance of Technology Supplier: The technology supplier usually takes the upper hand owing to his monopolistic strength that arises from the patent protection for differentiated products and processes. Very often, the terms and conditions of transfer are arbitrarily settled under highly imperfect market conditions by the technology supplying multinationals. Advanced nations have the advantages of reduced population density, even distribution of national wealth, high standard of living, more infusion of capital into research and development, availability of skilled personnel inclined towards research etc. Dependency of Developing Nations: Developing nations on the other hand are subject to the pressures of high population density, uneven distribution of economic wealth (poor people become more poor and the rich even richer), moderate or low living standards etc. Capital drain occurs due to heavy borrowings from the World Bank which leads to increase in the social overheads. In such a situation, it is next to impossible for a developing nation to pump capital into activities concerning research. Bargaining Power of Developing Nations: The bargaining power of developing nations is weak, as they have no access to information about alternate technologies and their sources nor the necessary infrastructure to evaluate the appropriateness of equipments, intermediates and processes. Moreover, the large part of the influx of technology in developing countries is in response to the policy of industrialization through import substitution. Transfer of technology from the developed to the underdeveloped countries is made in a number of ways. They are classified into two broad categories, viz., direct mechanism and indirect mechanism. The direct mechanism includes transfer of technology through banks, journals, industrial fairs, technical co-operation, movement of skilled people etc. Here there is a choice for the developing nation to select the appropriate technology that best suits their requirement. However, this is not the principal form of technology transfer that advanced nations would prefer. Price of Technology: The indirect mechanism implies technology transfer in a “package” or a “bundle” containing technology-embodying equipments, industrial properties like patents and trademark, skill, equity capital, etc. In this system, a local enterprise negotiates with multinational corporations for transport of the required elements of technology, and the terms and conditions are settled through a process of commercial transaction. Since the trading partners are unequal, the terms of contract are invariably restrictive and the price extended for the technology unreasonably high. All the underdeveloped countries, which have opted for growth along the classical path of capitalist development, are in a position to invite multinational corporations, if for no other reason than at least for the diffusion of...

Perhaps the most striking influence of technology is found on society. Practically every area of social life and the life of every individual have been, in some sense or the other, changed by the development in technology. AI in Marketing Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how businesses engage with marketing. By analyzing data, personalizing content, and automating tasks, AI is truly revolutionizing the marketing landscape. Personalization One of the key benefits of AI in marketing is its capability to tailor content for each individual customer. Leveraging AI-driven algorithms, companies can craft personalized experiences that truly connect with their audience. Predictive Analytics AI can assist businesses in making more precise predictions regarding consumer behavior. By examining data from previous interactions and purchases, AI can uncover patterns and trends, enabling companies to make better-informed decisions. Visual Search AI-powered visual search is changing the way consumers search for products online. By analyzing an image, AI can identify the product and show similar items for purchase. This makes the online shopping experience more intuitive and seamless. Technology reaches people through business Preferences of people are constantly changing, and this has pushed the business firms to the point, where innovation has become the need of the hour. The new discoveries would remain idle as mere ideas if there were no laboratories to transform the ideas into creations. Technology reaching people through business is one part of the theory. The economic prosperity of a nation depends on technology. High expectations of consumers People are used to technological innovations and breakthroughs and they want variety in every kind of purchase they make. New varieties of products, safer and more comfortable, free from pollution, are to be produced and supplied to affluent sections. This calls for a massive investment in research and development. In countries like Japan, much importance is attached to product design, quality, sophistication, delivery schedules and prices. High expectations need not be considered as problems by business persons but treated as an opportunity to satisfy their customer group. System complexity Technology has resulted in complexity. Modern machines work faster and better, no doubt. However, if there is a technical problem, the presence of an expert is needed to repair the machinery. Again, investment in machinery adds to the cost of capital and hence the merchandise has to be purchased form reliable sources. Social change The change in the technological process undoubtedly has its effect on the society. First, there is a change in the social life, with mobile populations drifting about in search of new centers of employment. If it happens to be an agricultural economy, the result of such a drift would prove disastrous, with society being socially uprooted. Sometimes such a drift may result in new geographical distribution of population. Technological change also brings considerable changes in the family, lifestyle and attitude. The way we cook, communicate, use media and work are all affected by technology. Technological Phases and the Social Systems they Create There are five stages of technological development. Each stage leaves a distinct influence on work and on social system. Sequential progress is made from the lowest level to the highest level, in such a way that these five stages roughly represent the progress of civilization throughout history. Although one phase of technology tends to dominate a nation’s activities at a particular time, other phases will be often practiced at the same time. Technology means change and more change. It forces changes on people whether they are prepared for it or not. In modern history, it has created what is called future shock, which means that change comes so fast and furious that it approaches the limits of human...