Letters: India's Steve Jobs?

The edit “Apple without Jobs” (August 29) was an objective tribute to and assessment of Steve Jobs. His success story has an important lesson for India. In a fast-changing business environment, innovation strategy has become the pivot of sustained competitive advantage. Jobs proved that creating customer needs and not merely meeting or exceeding them is the most paying form of innovation. From iPod, iPhone and iPad to iCloud, Apple under Job has led customer tastes with great financial gains for stakeholders.

But where does India stand in innovation? In a recent study on the most innovative firms in the world published in the August 11 issue of Forbes India, only two domestic companies find a place among the best 50 — Bharat Heavy Electricals at the ninth position and Infosys Technologies at 15th. Given the pool of creative scientists and engineers India is reputed for, this small presence can be attributed to the meagre expenditure on research and development, and the lack of risk-taking culture and incentives for creativity in Indian organisations. Jobs used to say, “We don’t follow research; we create it.” Where is our Steve Jobs who would talk in the same refrain?

Y G Chouksey, Pune

Readers should write to:
The Editor, Business Standard,
Nehru House,
4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
New Delhi 110 002,
Fax: (011) 23720201;
letters@bsmail.in
All letters should have a postal address and telephone number